Juan Nieves
Pitching Coach
Playing Career
Milwaukee Brewers from 1986 to 1988
Mo Cred
Nieves, the current Boston Red Sox pitching coach, was a minor league pitching instructor for the Yankees from 1992 to 1996.
I SAW MARIANO FOR the first time in minor league spring training in 1992. You knew he had a presence about him right away. He had the serenity of a pitcher. His dedication and routine—he was very calm, yet a gladiator on the mound. The records speak for everything. But you could tell—the presence, the demeanor—it was coming. It was a matter of time.
He was mostly a straight fastball guy, threw some change ups, really solid delivery, was able to throw strikes all the time. Just a great delivery, [but because of the lack of secondary pitches] he projected more as a reliever.
I hope people watched him a lot, because there’s only one of those guys. He’s in a league of his own. We’re speaking about the best of the best.
Herb Raybourn
Raybourn is a former New York Yankees scout and Director of Latin American Operations who signed Rivera to an amateur free agent contract, which included a signing bonus of $3,500, on February 17, 1990.
HE WAS A great find. I was fortunate. The good Lord was with me. I was there [in Panama] the year before and I passed on him. He was a shortstop then. He showed good range, and I saw that he could run, he had a good arm, and he had good hands. But I didn’t think he’d be able to hit that well in the big leagues, as far as the long ball.
As a scout, you’re signing players to get to the big leagues, not Double A or Triple A. The fielding was very good. I gave him good marks in his fielding and throwing. But his hitting was questionable. I couldn’t project him playing in the big leagues as a shortstop, so I just gave up on him.
I went back [to Panama] a year later and we got him. I got a call from a young player who was the regular catcher for Rivera. He said, “Mr. Raybourn, I have a player for you. His name is Mariano Rivera.”
I said: “The Mariano Rivera I knew was a shortstop.”
He told me that he was a pitcher now. We went for a workout behind his house [in Puerto Caimito]. It didn’t even have a mound. It was just a slope.
I took a scout with me who hadn’t seen Mariano. He brought along a radar gun. The radar gun wasn’t really being lit up. Mariano was throwing 84, 86 [miles per hour]. He wouldn’t have been signed in the States. In the States, if you see a boy throw like him, you skip past. He threw nine pitches. I saw enough at nine pitches.
What I liked about Mariano was the fluidness of his arm. He had one of those nice loose arms. Plus, his ball had a lot of movement. You could picture him pitching in the majors, being a starter or a reliever.
Why didn’t any of the other scouts sign him before I got back to Panama? There was no competition. There was nobody else when I came along. I couldn’t offer $50,000 to a guy who hasn’t gotten one offer. Nobody had given him even a hint of an offer. You had to go with what the market calls for. Nobody else liked him.
His father [also named Mariano] is a wonderful person. He’s a very reserved man. He worked hard [to make a living as a fisherman in Panama]. And the mother [Delia], whenever I would stop by and see them, she fixes a fish soup for me. The only really physical work Mariano was doing was the fishing. But all that fishing, and pulling on lines—even though he was weighing about 160 pounds, his arms had a little bit of definition. I could picture him pitching in the big leagues with that arm. The looseness was the thing that really impressed me.
Hoyt Wilhelm [the late Hall of Fame pitcher who was a Yankees minor league pitching coach in 1990] would use Rivera whenever he could. Hoyt loved his arm. Three days before the end of the season, Hoyt says: “Herb, do you think we could use Mariano to start a game?”
I asked Hoyt when he last pitched.
He said: “Yesterday.”
“He’s only going to have two days of rest,” I said.
Scout’s Honor
Former Yankees scout Herb Raybourn filed this report assessing Mariano Rivera shortly before he signed the pitcher who would become the greatest closer the game as ever known.
Physical Description: Tall. Lean. Broad shoulders. Long arms. Big hands. Long, strong legs. Good pitching body. No glasses. No injuries.
Abilities: Loose, live arm. Fastball has sinking action. Fastball ranges between 84 and 87. Good athlete. Can also play the infield and outfield. Can also hit.
