I’m a Red Sox fan and me and a friend went to Yankee Stadium on September 11th 2005 to watch the Sox and Yanks play. It was a 1-0 game in the top of the 8th when Torre brought Mariano in to face Ortiz with 1 on and 2 outs. I can still remember to this day the sound of Enter Sandman start playing and those bullpen doors open and the place went absolutely crazy. You could literally feel the excitement throughout the park. Even me and my friend were actually smiling when Mariano started jogging to the mound cause of how insane it all was. It was one of the loudest cheers I’ve ever heard at any stadium. Mo came in and got out of the 8th and then worked out of a little trouble in the 9th to get the safe. To this day I still tell people that that was one of my best memories of a sporting event I’ve ever witnessed.
Dude I remember that game - it was supposed to be Schilling vs Johnson but either Schilling was hurt or didn't line up right and it was Wakefield vs Johnson. I think I watched every Yankee game that year lol
There will never ever be another like Mariano. No one will break his records because of how dominant he was. Analytics prevent managers nowadays from bringing in closers everyday. Mariano will forever be the greatest closer.
@@mastod0n1he was one of the biggest pieces of that dynasty. 8-1 0.70 era in 96 games. 42 postseason saves 141 innings. it's literally untouchable. 11 earned runs in 141 innings "it helps to be in a dynasty" 😂😂
0.70 Era in the postseason with 141 Innings pitched and 11 ER with 5 Championships an ALCS and World Series MVP is literally insane and MLB the Show type numbers. I feel blessed to have grew up in a Yankee family and watching his career from the start. I could give so many crazy stats and facts but just look at his baseball reference regular season and postseason and World Series stats its literally laughable how great he was
Irony being that, in Franchise mode of most The Show games, closers are never very consistent and the ones who dominate for a season are random as hell. Mo truly is special, even the best of games can't keep up with the sheer consistency.
I was lucky enough to see him live many times. It was always electric. He was so reliable that when he blew a save, everyone watching was like, "wait, what? Is there something wrong with the ball? And I hope he's okay!" The way the ball just seemed to explode out of his hand was insane to see as a kid. He was always so composed and calm in appearance, and truly everything I knew that embodied the Yankees' way.
This is great! I had the opportunity to sit down and have a conversation with Hank Aaron. To take the suspense out of this is, at the time I was a minor league player. So that to me is why I got the chance to sit with him , we played the same position and any thing I could laern from him would be a positive for me. That’s a moment in my life is way up there. And yes, I shared the same dressing room with Bob Gibson and Joe Torre and those guys. Real memories.
Lifelong Mariners fan. When Ichiro walked off Mo, it felt like the Mariners won the World Series; all-time team moment for a team that doesn't get many all-time moments.
Everything about Rivera was amazing. The fact that he was still mowing people down even at the end makes you wonder how much longer he could have played.
@@GSP-76 Not to mention in 2013 his slump at some point felt a bit more extended, in his prime he would have gotten out of them a lot quicker. Plus he was originally going to retire after 2012 before that freak injury happened.
I went to his house in Tampa ,he use to go to my church ,we seen him as a regular person and not as a famous person ,he attended to that church over 5 years,he invited the youth to his house.good days 😊😊
When you heard enter sandman playing, you knew it was over. Mariano told you there was one pitch coming, try and hit it. And whats crazy too is he never needed unlike a lot of pitchers today. Very healthy for most of his career (minus 2012) and IMO, the BEST closer in MLB history
Mariano's control and consistent velocity with his cut-fastball just shows how well a pitcher can do with good control and an average fastball velo "the best pitch in baseball is a well located fastball".
Cut fastballs back in Rivera's day were typically high 80s to low 90s. Rivera's cut fastball being consistently 94-97 during his prime with that amount of movement was such an outlier that hitters couldn't prepare well for it. Rivera also had such command and control of the strike zone that perhaps only Greg Maddux can really be considered in the same class during that era. That combination produced such an unstoppable combination that usually only lady luck or a hitter generous home plate umpire could slow Rivera down.
What I always liked best about Rivera was that he never screamed, yelled, or gestuculated after getting an out. He'd come in the game at the most crucial moments, break multiple bats, and make hitters look silly, but he never rubbed it in their faces. He didn't celebrate each out because he viewed it as just doing his job. Getting outs was what he was supposed to do.
