He’s a knuckleballer without a knuckleball. The knuckleball is a fluke, it’s a freak pitch; there have only been four or five guys who have mastered the pitch. A lot of guys can throw a cutter—and a lot of guys throw really good cutters. But until the last five years of his career, people said his career was built on that one pitch, but it gets back to what I believe every pitcher must have to be a truly good pitcher—command. There’s a difference between control and command. Control is the ability to throw strikes. Command is the ability to throw a strike where you want to. Mariano commands his cutter to both sides of the plate.
It was never just a cutter; it’s not just one pitch. What a lot of people don’t understand is that his cutter is six pitches: To a left-handed batter he can throw it down and in, at the belt and in, and at the chest and in; and to a right-handed batter he throws it down and away, down and in, and at the belt and in. In theory it’s one pitch, but he has such command of it, that actually it’s like six pitches.
John Smoltz
Pitcher
Playing Career
Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, and St. Louis Cardinals from 1988 to 2009
Career Statistics
723 games, 213 wins, 155 losses, 154 saves, 3.33 earned run average, 3,473 innings, 3,074 hits, 1,010 walks 3,084 strikeouts
Mo Cred
Smoltz’s Braves lost to Rivera’s Yankees in the World Series in 1996 and 1999.
WE FACED MARIANO in the World Series in 1996, when he was the set-up man for the Yankees and they had a really good closer in John Wetteland. Mariano was so dominant that when he went out of the game, you thought, “Now we have a chance—and Wetteland, a good closer, was coming in the game!” Even then, you could see the future; very few times can you see the future in a player’s progression when he goes from set-up man to closer. He was closing games when we faced the Yankees again in the 1999 [World] Series and you could see what a great job he did when he got in that position.
He’s made general managers have nightmares in the sense that if you put Mariano on any team he’d still be the greatest closer to ever pitch. I don’t know if his impact would be as devastating on another team, because the Yankees were always in the postseason. It’s the chicken and the egg argument. Your team has to have the lead to get to him, and when you do get to him, the game is over. He’s the most consistently dominant closer in that role of any guy I’ve ever seen. The Yankees had other outstanding players, but he single-handedly was responsible for why the Yankees won those four out of five world championships. He’s an automatic first-time Hall of Famer. To have the statistics that he has is one thing, but to do it in the clutch, to get better in the postseason, is remarkable.
Mariano has changed the way the role of the closer is viewed. People today still think of the closer as a specialized role. It’s different from years ago when relievers went three innings to get a save. Baseball isn’t played against time, there’s no clock ticking, but the clock ticking in everyone’s mind is that if we don’t have the lead in the sixth inning, we better get it now, or by the seventh, because Mariano could come in and pitch two innings. He is such a great weapon to have, because your strategy changes if you’re the opposing manager, and the starting pitcher on your team feels better knowing that even if you get in trouble, there’s Mariano behind you to back you up. There’s such a psychological disadvantage [for an opponent] when Mariano comes in the game. You could say he had what Tiger [Woods] had for a long time when he stepped on the golf course, an advantage before he even threw a pitch.
He’s genetically able to do things unlike any other pitcher. If he could teach the cutter to somebody else I don’t think they could duplicate it. Everyone thinks pitching and bowling is the same where you have these mechanics down pat and you can repeat it. He has an ability to repeat his mechanics so smoothly, to make it look as easy as he does, it seems like he can throw forever.
Mike Stanton
Relief pitcher
Playing Career
Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Washington Nationals, San Francisco Giants, and Cincinnati Reds from 1989 to 2007
Career Statistics
1,178 games, 68 wins, 63 losses, 84 saves, 3.92 earned run average, 1,114 innings, 1,086 hits, 420 walks, 895 strikeouts
Mo Cred
Stanton spent seven seasons in the bullpen with Rivera while playing for the Yankees, and together they helped the team win three World Series titles in 1998, 1999, and 2000.
WITHOUT MARIANO, [the Yankees] might have won a World Series or two, but we don’t win all of them. When you have a guy like Mariano at the end of the game, especially in the postseason, who you know is a slam dunk to close out the game—he’s got 42 career postseason saves—when you have that guy at the end of a ballgame it makes your team that much better. You know that if you’re winning late in the game there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to win at the end. When that door opens and No. 42 comes galloping out of the bullpen, running like a gazelle because he’s such a great athlete, it’s like one out for your team right there. You can see guys in the other dugout put their heads down, because they know they’re going to be lucky to just square a ball up, much less get a run.
You look back at one of the few blown saves he had in the postseason—that was the Luis Gonzalez blooper over second base to lose Game Seven of the 2001 World Series—you see nothing is squared up on the guy. It’s unbelievable. It’s not really one pitch. He’s got a fastball that cuts and he’ll let up on it and turn it over, but it’s still all the same velocity. For big league hitters not to be able to put the head of the bat on the ball consistently, when all you’re doing is throwing with one velocity, it doesn’t matter how good those pitchers are, it’s absolutely incredible. He’s been a freak of nature his whole career.
