He wasn’t a big talker. We would hang out, but Mo didn’t go out to sports bars after the game like a lot of us. Mo’s quiet. The funniest thing I remember was Mariano trying to teach Jeter [to speak] Spanish. Jeter kept screwing it up; he would constantly butcher words. I was taking college Spanish classes at the time during the off season when I came home, so I didn’t know a lot of Spanish, but I knew enough to know Jeter was getting it all wrong. Mo was real patient with him, and eventually, Jeter would get it right.
I was so bummed out when Mo retired. I felt like a part of me was retiring. It’s been great to be able to say I played with him in the minor leagues, but with him retiring, it was sad for me. I hate to see him go, but I’m glad he’s going out like he is, in my opinion, as the best of all time—while he still is Mariano. Going out healthy and on top, it’s fun to watch him. I’ve been a Yankees fan since I was a little boy, and anytime Mo comes in the game, whatever we’re doing at that time, we all stop and watch him pitch. It’s fun to see him dominate.
He’s the one person in the game that I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say anything bad about, and that’s a testament to him. I’ve never once heard anything bad said about Mariano.
Johnny Damon
Outfield
Playing Career
Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Tampa Bay Rays, and Cleveland Indians from 1995 to 2012
Career Statistics
2,490 games, 2,769 hits, 235 home runs, 1,139 runs batted in, .284 batting average, .352 on-base percentage, .433 slugging percentage
Johnny Damon facing Mariano Rivera (regular season)
5-for-29, 0 extra-base hits, 2 runs batted in, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts, .172 batting average, .250 on-base percentage, .172 slugging percentage
Mo Cred
Damon played with the Yankees as Rivera’s teammate from 2006 to 2009 and was a member of the 2009 World Series championship team.
MARIANO IS DEFINITELY the best closer of all time, probably the best pitcher of all time, too. You know what pitch you’re getting from him, you get ready for that pitch, he throws you that pitch, and then your bat’s breaking. It’s no fun. That’s what makes him special; you knew what pitch was coming and you still couldn’t make good contact.
Johnny Damon
Year Date Result
1996 4/11 Single
4/22 Pop out
7/27 Pop out
8/2 Fielder’s choice
8/5 Fielder’s choice
1997 5/2 Fielder’s choice
5/10 Single
8/4 Ground out
8/14 Pop out
2000 4/14 Reached on error
8/3 Ground out
9/4 Walk
2001 4/27 Ground out
4/29 Ground out
Postseason 10/11 Triple
10/13 Foul out
2003 5/21 Ground out
7/6 Single
7/7 Ground out
7/25 Strikeout (Swinging)
8/30 Walk (1 RBI)
Postseason 10/11 Ground out
10/16 Fielder’s choice
2004 4/18 Fly out
4/24 Walk
7/1 Ground out
9/17 Single (1 RBI)
Postseason 10/13 Strikeout (Looking)
10/17 Reached on error
10/18 Single
10/20 Ground out
2005 4/5 Fly out
4/6 Single
4/13 Ground out
7/14 Strikeout (Swinging)
7/16 Line out
7/17 Ground out
9/11 Ground out
10/1 Ground out
2011 5/17 Ground out
I don’t think too many guys have had great success off him. I definitely did not. I started to get a little bit better towards the end of my career, but still, a little bit better, like hitting .150, is not good. What I tried to do was take the cutter away by moving towards him. Normally my back foot is against the back line of the batter’s box, but against Mo, I would straddle the plate so I’m closer to the pitcher. It makes the fastball seem harder, but hopefully I can get to that cutter before it moves too much. Later in my career, I started to make better contact, but he still made firewood out of my bat.*
He’s done so many great things throughout the years. He not only racks up the saves, and racks up the World Series rings, but he actually goes and teaches the young kids how to grip the cutter, how to get better, how to approach the game. You always see how focused he is, he pays attention to every hitter and every situation. There’s a different approach to attacking a hitter who’s hot, and a different approach to a hitter who’s not. Mariano is always paying attention.