His career numbers are insane BEFORE you even consider the context that he did almost all of it with one pitch. No guessing games for the hitter. Just a simple man-to-man challenge. Here's my one pitch: hit it. ⚾️🐐
@@jareddanielcunanan4303Yeah, but that Cutter was used over 90% of the time over his career. That’s pretty much as close as you can get to being a one pitch pitcher outside of being a knuckleballer.
Awesome video! My favorite Mariano Rivera stat is more people walked on the moon (12) than he gave up earned runs in his postseason career (11) in 141 innings pitched.
My dad and his family are from Westchester County which is just north of NYC and where a lot of players and coaches live during the season because it's outside the city enough that you actually have property but it's also only 15-20 min drive to Yankee Stadium. My grandmother who was and still is a massive Yankee fan ended up befriending Mariano simply by running into him at the bank, the pizza place in the town, just out running errands. He was always happy to see her, called her Catherine even though everyone calls her Cathy, asked about me and my sister whom he never met but she always talked about, and she always said he was always just the nicest most respectful guy in the world, carrying on conversations, stopping to talk to her when he didn't have to and a simple hello in passing would have been good enough to make her day.
As a yankees fan and a native new yorker seeing that great yankee dynsaty as it was happening was unbelievable it was euphoric my GOD. The yankees WERE baseball in those days, we absolutely owned major league baseball. Such a great time to be a yankees fan ill never forget those days in my life every yankee game was so good to watch. We will rise to the top again our time will come again !
As a 15 year old 10/26/2000 Watching game 5 of the Subway World Series will be forever burned in my mind. NYY > NYM. I had a sign "We Want Mo Cuttas". There's only room for 1 team in New York boys! Yankees were the team of the millennium. Yanks the team of the world.
Even as a Yankee fan, I must admit that the 2001 WS was the best I ever saw. The outcome did not go my way, but the tension and excitement has never been duplicated. On the other hand, the Yankee loss saved the life of Enrique Wilson.
Boston Red Sox fan here: Mo is clearly the best closer that has ever played the game. There isnt even a close second place to have a discussion. He is the only relief pitcher who is in the discussion for GOAT all time pitchers, IMHO.
*Wearing 42 when it's been retired leaguewide shows you have a living legend, a legendary number, a god level closer. I remember the popup against the mets 2000 Subway WS, I was 15 in high school, it was the greatest Yankee moment I've ever experienced.*
I wish we were like 12-16 in the mid 90s when he was a complete god. You know what I mean? I would have loved to watch him throw his cutter at 97 while fully understanding and appreciating what I was watching
My memory might be shaky, but the season after Mariano blew the 2004 ALCS against the Sox, he had a rough start of the season where Yankee fans actually booed him. So when he came out of the dugout during player intros at Fenway (might have been the first home series of the season for the Sox), Boston fans gave Mariano a loud applause and cheers, not in a mocking way either. It was purely out of respect. The one and only time Boston Red Sox fans showed any class. 😁
There are guys around today who have great cutters (Kenley comes to mind), but Mariano's cutter was damn near unhittable. Chipper Jones said it was like facing a guy throwing 95mph chainsaws at you. Guys knew what was coming and still couldn't hit it. His stats are just insane and they won't ever be topped. He'll be leading the Mount Rushmore of closers and deserves every bit of it.
There will be idiots looking to discredit him though, even in this comments section you will find few examples. Some were hidden though due to YT being weird with the comments section where one has to toggle to latest comments to make them visible. One person in particular spewed the same crap about putting him another team would make him less great so it seems he's one of those people who goes by saves numbers rather than his WHIP and ERA.
@@IBangedUrMom69420 And kept it up for a long period of time as well. Many closers generally flames out after few years but Mo was among those who defied that.
His post season ERA was .70. This was against the best players, under the greatest pressure, often cold weather, while others were resting up to pad their next season's stats.
I'm a Red Sox fan, and I knew for years that if the Sox were going to beat the Yankees, they'd better have a lead after 7 innings, because if not, Mo was there to shut the door. Rivera was amazing to watch, even for an opposing fan like myself.
