On a night filled with cheers and tears, Mariano Rivera says one last goodbye to Bronx & Yankees

Sports Illustrated ^ | 09/27/2013

[SeekAndFind]

[SeekAndFind]

[SeekAndFind]

[SeekAndFind]

[Resolute Conservative]

“stared at the baseball before returning to the present”

He was praying as he does before every appearance. He is a devout Christian.

[Doogle]

..the era of MO has past, and I’ve enjoy it all..God speed MO.

[WayneS]

On a night filled with cheers and tears, Mariano Rivera says one last goodbye to Bronx & Yankees

So, by definition, they must have been Bronx cheers, right?

[Resolute Conservative]

The only Yankee I cheered and pulled for.

[ssaftler]

The only Yankee I cheered and pulled for.

Especially in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS :D

[Jeff Chandler]

Memories . . .

.

[FlipWilson]

The shame of that wasn’t that Mo blew the ‘01 WS with his pitching but with his bungled fielding. Still, without him the Yankees would not even have smelled a Game 7 much less any part of the WS.

[chajin]

As a Rays fan, there is no one I have more respect for in MLB as a person and as a player than Mo, and I was glad my team had the privilege of being his last four outs. (That we won the game didn't hurt either.)

P.S. #2 and 3 on the respect list: Torii Hunter and Ben Zobrist, but no one in my lifetime is likely to fill Rivera's shoes.

[dfwgator]

A question, I thought the number “42” was retired for Jackie Robinson, was Rivera grandfathered in?

[Jeff Chandler]

If the Diamondbacks had a decent closer, there wouldn't have been a game seven, and probably not a game six.

But I admit, when Rivera took the mound that day, I thought to myself: uh, oh, I've seen this movie before.

[SeekAndFind]

Yes. In April 1997, MLB retired the uniform number 42 league-wide to honor Jackie Robinson, although Rivera was one of a dozen players allowed to continue wearing the number per a grandfather clause.

They’re going to retire that number this season.

[dfwgator]

I assume he’s the last one to wear “42”?

[SeekAndFind]

I think that’s a fair assumption — for the Yankees.

[colorado tanker]

Well, I hate the Yankees as much as any non-NY fan, but this guy is pure class and the best there ever was at his position. I hope he has a great life in retirement.

[BlackElk]

When Jackie Robinson's #42 was retired, each active Major League player who was wearing #42 was allowed to keep that number but no future players would be allowed to wear it. Mariano Rivera was the last of those allowed to wear #42.

As actor Robert Duvall described the Babe Ruth character (the Whammer) in the film, the Natural, so with Mariano Rivera: "He is the best that is, the best that ever was and the best that ever will be." (In Mo's case, as a closer or even as a reliever).

There were numerous crucial innings in which Mariano would come in, pitch to baseball's best and most powerful hitters, and literally saw off their favorite bats in their hands with his trademark pitch. no one EVER dominated like that, No one EVER will.

Add to that the fact that he is a humble, decent, generous, kind and quite religious man in this day and age.