The comeback against the Yankees in 2004 is a series that will always be dear to me, and to Red Sox Nation, because of how close we were to being done. Most of us actually felt like we were done. In baseball there’s a never-say-die attitude. But when Mariano steps on the mound you know your chances are very slim.
No, he and I never discussed that series. I have too much respect for the game, and for him. When somebody is successful, there’s somebody who fails. Pitchers can make the nastiest pitch, but hitters can get lucky sometimes, hit a blooper that falls in, and that could be the difference in a game, that could be a series. That’s why I never showed anybody up, or pimped a home run, because I know with success there’s a failure and I would never want a pitcher to show me up after a strikeout or after a season-ending, playoff-ending performance.
Mo Respect
Jim Edmonds
The flashy center fielder hit the first home run ever allowed by Rivera. Edmonds struck out his first two at-bats facing the rookie Rivera and then hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth inning of a 10-0 Yankees’ loss to the Angels at Anaheim Stadium, on May 23, 1995. Rivera, making his major league debut, fanned the first two hitters he faced but then got hit hard and did not escape the fourth inning.
Jim Edmonds
Year Date Result
1995 5/23 Strikeout (Looking)
Strikeout (Swinging)
Home run (3 RBI)
1996 8/30 Strikeout
1997 4/7 Fly out
4/8 Ground out
8/21 Fly out
1998 8/25 Single
8/26 Strikeout (Swinging)
1999 9/4 Strikeout (Swinging)
2003 6/15 Ground out
I do remember that. He was throwing hard. I always thought he’d be good.
When we had the lead in Game Six of the 2009 World Series and Mariano came in, we felt very safe. You never want to get overexcited because you know this game of baseball can love you and it can rip your heart out. When Mo closed the door, it was special; it was another defining moment of my career. Winning that World Series was special because to do it with that core of players like Jeter, Pettitte, Posada, and Rivera—the winningest players of our generation—it actually made my move from Boston even more satisfying.
Darin Erstad
Outfield and First base
Playing Career
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Chicago White Sox, and Houston Astros from 1996 to 2009
Career Statistics
1,654 games, 1,697 hits, 124 home runs, 699 runs batted in, .282 batting average, .336 on-base percentage, .407 slugging percentage
Darin Erstad facing Mariano Rivera (regular season)
5-for-12, 0 extra-base hits, 3 RBI, 3 strikeouts, 1 walk, .417 batting average, .462 on-base percentage, .417 slugging percentage
Mo Cred
Erstad is a two-time All-Star, a three-time Gold Glove Award winner, and member of the Angels’ 2002 World Series championship team.
THE BEST AT-BAT I ever had against Mariano was an eleven-pitch battle in 1998. It’s the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium, we’re losing by a run, and [Norberto] Martin got a two-out single. He’s on first base and I get down in the count no balls, two strikes, and then I foul off some tough pitches and work myself back into the at-ba
t. I get [the count] to three-and-two and hit a soft line drive down the right-field line. I broke my bat again, but I got a hit, and Martin scored from first and we tied the game. It was during a pennant race, and it’s in the ninth inning
in Yankee Stadium, so that was an electric moment.*
Darin Erstad
Year Date Result
1997 4/8 Single
4/15 Foul out
8/21 Single
1998 8/26 Single (1 RBI)
1999 6/20 Single (1 RBI)
9/4 Strikeout (Swinging)
2000 4/3 Walk
8/18 Fielder’s choice (1 RBI)
2001 8/3 Pop out
2002 (Postseason) 10/1 Single
2003 7/31 Strikeout (Swinging)
2005 7/30 Strikeout (Swinging)
7/31 Single
Postseason 10/4 Single (1 RBI)
2006 4/9 Ground out
I relished those situations. Any time you’re facing the best, during those moments when everybody’s senses are heightened, that’s the greatest challenge, and that’s why you’re playing the game. Yankee Stadium is the greatest place to play of any venue that I’ve ever played in. There’s so much electricity in the stadium, and you can feel the ghosts of the past. To get to play in Yankee Stadium and bat against Mariano Rivera, oh my goodness, that’s what it’s all about.