Those were the best years in baseball. I loved watching them as a kid. At 9-10 I couldn’t grasp why they knew the pitch was coming and still couldn’t hit it haha… I loved it
During that stretch true Yankee fans know as long as Jeter and Rivera were there; the other guys didn't matter. When they spoke about the Yankee mystique what they meant was the overwhelming psychological advantage the Bombers held during that run that set them apart. Captain clutch was going to come through and when they handed the ball to Mo it was lights out.
I really enjoyed this video. As more of a casual baseball fan at that time in my life, I could never understand why no one could seem to hit his one pitch. It really didn’t look that great yet it made the best hitters in the league always look silly. He certainly was something special.
@@rancidcrawfishI can't help but think that most "fans" at the time have moved on and deserted them, and anyone who makes such comments were born long after. That being said, that was a tough one.
Perhaps the most memorable game I've ever been to in person was a late August game in 2009 in Seattle where Ichiro hit a bottom of the ninth, two out, two-run walkoff home run against Rivera. It was electric. A true hall of fame match up.
If it was a west coast game and the Yankees had a 1 run lead coming in the bottom of the ninth with Mo coming in I’d just turn the game off and go to bed, can’t think of many times in his career I woke up the next day and we didn’t win. His level of dominance was just incredible, even his blown saves which where exceedingly rare it was like a couple of soft fart broken bat bloopers. And he did the aforementioned for 18 years.
Did you know only one other player in the history of baseball replicated Mariano Rivera's cutter? Can you guess the player that it is? Roy Halladay! Yes, the only other player to replicate that cutter was another Hall of Fame pitcher.
The Sandman was unbelievably great to watch! His delivery looked effortless compared to most pitchers. Some of those pitchers look like they're going to break their arm or have a heart attack each time. Mariano looked like he was having a catch in the backyard. The crazy way that his pitches started their movement just a few feet before the ball reached the batter was mesmerizing. The poor lefties were just completely out of luck when the ball tailed into their hands after it was too late to abort the swing. The slogan "We Do One Thing, And Do It Well" comes to mind here!!!
I was always a huge Red Sox fan growing up but I always had MASSIVE respect for Mariano. Man was incredibly dominant at his craft and played with incredible class. I feel the same about Derek Jeter
04 ALCS I was like its over he's coming in. You had that feeling that Mariano would shut the Sox down in the 9th. Then boom it was like a Miracle David defeated Goliath. He was so dominate and it had to be one.
@@HT-sm9dm Well I won't tell legions of baseball that. The late Tony Quinn will have the problem with that. The game may change but the players will never will.
Yeah but come on guys. Alejandro Kirk is a godly physical specimen of a man. Imagine him compared to say, Mike Piazza or Ivan Rodriguez. Those guys would be lucky to compete with his shadow in a bat speed contest.
Growing up, and playing baseball. It blew me away you knew the Cutter was coming from 42, yet no one could hit it. Kenley Jansen got close with his cutter. His prime was crazy too
For one season, the Yankees had another reliever who put together an amazing record. In 1927, Wilcy Moore, pitching primarily in relief, posted a record of 19-7 with an ERA of 2.28. What makes this so unique is, like Mariano Rivera, he did it with one pitch, a sinking fastball he could locate with pinpoint control.
He was a phenomenal closer, and I know I’ll get hate for saying this, but the blown playoff saves against Arizona in game 7 of the World Series (01) and Boston in game 4 of the ALCS, on the verge of a 4-0 sweep in that series which they would infamously blow (04) will always sting. Ok you can destroy me now 😂
I tell you as a Sox fan our hope was 99% gone when he came in. You had to believe there was a chance but with Mariano it always felt like you were facing the Roman army or the Persian Immortals.
Us Yankee fans were spoiled while he was playing. He essentially made the gane a 7 inning game... because if it was ever close and got to the eighth inning, we knew Yanks would win.
As a Red Sox fan, I started liking Mariano Rivera as a person in 2005. The Yankees were of course the scheduled opponent for the Sox’ home opener, and as each Yankee was announced, they were lustily booed by the Fenway faithful. The bigger the star, the louder the boos. That is, until Rivera was announced. The boos turned to raucous cheering. Rather than take this attempt at humiliating him for his blown saves stoically or getting upset, he just smiled and tipped his cap. Classy move. On an unrelated note, former Red Sox third baseman Bill Mueller’s last name is pronounced MILL-er, not MYOO-ler. My next door neighbor at the time had the same first and last name, but pronounced it MULL-er so the difference stuck with me.