Weaknesses: Needs work with mechanics. Lacks strength.
Summary: Has potential to become an above-average pitcher.
Hoyt said: “Let’s throw him in there! His arm bounces back. He’ll be able to pitch. He’s going home as soon as he finishes the game—and he’s got all winter to rest up.”
Well you know what? He pitched a seven-inning, no-hit, no-run game.
I really couldn’t project him too far out, but I knew he was going to do well. I thought he could go pretty far, put it that way.
Mo Respect
Larry Rothschild
Rothschild was Rivera’s pitching coach from 2011 through 2013.
It’s an honor [to coach him]. Any time you’re around the guy that is probably the best in the game—and maybe the best ever—at what he’s doing, no matter how much you’ve seen and what you’ve done, it’s an honor to be around, especially when you see the way he’s carried himself.
Glenn Sherlock
Manager and Coach
New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks
Sherlock managed and coached in the Yankees’ organization from 1989 to 1995. He is currently bullpen coach for the Diamondbacks.
Mo Cred
Sherlock was Rivera’s manager for the Yankees’ rookie league team in Tampa in the Gulf Coast League in 1990.
HE WAS VERY quiet. He didn’t speak a lot of English. He was a very nice kid that went about his business in a professional manner. He was very intelligent, very classy, very respectful, and very determined. He had great aptitude.
Obviously we didn’t know at that time that he was going to be maybe the greatest relief pitcher of all time. I don’t know if anybody is that smart. What we did see was that he had a very good work ethic and he did a lot of the little things very well, like the bunt defenses and the pitchers fielding practice. He put a lot of effort into [his work]. He was an extremely good athlete.
Hoyt Wilhelm [the Hall of Fame pitcher] was our pitching coach and he used to play a game with the pitchers so they could have some fun. He’d let them bat and shag [fly balls] and Mariano could really hit and he could really play the outfield. He was clearly one of the best athletes we had on the team. He was just a great athlete.
He was close to qualifying for the ERA [earned run average] title that year, but he needed [five] more innings because he had mostly been pitching as a reliever. We had a doubleheader on the last day of the season, so we talked to Mitch Lukevics, the farm director at the time, about starting Mariano in one of the games. We got an okay and Mariano pitched a seven-inning no-hitter, which was pretty amazing.
Mo Respect
Mike Scioscia
Scioscia has managed the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim since 2000.
I mean this in a good way, but he’s a freak. You don’t see people dominate the way he has for so long. Of any relief pitcher in modern-day baseball, no one has had more of an impact on their club than Mariano has with the Yankees.
Joe Torre
Manager
Torre was the Yankees’ manager for twelve seasons from 1996 to 2007. The Yankees made the postseason each year of his tenure, and won ten American League East division titles, six A.L. pennants, and four World Series championships.
I WOULDN’T BE WEARING World Series rings without him. What he’s done in a high-pressurized role for a high-pressurized organization in the City of New York, it’s not easy to do. Trust me.
I felt privileged to manage him. He certainly kept me there as a set-up
man that first year. He’s the best I’ve ever been around. Not only the ability to pitch and perform under pressure, but the calm he puts over the clubhouse. He was very important for us.
We found going in to the 1996 season that he was always very quiet. We didn’t know where he fit [in our bullpen rotation], and all of a sudden, he became the seventh and eighth inning guy. He’s an intimidating guy even though he doesn’t huff and puff out there on the mound. He has that velvet hammer, where he’s just very smooth, very easy, and then all of a sudden, things explode.
We turned him into a closer in 1997. Oakland came into New York early in the year, and beat Mo in the ninth. It’s never a good sign when your new closer is really down in the dumps. I remember saying: “This may happen a few more times, Mo, but you’re our closer and you’re going to have to live with it.”*
It took him a little time, but he got that swagger.
He never blames anybody. We saw that early on, which always bodes well for teammates. He’s such a responsible person, and he’s got such elegance, and a great deal of class. I signed a picture of his the other day of him and former teammates, and underneath my autograph I wrote: “Nobody did it better.”