Mariano Rivera should be one of the wonders of the world. Every person that loves baseball should get the chance to stand in [the batter’s box] against him and see what his cutter looks like, because it defies what a baseball is supposed to do. When he throws a cutter, being a left-handed hitter, the ball gets halfway there and then it seems to explode out of a cannon sideways at you. Until you get in there and get your bat blown in half, you really don’t believe it. There’s no way you can explain that pitch to somebody, until you get in the batter’s box, and see it with your own eyes.
All of us [professional baseball players] get paid because we know how to hit a baseball, and for a guy to throw one pitch and be that successful, it defies all the laws of the game. A pitcher can throw a straight ball 110 miles per hour, and major league hitters who know it’s coming are going to catch up to it. But Mariano has the ability to create deception with the pitch, to make it feel like it explodes on you. God gave him an unbelievable gift, and he’s used that gift to [reach] the highest level.
You don’t forget your at-bats against Mariano. I’m proud of how I did against him. Most of those hits I got early. My first five at-bats against him I got three hits, but I had six broken bats in five at-bats. I got jammed and hit bloopers that dropped in [safely]. I remember one at-bat in the first game of the 2002 playoffs. It was late in the game, and the Yankees were winning by a few runs. I hit a soft, broken-bat line drive between first and second. I’m standing on the base and [Yankees’ first baseman] Jason Giambi said, “How do you hit him?”
I said, “I don’t really hit him. He breaks my bat every time. I just get lucky.”*
When I was playing with the Angels, the left-handed batters had a philosophy of moving farther away from the plate against Mariano. I credit Orlando Palmeiro** for coming up with the idea. By moving away from the plate, you’re literally turning the inner third of the plate into the middle or outer third of the plate. This worked a couple of times; we got some big hits off him. The most memorable time we got to Mariano was when we made a comeback from five runs down and Mo Vaughn hit a home run off him and we tied the game.*** We knew the odds were stacked against us, but we were a resilient team that could swing the bats. For that [comeback] to happen the baseball gods were on our side that day.
The year after I retired [in 2010], my wife, Jessica, and I organized a charity golf tournament to help the Orange County Child Abuse Prevention Center. I bought a couple of Rivera jerseys and I asked the visiting clubhouse guy to see if he’d sign the jerseys for us. I’m sure he gets asked all the time to sign memorabilia, and he could have easily said no, but he didn’t, he said yes, and signed the jerseys. The guy is a Hall of Famer that could be requesting money for his signature but out of the goodness of his heart he did it. I’ll remember that more than anything else he did on the field. That’s the kind of person he is. You read all the great stories about him, you hear of his reputation as one of the most selfless people, and that’s the truth. He helped us raise a lot of money for our charity.
Lew Ford
Outfield
Playing Career
Minnesota Twins and Baltimore Orioles from 2003–2007, 2012
Career Statistics
519 games, 425 hits, 35 home runs, 176 runs batted in, .268 batting average, .345 on-base percentage, .399 slugging percentage
Lew Ford facing Mariano Rivera (regular season)
0-for-2, 1 strikeout
Mo Cred
Ford faced Rivera more times in the postseason than in the regular season.
Lew Ford
Year Date Result
2003 (Postseason) 10/4 Strikeout (Swinging)
2004 8/19 Strikeout (Looking)
9/29 Ground out
Postseason 10/5 Strikeout (Swinging)
10/9 Pop out
I THINK I STRUCK out the first five times I faced him [including at-bats in spring training games]. I wasn’t a guy that struck out a lot, so it was really frustrating. I remember thinking: “Just put the ball in play, just one time.”*
That’s really not what you want to be thinking when you’re going up to bat—just put the ball in play. But he’s one pitcher that I did not even get the ball in play in against him.
I remember getting the ball in play once. I hit one off my fists right back to him, a little slow roller, and he got me at first [base]. I think that’s the only ball I ever put in play against him.
