Tribute
                                                       Mariano Rivera

                                By: Aaron Fischman

 

July 24, 2008 - A Tribute to Mariano Rivera

Mariano Rivera was born on November 29, 1969 in Panama City, Panama. He and Hall of Famer Rod Carew are generally regarded as the best Panamenian-born baseball players in MLB history. Carlos Lee is also from Panama, but his skill does not compare to Rivera and Carew.

Rivera may be 38 years of age this season, but he is still tearing up the league. As of July 23, he has not blown a save yet in 2008. Which is incredible, considering how poorly the Yankees began the season. To go along with that perfect save completion percentage, Rivera has walked only four batters all season. Even more remarkably, his road ERA stands at 0.47; hitters against Rivera on the road are hitting just .138.

In other words, Rivera has been virtually unhittable this season.

But Rivera's success far exceeds this season. He is often called the best relief pitcher in the history of the game and I couldn't agree more.

While Rivera's position as the "best ever" is certainly debatable (popular alternatives in that argument are Dennis Eckersley, Lee Smith, and Trevor Hoffman), I can say with confidence that Rivera has been the most consistent relief pitcher in history. The reliable righty has spent his entire fourteen-year career with one team, the New York Yankees, and he has been a closer for twelve of those fourteen seasons. In those twelve seasons, the Panamanian has not had one bad season. Not one! 2007 may have been a sub-par year for Rivera, but he was still able to notch 30 saves, while blowing only four saves, and acheiving a strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than 6:1.

At the moment, Rivera finds himself only ten saves behind Lee Smith for second place in that category on the all-time list. The career saves leader, Trevor Hoffman, has been the primary closer for the San Diego Padres since 1994. Rivera, on the other hand, did not become the everyday Yankees closer until 1997. That's a three-year head-start for Hoffman, so it's not surprising that he leads in all-time saves.

In 1996, while Hoffman was busy closing 42 games for the Padres, Rivera was the star set-up man in the Bronx. Yankees manager Joe Torre would often bring in Rivera to pitch the seventh and eighth innings before closer John Wetteland was called upon for the save. In 1997 Rivera took over as closer for the Yankees when Wetteland left the team as a free agent. Thus began the glorious reign of Rivera as closer.

Since then, Rivera has been killing the competition in nearly every statistical category. He has a career ERA of 2.30; much better than Hoffman's career ERA of 2.80. Rivera also has a much better win-loss record than Hoffman and has allowed far fewer home runs. In Rivera's time as a full-time closer, he has served up only 39 home runs. In his career, Rivera has seen action in 997.1 regular season innings; which means that he has allowed just 0.35 home runs per nine innings pitched. That's amazing. Hoffman, on the other hand, has allowed 79 homers as the Padres primary closer.

The favorable comparison doesn't stop there, either. Rivera is a nine-time All-Star, compared to only six appearances from Hoffman. Rivera is also a four-time World Series champion and a World Series MVP (in 1999). In contrast, Hoffman has only played in one World Series. Ironically, that appearance came against Rivera and the Yankees in 1998. Third baseman Scott Brosius won the World Series MVP that year and Rivera won the same award the next season.

Of course, Rivera hasn't always had postseason success. In fact, his only playoff loss came in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. In that game, Luis Gonzalez hit a bloop single off of Rivera with the bases loaded in the 9th inning to score the winning run for the D-Backs.

But Rivera has the mental toughness to come back strong from poor outings. Much of this fortitude is said to come from his strong religous faith. Fortunately, faith has paid off for Mariano. He is the only pitcher in MLB history to record 50 or more saves in two different seasons and, more importantly, he has experienced terrific postseason success.

Along with his faith, Rivera has grown accustomed to relying upon his trusty cut fastball over the years. His cutter is one of the nastiest pitches in the game and Rivera will throw it in virtually any situation. Much of his success over the years is owed to the perfection of that pitch; Rivera is truly the master of the cutter.

As mentioned earlier, Rivera's career regular season stats are incredible. But many people, including myself, feel that postseason play is more important. To that end, Rivera holds the best ERA of any pitcher in the postseason who qualifies in terms of innings pitched. Despite pitching 117.1 playoff innings over the years, Rivera's playoff ERA is a miniscule 0.77. Rivera has also won an ALCS MVP award in addition to the aforementioned World Series MVP award from 1999.

To go along with those individual stats, Rivera has experienced team success as well. He has been a part of four Yankee championships, including three that he closed out himself.

I also want to commend Rivera for putting up with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner for all those years. It's pretty remarkable that Rivera has been able to stay a Yankee for so long, given the Boss' penchant for "cleaning house" from time to time. Even legendary manager Joe Torre got the boot recently. But, through it all, Rivera still remains.

That long tenure in pinstripes is a tribute to Rivera's resiliency and focus. The man has acheived so much throughout his storied career and he certainly deserves that success. When he does decide to lay down that dangerous cut fastball and disappear into the shadows of Yankee Stadium, he will be rewarded with the opportunity to live on in our memories in the Hall of Fame, as the greatest reliever in baseball history.

 

 

 

 

 

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