His biggest failures are some of the greatest moments in baseball history simply because of his presence on the mound. He was almost God-Like to watch.
Red Sox fan here. I always respect the skill that the Yankees could bring to the game. But Rivera is the only Yankee I ever feared. There was immense pressure to be well ahead by the end of the 7th. Because if you weren't, you'd have to face him, and the game was over. The best closer ever, and in some ways, maybe the best pitcher ever.
If you heard the Metallica song "Enter Sandman" at the stadium, you knew who was heading to the mound and the game was over. So many great memories at the old Yankee Stadium.
As a Tigers fan it hurts thinking about a David Wells for Rivera trade. The fact he learned to throw the cutter at Tiger Stadium is just salt in the wounds.
Marianos postseason ERA is about 1/3 of the ERA of the greatest regular season reliever in history, which is himself. In my opinion, he's the single greatest pitcher ever, including starters. On a per inning basis, his WAR is the best ever. Among pitchers with 1,000+ innings, he leads in ERA. The fact he needed just one pitch to do it is remarkable. Closed out games for 16 full seasons (1 year missed for injury, one as the greatest setup man ever and his debut season as a starter) and only failed 11% of the time. And his lead on the next best closer is the biggest lead any "best at position" player has. Every position you will get some legitimate debate. But not ckoser. If someone says Mo wasn't the GOAT closer, you can simply dismiss their opinion as uninformed or completely biased.
Plus anyone who said Mo was only great because he was with the Yankees and should not be given credit needs to look at how Chapman and Holmes been in crunch time. Often times the biggest thing you find regarding their arguments is how much they would ignore Mo's postseason ERA.
Trevor Hoffman and coming out of the bullpen to Hells Bells (he was the first to use that song) was the most electrifying thing you ever experienced and the crowd would go crazy.
He was more like a force of nature than anything, you know it's coming, but still cannot do anything. That is the most gangster shit in baseball ever. One of my favorite players ever
What’s interesting for Rivera is he was constantly put in the situation to get a save and he almost always consistently delivered in closing the game all the way up till he retired. Was he the best closer ever with the best stuff? Maybe not the best in everything but his cutter was the nastiest thing I’ve probably ever seen.
*1996 On top of that he didn't have his cutter at the time as well. Makes you wonder how much better he could have been had his signature pitch been there at the time.
If you want to be the best you must beat the best. The Sox in 04 they could say they beat one of the best Closers of all time before they could advance to the World Series and win it for the first time since 1918. No shame for Mariano that day. Just one bad pitch and great baserunning by Dave Roberts the game was tied. Any lesser pitcher it would of been all forgotten!!! Pedro and Mariano will go down as great pitchers of that era.
It is funny, NOT ONE of these other "PREMIER" closers come CLOSE to Mariano. The regular season is untouchable as is, but the POSTSEASON stats are what truly make him baseball's version of WILT CHAMBERLAIN in the form of a reliever. He holds ALL THE RECORDS lol
I think we’re going to see Ohtani become a closer, after his recent injury, plus the WBC. I think the starting is going to be too much, and that way, he can still be active pitching. ALSO, Robinson, Aaron, Mays, Williams, Mantle and some other should have also been unanimous votes for the HOF. Criminal that Aaron and Robinson were not.
Only one other player fully replicated Mariano Rivera's cutter. That man was Roy halladay of the Toronto Blue Jays. And as you know, Roy halladay was a pitcher as good as Moe. Whenever somebody asked opposing hitters in the American League who faced roy, what it was like, they said it was similar to facing Mariano Rivera for nine innings. That is the caliber of player that it takes to replicate Mariano's style.
My theory is this. At 95mph+ it is proven the human eye cannot track the ball from about 20 to the plate so every hitter’s brain has to determine where the ball will end up after the first 40 feet. Your brain can do that calculation. But his cutter broke so late the ball was simply not where the batter’s brain said it would be when it crossed the plate. So it didn’t matter the hitter knew what was coming.
