The Yankees are the only team to consistently have been able to shorten virtually every game to 8 innings long, and 7 innings long when needed. This is all thanks to one soft spoken Panamanian freak of nature, Mariano Rivera.The relationship between the Yankees and Mo was completely meant to be. As a kid, Mariano viewed baseball as just a thing to do on the side with his friends. His father was a fisherman and wanted his son to follow in his foot steps. After having to abandon a fishing boat that was capsized, he gave up the idea of fishing.
While playing on an amateur team in Panama, Mo was a thin, yet athletic shortstop. The Yankees were scouting him but did not view him as a shortstop in higher levels of baseball. After the teams main pitcher was ineffective, Mariano took over as the pitcher. The Yankees liked him because he had a smooth pitching windup and a calm demeanor. He didn't throw too fast (86-88 MPH) and the Yankees viewed him as a raw talent. They signed him to a contract in 1990.After working his way through the Yankees farm system he finally broke into the big leagues in 1995. He was an inconsistent starter but showed flashes of brilliance. The Bombers almost traded him for David Wells,but they decided to keep him for 1996 and beyond to make him a reliever. Can you imagine if they dealt him away? The number of championships the Yankees won between 1996 and 2009 would be much different.
Rivera was a setup man for the Yankees 1996 World Series Championship team and was very effective doing so. He would usually pitch the 7th and 8th inning in front of John Wetteland. After Wetteland left to free agency the Yankees were 100% confident in making Mo their closer.
Well, as you know the rest is history.
- Mariano has 5 world championships from 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2009.
- He has racked up 559 saves, 1,051 strikeouts and 74 wins for the Yanks over 15 full seasons.
- Mariano has one main pitch which I would say is thrown about 80% of the time. That is the cutter or cut fastball. It goes away from righties, and in on lefties.
Mariano is without a doubt in any ones mind the best closer in the history of baseball, and needs just one more stat to cement that title in history. The all time regular season saves crown (he already has the all time postseason and all star game saves crown). Mo is currently standing 42 saves away from tying Trevor Hoffman's regular season saves total. If Mariano has a 2011 season that is a little above average and the Yanks play their cards right, he will end up with the all time saves crown by seasons end.
How long do you think it will take Mariano to break the record? What are your thoughts of if he is the best closer in history? Will anyone ever duplicate his stats or reputation?
Will Cohen- BYB Staff Writer
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Mo needs a solid season to break it this year, but he'd have to have two awful seasons to not break it by the end of his career.
ReplyDeleteWhat's even more impressive is he will have set the record having spent his first two years as a starter and a reliever, not a closer.