It’s almost like [he’s] a freak of nature. There’s no one else like him; he’s a really special player.
Mo Respect
Brett Gardner
Gardner was Rivera’s teammate on the Yankees from 2008 to 2013, and was a member of the 2009 World Series championship team.
The biggest moment was being able to stand out in center field behind him in the 2009 World Series. When you’re a little kid, you grow up dreaming of playing in the big leagues. I don’t know if I can ever say I grew up dreaming of being in the World Series in Yankee Stadium in center field with Mariano Rivera on the mound, so it doesn’t get any better than that. It’s something you never forget. It’s almost surreal. Growing up a little kid in South Carolina, I never really dreamed I’d be able to be a part of that, so it’s really nice to be able to call him a teammate.
Luis Gonzalez
Left field
Playing Career
Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Florida Marlins from 1990 to 2008
Career Statistics
2,591 games, 2,591 hits, 354 home runs, 1,439 runs batted in, .283 batting average, .367 on-base percentage, .479 slugging percentage
Luis Gonzalez facing Mariano Rivera (regular season)
0-for-2
Mo Cred
Gonzalez got the winning hit off Rivera in Game Seven of the 2001 World Series.
IT’S WEIRD BECAUSE every time I go somewhere, somebody talks about that hit. I played for eighteen years in the major leagues, hit over 350 homers, fifteenth all time in doubles with 596, and everybody always says: “You’re the guy who got the bloop single off Mariano Rivera.”
But when they say “to win the World Series” that means a lot.
Luis Gonzalez
Year Date Result
1998 4/24 Ground out
4/25 Pop out
2001 (Postseason) 10/30 Strikeout (Looking)
10/31 Ground out
11/4 Strikeout (Swinging)
11/4 Single (1 RBI)
Getting an opportunity to go to the plate in Game Seven in the World Series and to face the greatest reliever of all time, that was the highlight of my career, by far. If you look
at Mariano’s reputation and his numbers in the postseason, to be able to come back in the ninth inning against him, that is something that never happens. That Yankees team had won so many championships, and they’d been in that situation before, and usually, when those guys got a team down, they closed the door, they put the nail in the coffin.
Believe me, we knew we had a tough task at hand. Although we were swimming against the current, we still had fight in us. [First baseman] Mark Grace kept saying: “C’mon guys, you gotta believe, you gotta believe.” That was our motto the whole season. Our ball club was filled with veteran guys that were all journeymen. We were guys who played for three or four different organizations, guys that played many years in the major leagues, but didn’t stick with one team. So the adversity didn’t bother our guys. This was just the mountain we had to climb over, which was named Mariano Rivera.
The ninth inning started with swirling winds and rain, stuff that doesn’t normally happen in Arizona. There were a lot of strange things going on in that game; the strangest of all was Mariano not closing that game out. After Grace singled to start the ninth, Mariano threw the bunt away. When does Mariano ever make a throwing error? The grass was wet from the rain, which is rare. Mariano picked up a wet ball. I told you there were strange things going on. On the next bunt, he makes a great play. Then Tony [Womack] doubles, and we tie the game.
Now there’s base runners on second and third, and [Craig] Counsell is up with one out. I’m on deck, thinking: “He was the Most Valuable Player of the [National League] Championship Series, he had been swinging the bat well, and he has a shot at winning this game.”
In my mind I was figuring the game would be over with Counsell hopefully getting a hit or getting that runner in from third. When Mariano hit him [with a pitch], I was like, “Oh shoot, here we go.” It was a rush.*
My mindset in that situation was to try to get something into the outfield. Mariano had already pitched the eighth inning, and I struck out swinging. Seeing him a second time in that game [in the ninth inning] didn’t help me. That had no play. Mariano is a guy you could see him a million times and he can get you out every time up. He’s a great pitcher—with one pitch—the cutter. He has a psychological advantage on hitters because of the fact that everyone knows how good his cutter is. Being a left-handed batter, the pitch comes in on your hands and eats you up like Pac Man.*
Facing Mariano Rivera Page 9