1) 13:22 that was absolutely WICKED! 2) The Yankees beat the Phillies in 6 games in 2009, not 5. 3) His divine intervention cutter is proof that God is in fact a Yankee fan
Has the amount of broken bats ever been tracked? By both hitters and batters? Seems Mo would be pretty far up there, if not first by a lot and at least the most memorable, considering the Twins gave him that chair.
You should look at the nonsense the user SniffyJB posted claiming that he juiced. It didn't take much to get the guy to start resorting to insults when pressed.
He didn't come up with that cut fastball overnight...he was developing it for a while...but he himself said one night it all came together and he was able to throw it as needed...then he further developed with finger placement and pressure to move it to anywhere he wanted in the strike zone. People don't give Mel Stottlemyer enough credit because he worked with Mariano to perfect the pitch.
@@GSP-76 Right, but I wonder what made it so hard to hit, as in, I wonder what it looked like on the receiving end and why it was so effective. I guess it just moved unpredictably. Dunno.
@@rmp5s It was the movement he had...ball was already coming at you 95mph but the crazy change in direction as it approached the plate is what made it impossible to hit...he didn't have a lot of different pitches..the batters knew exactly what pitch was coming but we're mostly helpless in getting a hit.
Can someone explain why his cutter is somehow that much better than the cutters that other pitchers throw? Couldn't other pitchers just grip the ball the same way he does it to emulate the same pitch?
Just would like to share that I met Mo yesterday and chatted with him about his career. He said that in his whole career only one series bugs him and that was 2003 Marlins World Series. But I really just wanna brag about talking baseball with Mo. Complete out of body experience.
When an era+ of 144 is considered a bad season for you, you're the GOAT
I’m a Red Sox fan and me and a friend went to Yankee Stadium on September 11th 2005 to watch the Sox and Yanks play. It was a 1-0 game in the top of the 8th when Torre brought Mariano in to face Ortiz with 1 on and 2 outs. I can still remember to this day the sound of Enter Sandman start playing and those bullpen doors open and the place went absolutely crazy. You could literally feel the excitement throughout the park. Even me and my friend were actually smiling when Mariano started jogging to the mound cause of how insane it all was. It was one of the loudest cheers I’ve ever heard at any stadium. Mo came in and got out of the 8th and then worked out of a little trouble in the 9th to get the safe. To this day I still tell people that that was one of my best memories of a sporting event I’ve ever witnessed.
That’s so cool. A great rivalry between two outstanding teams at the time. Sadly, neither of us have had a lot to cheer about recently. 😔
Dude I remember that game - it was supposed to be Schilling vs Johnson but either Schilling was hurt or didn't line up right and it was Wakefield vs Johnson. I think I watched every Yankee game that year lol
There will never ever be another like Mariano. No one will break his records because of how dominant he was. Analytics prevent managers nowadays from bringing in closers everyday. Mariano will forever be the greatest closer.
Closers don’t stay with one team anymore.
Doesn't hurt that he was on one of longest running MLB dynasty teams in history.
@@mastod0n1 true. That’s one reason but still closers in one team is extremely rare.
@@Kourumemeirrelevant comment to the op lmao but imagine how much shit a team would catch today if they let mariano rivera sign to another team😂😂
@@mastod0n1he was one of the biggest pieces of that dynasty. 8-1 0.70 era in 96 games. 42 postseason saves 141 innings. it's literally untouchable. 11 earned runs in 141 innings "it helps to be in a dynasty" 😂😂
0.70 Era in the postseason with 141 Innings pitched and 11 ER with 5 Championships an ALCS and World Series MVP is literally insane and MLB the Show type numbers. I feel blessed to have grew up in a Yankee family and watching his career from the start. I could give so many crazy stats and facts but just look at his baseball reference regular season and postseason and World Series stats its literally laughable how great he was
Irony being that, in Franchise mode of most The Show games, closers are never very consistent and the ones who dominate for a season are random as hell. Mo truly is special, even the best of games can't keep up with the sheer consistency.
Quite possibly the best postseason pitcher ever. Not just the best closer.
He won a world series mvp for pitching 4 innings. Not impressed.
@@85mcarnoldmadbum, schilling, koufax would beg to differ. He wasnt even the best YANKEE in postseason history, that being pettitte.
