MARIANO RIVERA, amNEW YORK & BYB

Quick shout out to amNew York and Ivan Pereira and their great piece about Mariano Rivera out today.

As you all know Mariano is headed to Cooperstown. He may be the greatest closer ever and it's great to see a guy this classy get the nod unanimously. He deserves it. We thank him for his service in pinstripes. He was really something special to watch over the years.

amNew York has their piece out today.  It's called Mariano Rivera's impact on New York as the Sandman enters the Hall of Fame and it's wonderfully done. I'm a fan of Pereira. Anyway... here are some of my quotes from the piece, although I encourage you to click HERE and read the article.

"Baseball fans, even ones who grew up rooting against the Yanks, acknowledged Rivera's role in changing the game because he was a diamond in the rough, according to Robert Casey, the managing editor for the Yankee fan blog Bleeding Yankee Blue. The righthander began his major league career with the Yankees in 1995 as a starting pitcher and initially struggled to find his footing on the team.

'You had this guy who was extremely athletic, and [team owner] George [Steinbrenner] wanted to trade him, but he had this management team who said 'No, no. Keep him,' ' Casey said. 

Rivera quickly was shifted to a relief pitching role and wowed with his low ERA, huge strikeouts and clutch performances, which ultimately led to his role as the closer beginning in 1997. 

Casey said Rivera's performances on the mound during his 19 years in pinstripes came at a time when bullpens prepared their relief pitchers to specifically focus on those final outs.

'Mariano capitalized on that, became extremely dominant with that cutter and kept getting those hitters,' he said. 'He helped reinvent the closer role in baseball.'"

The timeline is alittle off as I was referring to his time before he hit the major leagues and finding his footing, but I'm just happy that Ivan always thinks to come to BYB. I appreciate it bro!

Anyway, check it out and thanks to amNew York.