Copyright © 2014 by David Fischer
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on f ile.
ISBN: 978-1-61321-639-2
Printed in the United States of America
For my grandpa Jack Baron, a Brooklyn Dodgers fanatic, who told me stories about another legendary No. 42, Jackie Robinson.
CONTENTS
Foreword
Introduction
Section One: Infielders
Roberto Alomar
David Adams
Mike Blowers
Aaron Boone
Mike Bordick
Robinson Cano
Eric Chavez
Jeff Conine
Carlos Delgado
Mark DeRosa
Robert Eenhoorn
Matt Franco
Nomar Garciaparra
Jason Giambi
Ozzie Guillen
Scott Hatteberg
Todd Helton
Derek Jeter
Chipper Jones
Eric Karros
Ryan Klesko
Corey Koskie
Kevin Kouzmanoff
Tino Martinez
Lou Merloni
Doug Mientkiewicz
Kevin Millar
Bill Mueller
Lyle Overbay
Dustin Pedroia
Mark Reynolds
Kevin Seitzer
Bill Selby
Ed Sprague
Jason Smith
Mark Teixeira
Jim Thome
Robin Ventura
Ty Wigginton
Tony Womack
David Wright
Kevin Youkilis
Section Two: Outfielders
Brady Anderson
Garret Anderson
Frank Catalanotto
Bubba Carpenter
Johnny Damon
Jim Edmonds
Darin Erstad
Lew Ford
Brett Gardner
Luis Gonzalez
Curtis Granderson
Gabe Gross
David Hulse
Mike Humphreys
Torii Hunter
Raul Ibanez
Reed Johnson
Adam Jones
Mark Kotsay
Paul O’Neill
Jay Payton
Alex Rios
Dave Roberts
Tim Salmon
Mike Simms
Matt Stairs
Ichiro Suzuki
Nick Swisher
B.J. Upton
Shane Victorino
Vernon Wells
Section Three: Catchers
Sal Fasano
Francisco Cervelli
John Flaherty
Darrin Fletcher
Todd Greene
Jesse Levis
Russell Martin
Chad Moeller
Gustavo Molina
Salvador Perez
Wil Nieves
A.J. Pierzynski
Jorge Posada
Austin Romine
Terry Steinbach
Chris Stewart
Kelly Stinnett
Tom Wilson
Gregg Zaun
Section Four: Designated Hitters
Jack Cust
Eric Hinske
Kevin Maas
Edgar Martinez
David Ortiz
Luke Scott
Mike Sweeney
Section Five: Pitchers
Jonathan Albaladejo
Bronson Arroyo
Dellin Betances
Joba Chamberlain
David Cone
Dennis Eckersley
Tom Gordon
Rich Goose Gossage
Jason Grimsley
David Huff
Phil Hughes
Jason Isringhausen
Shawn Kelley
Pedro Martinez
Al Leiter
Joe Nathan
Denny Neagle
Jeff Nelson
Andy Pettitte
J.J. Putz
David Robertson
CC Sabathia
Curt Schilling
John Smoltz
Mike Stanton
Tanyon Sturtze
Rick Sutcliffe
Justin Verlander
Ron Villone
Adam Warren
John Wetteland
Section Six: Management
Mike Borzello
Bruce Bochy
Brian Butterfield
Bill Evers
Terry Francona
Joe Girardi
Mike Harkey
Jim Leyland
Bill Livesey
Mitch Lukevics
Joe Maddon
Bob Melvin
Mark Newman
Juan Nieves
Herb Raybourn
Larry Rothschild
Glenn Sherlock
Mike Scioscia
Joe Torre
Career Statistics
Acknowledgements
Photo Credit
FOREWORD
IF YOU’VE EVER studied the best major league pitchers, either from a seat at the ballpark or on television, when a batter swung and missed, you, as a decent ballplayer in your day, might have muttered, “I could’ve hit that one.” And maybe you could have.
But maybe not. Probably not. And if that pitcher was Mariano Rivera, almost certainly not.
Page after page in Facing Mariano Rivera, you will read how he not only baffled the best major league hitters with his cut fastball, he often shattered their bats. Of all the gifts he received in his 2013 farewell tour, he said his favorite was a rocking chair constructed of broken bats from the Minnesota Twins. “If you’re a left handed hitter,” says an opponent who later would be a Yankees teammate, “you almost have to look for an outside pitch and pull it, because if it’s middle in, it’s going to break your bat.” If only David Fischer could have interviewed some of those shattered bats.
No need to tell you here the most successful hitter against baseball’s greatest closer, but even he acknowledges, “It was never a comfortable at bat.” Another hitter who once swatted fifty home runs (none off Rivera), analyzes that “His cutter has four-seam fastball spin and then it cuts—it cuts late . . . and he learned to throw a two-seam fastball that broke in on righties.”