And that’s not only on the field, that’s off the field. What he did as a closer on the field is just a fraction of what he does off the field. He’s a special human being. I know last year [2012] he was torn [over whether or not to retire after the season], but once he got hurt, there was no way he was going to go out like that. I’m very happy for him.
Mo and Joe
Joe Torre, speaking at a ceremony to honor Mariano Rivera at Houston’s Minute Maid Park on the final day of the 2013 season:
I started managing the Yankees in 1996 and I was there for twelve years. Trust me, you don’t get a chance to manage for George Steinbrenner for twelve years unless you have somebody like Mo coming out of the bullpen.
In addition to all of Mariano’s accomplishments, the thing that I most appreciated was the fact that when somebody came into our clubhouse, a player [traded over] from another ball club or [called up] from the minor leagues, and looked like he was out of place somewhat, Mariano would be that guy that would go over and put his arm around him.
What he does that doesn’t happen on the field was so important to our success because I think we tend to forget that this game of baseball is played by people and these players certainly were made to feel welcome by Mo.
*Rivera had a 5-3 record for the Yankees at Fort Lauderdale in 1992. He allowed 15 earned runs in 59 innings pitched—for a 2.28 earned run average—and only 45 runners reached base against him. He allowed 40 hits and 5 walks while striking out 42 batters.
*Rivera had a 2-2 record for the Yankees at Columbus in 1995. He allowed 7 earned runs in 30 innings pitched—for a 2.10 earned run average—and only 28 runners reached base against him. He allowed 25 hits and 3 walks while striking out 30 batters.
*Rivera was credited with an official no-hitter against the Rochester Red Wings, even though the game was shortened to five innings by rain, on June 26, 1995. Rivera struck out six and walked one. He had been up with the Yankees earlier that season, but was 1-2 with a 10.20 earned run average and was sent back down to Columbus for more instruction. He returned to the Yankees and finished his first major league season with a 5-3 record and a 5.51 earned run average.
*Girardi caught Rivera’s first career save, an 8-5 victory over the Angels in Anaheim, on May 17, 1996. Girardi was 2-for-4 in the game, including a fifth-inning single to drive home Derek Jeter with the go-ahead run and give the Yankees a lead they would not relinquish.
*The Tigers were the first team in the regular season to pay tribute to Rivera on his farewell tour, before the series finale on Sunday, April 7, 2013. Leyland presented Rivera with framed photographs of him pitching at Tiger Stadium and Comerica Park, with dirt from the mounds at both parks. Rivera then joked to the crowd that he is old enough to have pitched in both places.
*The Yankees appeared in the World Series seven times between 1996 and 2009, and won five championships, in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2009.
*Rivera made his first major league appearance against the Angels in Anaheim, on May 23, 1995, and it didn’t go well. Rivera started the game but lasted just three innings as he was knocked around for five runs and eight hits in a 10-0 loss.
*Rivera had a 5-1 record for the Yankees in the Gulf Coast League in 1990. He allowed one earned run in 52 innings pitched—for a 0.17 earned run average—and only 24 runners reached base against him. He allowed 17 hits and 7 walks while striking out 58 batters.
*Rivera underwent surgery in August 1992 to repair ligament damage to his right elbow. He successfully rehabilitated his elbow in early 1993 and resumed pitching that season.
*In the ninth game of the 1997 season, his first as the closer, Rivera was called into the game against the Athletics in the top of the ninth inning to protect a 1-0 lead at Yankee Stadium, on April 11, 1997. Rivera had all of seven career saves at this point. Oakland slugger Mark McGwire promptly hit Rivera’s first pitch over the fence for a game-tying home run. Rivera surrendered two more hits before securing the third out of the ninth, and the Yankees went on to lose, 3-1, in twelve innings.