What you look at when you talk about the greatest closer ever is how he goes about his business. There have been a lot of great closers, but for most of them, it’s always an adventure because they walk batters and always have guys on base. Not Mariano. I’d love to know the numbers, but it seems a large percentage of his saves come three up and three down. There’s no drama whatsoever. Hands down, there’s not even a question, he’s the greatest closer of all time. Dennis Eckersley was very good for several years, but what Mariano’s done, the way Mariano’s gone about it, the way he’s carried himself over the years, the mystique of doing it on the biggest stage in sports, year in and year out, with ice water running through his veins, I don’t think there’s an argument.
Mariano being the closer made my job easier. The job of a relief pitcher is to get someone else out of trouble. If I get in trouble, the next guy down the line, it’s his job to get me out of trouble. And if it’s a ball game the Yankees really have to have, there’s a good chance Mariano’s going to pitch more than one inning, so you just have to get a couple of outs.
What’s uncanny is how effective he is pitching to the first batter he faces. I want to know the batting average against him when facing the first batter; it can’t be higher than a .200 average. To repeat his mechanics, to put the ball where he wants to, it’s a blatant refusal to ever lose.
Most Games Pitched, All Time
Jesse Orosco 1,252
Mike Stanton 1,178
John Franco 1,119
Mariano Rivera 1,115
Dennis Eckersley 1,071
Hoyt Wilhelm 1,070
Dan Plesac 1,064
Mike Timlin 1,058
Kent Tekulve 1,050
Trevor Hoffman 1,035
Tanyon Sturtze
Pitcher
Playing Career
Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, and Los Angeles Dodgers from 1995 to 2008
Career Statistics
272 games, 40 wins, 44 losses, 3 saves, 5.19 earned run average, 797 innings, 886 hits, 333 walks, 480 strikeouts
Mo Cred
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p; Sturtze spent three seasons in the bullpen with Rivera playing for the Yankees in 2004, 2005, and 2006.
THE BIGGEST THRILL was being able to play catch with Mariano every day, and learning from him how to be a reliever. When I came to New York I was a starter and I really had no idea how to pitch out of the bullpen. He was a tremendous help to me in making the transition from a starting pitcher to a relief pitcher.
We were throwing partners for all the years that I was with the Yankees. I jumped [at the chance] because I wanted to be next to him. To play catch with Mariano is not like playing catch with anyone else. If you don’t hit him in the chest he got upset. It wasn’t playing catch to play catch—it was playing catch to work. That’s what he taught me. When you get to the field it’s time to work.
He makes having a simple catch into a game of concentration. It’s amazing to watch him play catch. You put your glove at a certain spot on your body—at your left shoulder or on your right hip—and he can throw the cutter right to that spot. Of course he threw cutters. I don’t think Mariano can throw a ball straight anymore, everything is a cutter and everything is right in the spot he wants to hit. He’s a perfectionist. It’s impressive to watch his work ethic and the way he goes about each day at the ballpark. That’s why he’s the greatest of all time.
Of course he was the captain of the bullpen. To go out every single night and do what he does on the mound is very impressive. Sometimes people take for granted how great he really is. It’s not that easy to get three outs in the ninth inning. So many times he got out of a difficult situation that you didn’t think was possible. He would make your jaw drop twice a month. It certainly made our job as relievers a lot easier knowing that if we made a mess he was coming in behind us and he’d clean it up. If we put him in a bad position with men on base with nobody out, he’d shatter three bats and get out of it. He was like Houdini—he’d always find a way to escape.
He helped me become a better person and a better reliever. Everything that he tells you has a meaning behind it. Mo is one of those guys that radiate positivity. To be around somebody who is like that, it rubs off on you. You won’t find a better person, or a more positive person. He truly treats everybody the same, whether you have one day in the big leagues or twenty years in the big leagues, it doesn’t matter to Mariano.
Rick Sutcliffe
Pitcher
Playing Career
Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, St. Louis Cardinals from 1978 to 1994
Career Statistics
457 games, 171 wins, 139 losses, 6 saves, 4.08 earned run average, 2,697 innings, 2,662 hits, 1,081 walks, 1,679 strikeouts
Mo Cred
Sutcliffe was the 1979 Rookie of the Year and the 1984 National League Cy Young Award winner.
IT WAS AN emotional farewell to Mariano at Yankee Stadium. It’s as close as we’ll ever get to perfect in the game of baseball. Mariano started tearing up. We were crying with him. It was great emotion, great theater. I thought what they did at the All-Star Game would never be topped, when he came in by himself in the eighth inning, and everyone in the world stood up and applauded, but this was even better.*
I salute the Yankees for thinking of it, and [Derek] Jeter and [Andy] Pettitte for going out to the mound. It was perfection. At the All-Star Game at Citi Field, the ovation Mariano got from the fans when it was just him out there on the mound, and also from his peers on both sides of the field, tells you there’s never been anybody—player, pitcher, reliever, starter—like Mariano Rivera before.
Mariano thrived playing in New York. There’s no other organization in baseball that has had twenty consecutive winning seasons. That sustained success gave Mariano the opportunity to save all those games. We know Trevor Hoffman also has 600 career saves, but the separation of Mariano Rivera and any other closer is what he’s done in the postseason, and no other organization has been there as many times as the Yankees.
