Mariano Rivera

[andycummings65]

There are not two players I would rather see my team defeat on the field more than Mariano Rivera and Terrell Suggs; being a fan of the Red Sox and Steelers kinda makes that obvious. But I would never want to see them go down to injury like both have today. Great competitors............

[artie4121]

Rivera is a legend. And I'm a Met fan and can say that.

But I do have to say that I thought for a moment today: wow! Rivera is injured??? When did he get traded to the Mets???

[ADRIANGABRIEL]

Go Royals!

[Valen]

Worst thing about the Rivera injury is how it happened, shagging fly balls during batting practice. Saw the video and could not help asking out loud why are you making that much effort to catch a meaningless batting practice fly ball? Has to be better ways for pitchers to get their conditioning in.

[majicmg]

I always thought they'd carry him off the field at the end of his career. It's truly tragic that it had to happen in such an unfortunate way. Even the most diehard Yankee hater can appreciate the class he's shown throughout the past 18 seasons.

[ADRIANGABRIEL]

Junior Seau = Tragic
Mariano Rivera = Not Tragic

[Salty]

Not a yankee fan-
but gotta truly marvel at the length of time he was a dominant reliever for;
very much old school to be so great for so long.

IMO;
Even though the injury was in practice doing something seemingly unimportant; greatness comes from going all out on the little stuff, even when it seems unnecessary.

BTW- Agabe, on this I agree- its ashame but not tragic.
Junior Seau makes me much sadder.

[majicmg]

Putting Rivera in perspective:

He's the active leader in relief appearances (1,051), ERA (2.21), saves (608), postseason appearances (96), ERA (0.70) and saves (42).

His 608 saves are the most in MLB history, seven more than Trevor Hoffman and 130 more than Lee Smith, the third man on the list.

His 608 saves with one team are twice as many as the Royals' Jeff Montgomery, who's second on the list, and 407 more than third-place Bobby Thigpen of the White Sox.

And his WHiP -- 1.00 -- is second all-time in the history of the game to Addie Joss' 0.97.

[ROBERTLATORRE]

[quote:0a0e88667e="agabriel"]Junior Seau = Tragic
Mariano Rivera = Not Tragic[/quote:0a0e88667e]

I am the biggest Yankee homer in the world, and I would challenge any Yankee hater to deny Mariano of his due (unlike the recent Jeter thread). For Rivera's career to end this way is a shame, this is for sure.

Having said that, Seau is a tragedy, the brain trauma that NFL and college players incur as "part of the game" is insanity and while it is very hard to definitively tie depression and suicide of retired NFL players to head injuries, it is becoming more and more frequent and apparent that there some reasonable level of cause and effect. More than a dozen have killed themselves in recent years. That is tragic.

[Valen]

The Seau situation is tragic, but I fail to see what it has to do with Rivera.

[quote:f7d25a6541]And his WHiP -- 1.00 -- is second all-time in the history of the game to Addie Joss' 0.97. [/quote:f7d25a6541]
Saw a list of the top 5 of all time. Recognized 4 of the names on the list. But saw one I was not familar with, John Ward. I wondered why someone in the top 5 in whip was not in ATG. So did some digging. Turns out he is. He began his career as a pitcher and injured his arm running the bases. He transitioned first to the OF throwing left handed and then to shortstop after his arm healed. We have his 1889 shortstop card where he stole 62 bases. Not exactly Ruthian story but one I found interesting.

Now back to Rivera. Tragic or not I shall miss seeing him pitch. He was one of the few Yankees I ever liked.