THE CLOSER

In 1936, the National Baseball Hall of Fame inducted such players as Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, and Christy Mathewson.  For 83 years, not one player received all of the votes unanimously (obviously, not even the aforementioned Babe)! That’s astonishing!  Now, in the Hall of Fame’s 84^th year, Mariano Rivera fittingly “closed” that wait.  The man who wore number 42 (a number that represents one-half of the 84-year wait) has accomplished gaining the most respect from the baseball writers; and, that’s for a man who showed the most respect to others during every minute in the game of baseball and in the game of life.

My very first blog was about Mariano, back in 2012.  I purposely chose him as my first topic because he was my favorite player and hero since Thurman Munson.  I remember during the 90s, people would constantly praise Derek Jeter - even more so during 2003 when Jeter was named, “Captain”.  Don’t get me wrong, I thought Jeter (who will be voted into next year’s induction) was one of the best shortstops I had ever seen; but, choosing him as the best shortstop ever could be debated.  Choosing who was the best “closer” in the history of baseball could never (logically) be debated!  Even the majority of Mets’ and Red Sox fans seemingly and reluctantly have declared Mariano as the best closer!   

Mariano certainly accomplished phenomenal numbers throughout his career, including being the Most Valuable Player in the 1999 World Series.  He threw the same pitch for 19 seasons (the cutter), breaking so many bats and perplexing every hitter.  His achieved numbers are overwhelmingly impressive.  Here are just some his record-owning key stats:

652 saves

0.70 E.R.A. in the playoffs

42 (there goes that famous number again) saves in the post-season

25 saves (or more) for 15 consecutive seasons

An E.R.A. below 2.00 for 11 seasons
A career E.R.A. of 2.21

Even with such dominating stats and even with his 100% supporting votes from the baseball writers today, it is clearly the humbleness that places Mariano above the rest.  I couldn’t be more ecstatic to write this article today and I am certainly overly proud to call Mariano Rivera one of my favorite players and heroes!