For all of the hitters’ testimony, perhaps the most authoritative comments are from his Yankees’ teammates. From the outfielder who says, “He was the Devil when I was playing against him, but when I came here, he became God because he’s on our side.” From the right-handed pitcher who says, “His arm slot is the same every pitch.” From the bullpen catcher who says, “I don’t think he ever threw a ball that ever bounced in my twelve years of catching him in the bullpen. He would pitch up and down, and in and out, but never in the ground.”
And as much as all these oppo
sing batters dislike trying to hit that cut fastball, they praise him for never “showing up” any of them. “Once you get to know Mariano,” one says, “you respect him more as a person than as a player.” As challenging and frustrating as facing him was, they seem to enjoy having had the opportunity. And now the opportunity in these pages to describe what it was like.
—Dave Anderson
DURING HIS ILLUSTRIOUS career, Mariano Rivera faced over five thousand batters, from Brady Anderson to Gregg Zaun; from stars like David Ortiz, who faced him thirty-four times, to neophytes like Bill Selby, who faced him twice. The list of batters included in this book run the gamut from Hall of Famers like Roberto Alomar, who managed to hit .455 (5 for 11) against him, to All-Stars like Alex Rios, who didn’t have a hit in 15 plate appearances, to Jason Smith, a lifetime .212 batter who inexplicably hit .600 (3 for 5) against Rivera.
“I don’t think I owned him,” says Smith. “I was very lucky.”
The success or (more often than not) failure rate when facing Rivera for each player interviewed for this book has been documented to the best of my ability. Some players will boast of their personal accomplishments against Rivera, while others can only laugh at themselves for their futility against him. Whatever the case, each of the speakers’ unique achievements, either positive or negative, are recognized under the heading labeled “Mo Cred,” as in credibility.
Whatever the results compiled by individual batters, this much is true: If there was one relief pitcher in the last two decades who personifies the word “closer,” a stadium full of baseball experts would pick Rivera. Few, if any, relief pitchers enjoyed the immensely positive reputation for finality that Rivera earned with the Yankees. As manager Joe Girardi said: “I love when he comes into the game. You feel like it’s over.”
Finality is a subject often cited by the nearly 150 baseball people who spoke to me about Rivera. I conducted the interviews during the 2013 season, while Rivera was still an active player; hence, the recollections of the players are spoken in the present tense. One of the first ballplayers I spoke with was Mike Sweeney, who compares Rivera’s entrance music to the soundtrack of a horror movie, because “you hear that music and you know what’s going to happen,” says Sweeney. “Mariano will finish the game and get the save.”
The vision of Rivera bursting through the bullpen door was enough to give even the most malevolent opponents serious pause. With the Yankee Stadium sound system blaring Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” and the fans raucously cheering in anticipation, Rivera jogged across the outfield grass and strode gracefully to the mound. The music meant that entering the game is Mariano Rivera, the reedy right-handed relief pitcher from Panama with a steely focus and a sense of mental calm so great he could sleep through a thunderstorm. He fires seven or eight warm-up pitches, stares blankly at his target with shark-like eyes, and then gets down to the serious business of recording the three toughest outs in baseball.
More than anyone else, it was Rivera doing his job that propelled the Yankees to be World Series champions five times, as he was on the mound to record the final out in four clinching Series games in 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2009. October after October, the 6-foot-2, 185-pounder held precarious leads the Yankees had scratched together. He literally attacked rival hitters with one pitch: an unsolvable cut fastball that has been called a combination of thunder and location. That pitch, more than any other subject, was a recurring theme among the pitchers and position players who participated in this project. All of the batters I spoke to, particularly those hitting left-handed, had vivid memories of frustrating plate appearances that more times than not ended with them holding a piece of their own broken bat.
Sometimes a ballplayer’s time was limited or our time together cut short, resulting in a briefer interview than I had anticipated. Many of these players sincerely apologized for not being able to devote more time to talking about Rivera, though their comments are just as insightful and revealing. In these instances, I have set off the text in a special box titled “Mo Respect,” an appropriate moniker to express the admiration they feel toward the last major league baseball player to wear No. 42.
The ballplayers represented in this book told many amusing stories and had an uncanny memory for game situations, pitch sequences, base runners, the name of the umpire behind the plate, and similar details that occurred in games played many years ago. Time and again, I was amazed by a player’s instant recall and unusual ability to provide the play-by-play for a regular season game occurring in the last decade that had little or no impact on the league’s pennant race. While this book is based on their memories, I do provide footnotes to occasionally set the record straight, to elaborate on their stories, and to place game events in historical context.