Mariano Rivera Career Stats
Regular Season
Postseason
Saves by Opponent
vs. Baltimore Orioles 79
vs. Tampa Bay Rays 64
vs. Boston Red Sox 58
vs. Toronto Blue Jays 54
vs. Chicago White Sox 43
vs. Texas Rangers 40
vs. Kansas City Royals 37
vs. Seattle Mariners 37
vs. Minnesota Twins 36
vs. Oakland Athletics 35
vs. Cleveland Indians 31
vs. Detroit Tigers 30
vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 28
vs. New York Mets 20
vs. Atlanta Braves 8
vs. Florida Marlins 6
vs. Colorado Rockies 5
vs. Houston Astros 5
vs. Philadelphia Phillies 5
vs. Arizona Diamondbacks 4
vs. Chicago Cubs 4
vs. Milwaukee Brewers 4
vs. San Diego Padres 4
vs. Washington Nationals 4
vs. Cincinnati Reds 3
vs. Los Angeles Dodgers 3
vs. St. Louis Cardinals 3
vs. San Francisco Giants 2
vs. Pittsburgh Pirates 0
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I RECOGNIZE THAT A project of this scope could not be completed without the cooperation of a number of people. To the media relations and publicity professionals working for each of the thirty major league baseball teams, I am extremely appreciative for your help in providing me with access to your team’s players and for putting me in contact with retired players. To all the player agents and their assistants, I cannot thank you enough for helping to connect me with your clients. I know their time is valuable during the season as they prepare themselves for the most difficult challenge in all of sport—to hit a round ball with a round bat squarely.
Any insecurities I held about this project’s viability were quickly batted away when the player agents and team public relations coordinators told me that this book was a great idea and one that they’d look forward to reading. Since these were the very people that I was depending on to present the interview request to the players for their consideration, I was comforted to know that they were my allies in the process. I owe a debt of gratitude to all of these people who work so hard behind the scenes to make the media machine run so smoothly.
Even with all the revealing interviews to transcribe and edit, there still was much information to compile and fact-check. Several wonderful Internet destinations served as my invaluable lifeline for data, box scores, statistics, and play-by-play accounts, including baseball-reference.com, newyork.yankees.mlb.com, thebaseballcube.com, and baseball-almanac.com, all of which are terrific research to
ols for journalists and fun Web surfing for hard-core baseball fans.
Niels Aaboe of Skyhorse Publishing not only got this project off the ground, he steered it, and me, in the right direction. I’m deeply grateful for his guidance and wise counsel along the way. I can think of few greater gifts someone can bestow than encouraging another person’s labor of love. And over the past six months, this author has received lots of encouragement. Thanks also to Sara Kitchen for shepherding the project through production.
Throughout the long period of nurturing this book, I was blessed with the perfect work environment. As a freelance author working from home, this means a loving family that understands my crazy lifestyle and supports my passion for projects like this one. A huge hug to my daughter, Rachel, who telephones me from college to receive the latest updates on my progress, and to my son, Jack, who has the softest hands of any high school infielder I’ve ever seen, for keeping alive my enthusiasm for baseball—the greatest game ever invented. My wife, Carolyn, is always an inspiration and her unconditional love is what keeps me going in work and in life. Over our two-decades-plus marriage she has become a pretty savvy baseball fan who can first-guess with the best of baseball’s television analysts.
I am, of course, very appreciative of each of the current and former major leaguers who agreed to speak with me, whether they were successful facing Rivera or not. I was surprised by how self-deprecating many of the players were when assessing themselves in their match-ups with Rivera. Professional athletes, by nature, are a self-confident bunch, not accustomed to admitting or accepting failure, even when they are competing against the very best of opponents. But when speaking of their futile and feeble attempts to hit Rivera’s cut fastball, the majority of players are able to laugh at themselves, and I found this refreshing. Even the few hitters who possess a high batting average against Rivera claim they were more lucky than good, or at the very least, upon reflection, they readily confess that their base hits were not solidly struck but rather were bloopers and bleeders, to use their parlance. Thanks to all for your participation; because of you, this book is a home run!
Facing Mariano Rivera Page 25