Mariano Rivera will be making his last appearance of his career as a Yankee this upcoming weekend as he is finally hanging up the pinstripes.
Rivera played his last game at Yankee Stadium this past weekend as the Yankees honored him with a fifty-minute tribute which included becoming the first Yankee to have his number retired while still a member of the team.
Rivera played his entire 19-year career for the Bronx Bombers and will go down as the greatest closer in MLB history, totaling over 650 saves. At forty-three years of age he's still the best closer in the MLB today.
But, why should we stop there when looking at Rivera? Can you name a player who has been as outstanding as him over the last 25 years that hasn't been tied to PEDs?
When you look at his career you see all kinds of awards. He's a 13-time MLB All-Star, five-time Reliever of the Year and won five World Series Championships (MVP of the 1999 World Series against the Atlanta Braves).
His career stats are phenomenal. He came up as a starter in 1995 and wasn't exactly someone that was making people go "wow." The following season Rivera was moved to the bullpen full-time and then the most recent Yankee Dynasty begun. He spent the 1996 season season as the set-up man to John Wetteland, but after that season Rivera was the Yankees closer for the following 17 seasons.
Trevor Hoffman is the only pitcher besides Rivera who has saved more than 500 games. Rivera's career ERA is 2.21 which is over .3 points better than the second best pitcher of the live-ball era (post-1920, Hoyt Wilhelm had a 2.52 ERA).
As great as "Mo" was in the regular season he was that much better in the playoffs. In 96 games in the playoffs he had an 8-1 record with 42 saves and a 0.70 ERA. In his 141 playoff innings he only allowed 11 earned runs over that span. Some current pitcher allow that in one week.
In his nine career innings of work in the MLB All-Star Game he didn't allow a run. How does a pitcher not manage to give up a single run when he's pitching against the best hitters in baseball year after year.
All of these stats and accomplishments wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for the pitch he made his own, "the cutter." When he learned how to throw the cut-fastball opposing batters started having to carry more bats. The way the pitch works is that it's very similar to that of a normal fastball except at the end it has a late cut that comes in towards lefties and tails away from righties.
When Rivera's career comes to an end this weekend, he should go down as more than the greatest closer of all-time. He should really be considered the greatest baseball player of the last quarter century as his dominance at his position will likely never be matched. It's crazy to think that as great a player as Rivera really was, he's still way too underrated. Exit Sandman.