Big time but as you have seen in this thread, there are couple of idiots looking to discredit.
I was lucky enough to see him live many times. It was always electric. He was so reliable that when he blew a save, everyone watching was like, "wait, what? Is there something wrong with the ball? And I hope he's okay!" The way the ball just seemed to explode out of his hand was insane to see as a kid. He was always so composed and calm in appearance, and truly everything I knew that embodied the Yankees' way.
Yes, I was able to see Wakefield and felt like the ball was like that as well.
This is great! I had the opportunity to sit down and have a conversation with Hank Aaron. To take the suspense out of this is, at the time I was a minor league player. So that to me is why I got the chance to sit with him , we played the same position and any thing I could laern from him would be a positive for me. That’s a moment in my life is way up there. And yes, I shared the same dressing room with Bob Gibson and Joe Torre and those guys. Real memories.
Growing up a Twins fan, I absolutley hated the Yankees. Despite this, I idolized Rivera and developed a cut fastball because of him.
Lifelong Mariners fan. When Ichiro walked off Mo, it felt like the Mariners won the World Series; all-time team moment for a team that doesn't get many all-time moments.
Everything about Rivera was amazing. The fact that he was still mowing people down even at the end makes you wonder how much longer he could have played.
He could easily have played a few more seasons if he wanted to...but there was nothing left for him to prove by that point.
@@GSP-76 Not to mention in 2013 his slump at some point felt a bit more extended, in his prime he would have gotten out of them a lot quicker. Plus he was originally going to retire after 2012 before that freak injury happened.
With one pitch
I went to his house in Tampa ,he use to go to my church ,we seen him as a regular person and not as a famous person ,he attended to that church over 5 years,he invited the youth to his house.good days 😊😊
When you heard enter sandman playing, you knew it was over.
Mariano told you there was one pitch coming, try and hit it. And whats crazy too is he never needed unlike a lot of pitchers today. Very healthy for most of his career (minus 2012) and IMO, the BEST closer in MLB history
He is also an amazing individual.
Mariano's control and consistent velocity with his cut-fastball just shows how well a pitcher can do with good control and an average fastball velo "the best pitch in baseball is a well located fastball".
Cut fastballs back in Rivera's day were typically high 80s to low 90s. Rivera's cut fastball being consistently 94-97 during his prime with that amount of movement was such an outlier that hitters couldn't prepare well for it. Rivera also had such command and control of the strike zone that perhaps only Greg Maddux can really be considered in the same class during that era. That combination produced such an unstoppable combination that usually only lady luck or a hitter generous home plate umpire could slow Rivera down.
Incredible control, but nobody was better than Maddux
@@Refill_2 Yankee fan, and I agree that peak Maddux's 2-seamer was just as much a Bugs Bunny pitch as Rivera's cut fastball.
As a Red Sox I have immense respect for Mariano. As for if there will ever be another 1 like him.....he was a once in a lifetime player.
What I always liked best about Rivera was that he never screamed, yelled, or gestuculated after getting an out. He'd come in the game at the most crucial moments, break multiple bats, and make hitters look silly, but he never rubbed it in their faces. He didn't celebrate each out because he viewed it as just doing his job. Getting outs was what he was supposed to do.
His career numbers are insane BEFORE you even consider the context that he did almost all of it with one pitch. No guessing games for the hitter. Just a simple man-to-man challenge. Here's my one pitch: hit it.
⚾️🐐
He didn’t throw the cutter exclusively he also threw a four-seam reaching 154 km/h
@@jareddanielcunanan4303Yeah, but that Cutter was used over 90% of the time over his career. That’s pretty much as close as you can get to being a one pitch pitcher outside of being a knuckleballer.
Awesome video! My favorite Mariano Rivera stat is more people walked on the moon (12) than he gave up earned runs in his postseason career (11) in 141 innings pitched.
That's friggin crazy
I like his 0.39 WAR per 9 innings pitched. On a per inning basis, he's the goat pitcher, including starters.
