Teammates and Coaches Share Amazing Stories of Mariano Rivera in the Bullpen
By Ryan Giglio
Mariano Rivera, former New York Yankees closer and the best closer of all-time, will be officially indicted into Cooperstown on Sunday. In celebration of the joyous weekend, Pete Caldera of northjersey.com wrote a story detailing just how amazing Mo truly was.
In the Yankees bullpen with Mariano Rivera, it was a one-of-a-kind experience https://t.co/ujY9R9a5ab via @northjersey
— Pete Caldera (@pcaldera) July 19, 2019
In the piece, Yankees bullpen coach Mike Harkey shares Mariano's keen ability to predict walk-off wins while sitting in the bullpen. Harkey remembers one time in 2009 when Rivera was told he would pitch if the Yankees tied the game. When they eventually did tie the game, Rivera still did not begin to warm up due to his belief that Hideki Matsui would win the game. Rivera was right.
Rivera's 652 career saves, 952 games finished and 205 ERA+ ranks as the best all time in MLB history and he led the league in saves in three different seasons. Mo also owns a 0.70 ERA in 141 postseason innings.
There are a ton of great Mariano Rivera stats, but this is the most remarkable, I think -- in 141 innings in the postseason (the equivalent of two full regular seasons of work), he allowed a total of two home runs.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) July 19, 2019
Harkey says one of the biggest benefits of having a lockdown closer like Rivera was the calm he brings to the entire team late in the game. The other relievers do not need to stress about working the ninth inning when shutdown guys like Rivera consistently take care of it.
“It makes a bullpen so much better when they know that they don’t have to do that every day. That’s what made him the best."
- Mike Harkey
In January, Rivera was the first ever unanimous inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.