Rivera’s historical impact on the Yankees’ success, especially in the postseason, couldn’t possibly be any greater. Twelve people have walked on the moon but only eleven have scored an earned run off Rivera in the postseason. His lifetime postseason earned run average of 0.70 in 141 innings is the major league record. During the Yankees, memorable 1998 season, Rivera did not give up a run in ten postseason appearances. He did the same again during eight appearances in 1999, when he was the World Series Most Valuable Player. More impressive still, his record 42 postseason saves, including 11 in the World Series, are 24 more than his next closest competitor, Brad Lidge (18), which explains why Rivera’s teammates could act as if they were about to inherit the family trust fund when he entered the game.
“He wants the ball in big situations and [is] not afraid of anyone,” says Derek Jeter. “You won’t see anyone like him again.”
Rivera retired as the king of all closers. Final inventory figures for his career will show that all other relief pitchers will be shooting at his mark of 652 saves for a long time to come. But Mariano Rivera’s contributions go beyond mere numbers, impressive though they happen to be. It’s the form as well as the substance that makes Rivera a star in the grand old Yankee tradition: humble, gracious, and poised. The fact that he’s also a spiritual man made him all the more valuable as an inspiration to his teammates and to his opponents. Those to whom I spoke lauded Rivera for his comportment, sportsmanship, classy demeanor, and for his professionalism. To a man, everyone admired him as a human being, respected him as a competitor, and marveled at the high level of performance he sustained for a storied franchise in a pressure-cooker environment.
Many of the interviews in this book took place in the days following the 2013 All-Star Game, which will long be remembered for the touching moment when Rivera entered the game.
He stood alone on the mound as his American League teammates and National League opponents remained in their respective dugouts, allowing Rivera to soak in the two-minute standing ovation from the adoring crowd. Those I spoke to cite this unprecedented tribute bestowed upon Rivera as being one of the most emotional moments they’ve ever experienced while watching a baseball game. Rivera’s ability to rehabilitate from a serious knee injury resulting in surgery that limited his 2012 season to just nine appearances and to come back to finish his final season at the top of his game is also a common recurring theme that speaks to Rivera’s character.
Hollywood scriptwriters could not have conjured the storyline any better. The son of a fisherman who grew up playing baseball on a beach in Panama with a milk carton for a glove, a tree limb for a bat, and rolled-up fishing net for a ball, would come to America and go on to become the greatest closer of all time. Five years after his retirement, Rivera should become the first player to win unanimous election to the Hall of Fame, proving how revered he is among his peers in the game.
Truly dominant pitchers come along only rarely. Rarer still are those who embody attributes that any parent would want his son or daughter to have.
I sincerely hope you enjoy this tribute to Mariano Rivera.
Section One: Infielders
Roberto Alomar
Second base
Playing Career
San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, and Arizona Diamondbacks from 1988 to 2004
Career Statistics
2,379 games, 2,724 hits, 210 home runs, 1,134 runs batted in, .300 batting average, .371 on-base percentage, .443 slugging percentage
Roberto Alomar facing Mariano Rivera (regular season)
5-for-11, 3 extra-base hits, 1 run batted in, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, .455 batting average, .500 on-base percentage, .727 slugging percentage
Mo Cred
Alomar, a Hall of Famer, struck out and grounded out facing Rivera as a member of the Orioles in the 1996 American League Championship Series, won by the Yankees in five games.
SEEING MARIANO MEANT, ninety-nine percent of the time, the game was over. Mentally, guys thought it was over when he came into a game.
First of all, he’s very confident. I admired his approach. He said, “If you’re going to beat me, you’re going to beat me with my best pitch.”
Roberto Alomar
Year Date Result
1996 4/30 Pop out
6/28 Single
7/13 Walk
9/19 Double
Postseason 10/9 Strikeout (Swinging)
10/12 Ground out
1998 6/17 Double
9/20 Double
1999 6/1 Single
2000 5/1 Walk
5/3 Sacrifice bunt
2001 6/2 Strikeout (Swinging)
6/25 Ground out
2003 6/22 Strikeout (Swinging)
6/28 Sacrifice fly (1 RBI)
6/29 Ground out
8/28 Strikeout (Swinging)
That’s what made him so different than all the others. To me, it’s amazing how he did it, with only one pitch.
He’s a great student of the game, and I think the older he got, the better he got. He started throwing cutters backdoor, and started throwing cutters inside.
Mariano set the standard for closers, and so many people admire him. He’s just so good for baseball. For him to close this long, at this level, is just ridiculous.
Mo Respect
David Adams
Adams was Rivera’s teammate with the Yankees in 2013.
The one thing that sticks out most to me is how electrifying the crowd gets and how loud the Stadium gets every time he comes out to the mound. As soon as his song comes on the loudspeaker, and he jogs through the gate, it’s just like a big boom. That’s the one thing that is electrifying to me.