No pitcher has such an impact on the opposing team by just warming up. As a manager you know you only have twenty-four outs to get the lead, because if you’re behind going into the ninth inning you’re going to lose that ballgame. The one statistic that jumps out at me, and there’s so many of them with Mariano Rivera, is he pitched in 96 postseason games, and every one of them was with the game on the line, and he only had one loss, in the 2001 World Series against Arizona. I spoke to [Yankees’ manager] Joe Girardi and Joe told me the bullpen of the New York Yankees has been the biggest key to their success in championship games. Looking back on it, they’ve always had that closer in Mariano Rivera to go out there and nail down those World Series victories.
Joe was saying there’s no doubt in his mind that Mariano could be effective for two or three more years. But he’s lost that desire to prepare to play. The desire to play is always going to be there. It’s the preparation that Mariano Rivera put into everything, not only physically, as you look at him the body is still the same, but the mental part of it. We know that he had the legendary cutter, but he did the research, he did the homework, to find out where to place that cutter to stay away from opposing hitters’ power. He always talked about staying away from slugging percentage. He not only had the ability to throw that pitch but to locate it, and know where to locate it.
Heartfelt Hugs
I didn’t expect for him to be quite so emotional. He broke down and just gave me a bear hug, and I just bear-hugged him back. He was really crying. He was weeping. I could feel him crying on me.
—Andy Pettitte
We’ve been through everything together. I’m just happy he was able to go out like this. What the fans did for him this whole homestand was awesome. I’m grateful I’ve been his teammate for parts of 21 years.
—Derek Jeter
After the eighth inning, I knew I was going back for the last time. It was a totally different feeling. I had all the flashbacks from the minor leagues to the big leagues all the way to this moment. It was a little hard. I was able to compose myself and come back out.
They both came to get me out and I was thankful they came out. I needed them there and they were there. I was bombarded with emotions and feelings that I couldn’t describe. Everything hit at that time. I knew that that was the last time, period. I never felt something like that before.
—Mariano Rivera
When I think of Mariano Rivera I think about Greg Maddux. He was the greatest starting pitcher of my time, Mariano being the greatest closer. It’s not natural ability, as much as both of those guys were smarter than the other people they went up against. When I think of Mariano Rivera, we always talk about his cutter, but it’s the intelligence that he has to prepare, to stay away of where the hitter can do the most damage. He throws it to both sides of the plate, and he would elevate it to finish people off. So that’s where the encyclopedic mindset comes into play, separating him from other people that have equal ability.
Mo Respect
Justin Verlander
The Detroit Tigers’ ace gave Mariano Rivera a warm hug as Rivera walked off the mound following his final All-Star Game appearance at Citi Field in New York, on July 16, 2013.
I didn’t tell Mariano anything. It was just an embrace. I wanted to show my respect for his career and what he’s done. I just wanted to give him the respect that he deserved.
I didn’t plan to be the first one out there. It just sort of happened that way. I was standing by the dugout railing and I was the first one he came to. For him to come over and give me a hug, what an experience, that’s something I’ll always remember.
It’s kind of surreal for me. I had tears in my eyes. It was so special. I’ll never forget it. I have so much respect for him as a person and as a player, and that’s the experience I’ll never forget. That is a moment, absolutely, one hundred percent. Being his teammate for the day is something I’m going to tell my kids about.
Ron Villone
Relief pitcher
Playing Career
&
nbsp; Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, Houston Astros, Pittsburgh Pirates, Florida Marlins, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, and Washington Nationals from 1995 to 2009
Career Statistics
717 games, 61 wins, 65 losses, 8 saves, 4.73 earned run average, 1,168 innings, 1,115 hits, 637 walks, 925 strikeouts
Mo Cred
Villone spent two seasons in the bullpen with Rivera while playing for the Yankees in 2006 and 2007.
YOU KNEW WHEN Mariano Rivera arrived in the bullpen—especially at home—because everyone in the crowd near the bullpen got loud. If you didn’t know he was in the bullpen, you sure felt his presence by the rumble in Yankee Stadium. When he walks into the bullpen he’s there to get ready to take care of business.
Mariano is the consummate professional. He knows how to go about his business, and how to take care of business. He understands the task at hand every single day. He doesn’t change; he doesn’t veer from the course of success. He had a routine. Anybody who’s successful has a routine. Baseball players are creatures of habit. Mariano was good at his routine, which was to get to the bullpen at the same time every day, and to do the same things to get ready before the game.
Believe me, he is intense. You don’t weigh his intensity by looking at the emotion in his face; you measure his intensity by what’s between his ears. He’s a mild-mannered man. He has an inner strength and an ability to hold everything together, even in the most pressure-packed situation in sports. He’s that way on a daily basis, whether it’s the first game of the season or the last game of the World Series. You can’t teach it. He has the innate ability to take pressure and put it in his pocket. If you need to describe the term “closer,” he describes it better than anybody ever has. He’s the singular meaning of domination.
Facing Mariano Rivera Page 22