Mariano Rivera Reveals His Biggest Regret From MLB Career is Never Playing Center Field
By James.r
Mariano Rivera is one of the greatest pitchers of all time. He finished his career with a 2.21 ERA, he's the major league record holder for saves, and he won five World Series titles as a member of the New York Yankees.
He does have at least one big regret, though: he never got to play center field.
Mariano Rivera said he has one regret from his career: he wishes Joe Torre had let him play CF during a game. While Rivera said that with a smile, he really would have loved to have tried it. There’s zero chance Torre could have ever done that with the world’s best closer.
— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) July 20, 2019
It makes sense that manager Joe Torre never let Rivera fulfill that dream, especially when you consider that Rivera tore his ACL shagging fly balls in center in 2012. Still, it would've been a lot of fun to see the greatest relief pitcher of all time manning the outfield.
He probably wouldn't have been much of a value add at the dish; he was 0-for-3 at the plate in his career, albeit with one amazing RBI walk on the same day he notched his 500th career save.
"This almost perfect competitor"
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) July 20, 2019
Aaron Boone says soon-to-be Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera wasn't just an amazing athlete, his mental toughness made him special pic.twitter.com/9Ns5YVvyq6
Be sure to tune in Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET as "Mo" is inducted into the Hall of Fame as the first ever unanimously-selected member in the sport's history. The annual festivities at Cooperstown are always a great watch, but this year will be a little extra special as the universally-beloved Rivera is enshrined.
Joining Rivera will be five other deserving inductees in Roy Halladay, Mike Mussina, Lee Smith, Edgar Martinez, and Harold Baines.