Sunday, September 29, 2013

Here & There Column 10-1-13

Thanks Mariano Rivera
                                                        


  One doesn't have to be a New York Yankee fan to admire and respect what their great relief pitcher (closer) Mariano Rivera has brought to the wonderful game of baseball.
  Everyone knows my love for the game of baseball and one of the greatest pitchers to impact this great game is Mariano Rivera.
  As the saying goes, "the great ones get the stage to themselves" and at the top of the list is this quiet, reserved baseball great who during nearly a quarter-century has displayed a talent appreciated by everyone. 
  From Panama to the pinstripes of the NY Yankees Rivera stands alone as is very evident of the many tributes he has received from fans and opposing teams on the Yankees schedule this year.
  Big league tributes with emotional farewells and thank you's have flowed in every major league park this season and now the Yankees have hung Rivera's No. 42 in Monument Park among the team's other retired numbers.
  Rivera recently remarked, "America  has given me the pleasure since I left my country 23 years ago, and that's why America's a great country."
  The 43-year-old Rivera is retiring with 19 years in the major leagues and all of them with the Yankees. He has over 651 career saves which is tops in baseball history with a 2.2 ERA.
  No finer tribute can be made as when the rival Boston Red Sox's called him the greatest closer in baseball history. 
  Thanks Mariano.

                                                 

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