My dad and his family are from Westchester County which is just north of NYC and where a lot of players and coaches live during the season because it's outside the city enough that you actually have property but it's also only 15-20 min drive to Yankee Stadium. My grandmother who was and still is a massive Yankee fan ended up befriending Mariano simply by running into him at the bank, the pizza place in the town, just out running errands. He was always happy to see her, called her Catherine even though everyone calls her Cathy, asked about me and my sister whom he never met but she always talked about, and she always said he was always just the nicest most respectful guy in the world, carrying on conversations, stopping to talk to her when he didn't have to and a simple hello in passing would have been good enough to make her day.
As a yankees fan and a native new yorker seeing that great yankee dynsaty as it was happening was unbelievable it was euphoric my GOD. The yankees WERE baseball in those days, we absolutely owned major league baseball. Such a great time to be a yankees fan ill never forget those days in my life every yankee game was so good to watch. We will rise to the top again our time will come again !
As a 15 year old 10/26/2000 Watching game 5 of the Subway World Series will be forever burned in my mind. NYY > NYM. I had a sign "We Want Mo Cuttas". There's only room for 1 team in New York boys! Yankees were the team of the millennium. Yanks the team of the world.
@@ShortLifeHax facts
I was a kid but remember the 2001 WS. That Luis Gonzales flair walk off is iconic.
Even as a Yankee fan, I must admit that the 2001 WS was the best I ever saw. The outcome did not go my way, but the tension and excitement has never been duplicated. On the other hand, the Yankee loss saved the life of Enrique Wilson.
@@generatorxholy shit dude I just looked up the story behind Enrique. Helped me get over losing the 2001 ws completely thank you so much.
That one still hurts for Yankees fans since it was right after 9/11. I'll never forget Mariano looking over his shoulder like "No..."
Boston Red Sox fan here: Mo is clearly the best closer that has ever played the game. There isnt even a close second place to have a discussion. He is the only relief pitcher who is in the discussion for GOAT all time pitchers, IMHO.
Great Video! Thanks.
All glories to Mariano Rivera!
*Wearing 42 when it's been retired leaguewide shows you have a living legend, a legendary number, a god level closer. I remember the popup against the mets 2000 Subway WS, I was 15 in high school, it was the greatest Yankee moment I've ever experienced.*
As an almost 31 year old Yankees fan, some of my earliest baseball memories are of Mariano Rivera
Almost 36 here, 90's Yanks were the shit! Mo was the best
I wish we were like 12-16 in the mid 90s when he was a complete god. You know what I mean? I would have loved to watch him throw his cutter at 97 while fully understanding and appreciating what I was watching
As a Red Sox fan, Mariano is my favorite closer of all time. He’s literally the GOAT of GOATS! Yankees Fan were lucky to have him.
My memory might be shaky, but the season after Mariano blew the 2004 ALCS against the Sox, he had a rough start of the season where Yankee fans actually booed him. So when he came out of the dugout during player intros at Fenway (might have been the first home series of the season for the Sox), Boston fans gave Mariano a loud applause and cheers, not in a mocking way either. It was purely out of respect. The one and only time Boston Red Sox fans showed any class. 😁
There are guys around today who have great cutters (Kenley comes to mind), but Mariano's cutter was damn near unhittable. Chipper Jones said it was like facing a guy throwing 95mph chainsaws at you. Guys knew what was coming and still couldn't hit it. His stats are just insane and they won't ever be topped. He'll be leading the Mount Rushmore of closers and deserves every bit of it.
No athlete has ever executed their role better. As well, never better.
No matter how much a person may hate the Yankees, it is simply impossible to hate Mariano Rivera.
There will be idiots looking to discredit him though, even in this comments section you will find few examples. Some were hidden though due to YT being weird with the comments section where one has to toggle to latest comments to make them visible. One person in particular spewed the same crap about putting him another team would make him less great so it seems he's one of those people who goes by saves numbers rather than his WHIP and ERA.
@@iamhungey12345ERA for closers is flawed just due to lack of innings. ERA+ is more effective and unsurprisingly Mariano has a stupid high ERA+
@@IBangedUrMom69420 And kept it up for a long period of time as well. Many closers generally flames out after few years but Mo was among those who defied that.
I got to see him get the save against the Reds in Cincinnati in 2011. My favorite Yankee, Jorge Posada, hit a HR too. It was a good day
The post season ERA is unbelievable
As a lifelong Red Sox fan, Mo was the truth. One of the only Yankees I both respect and like.
- His "worst" career ERA: 2.85
- His ERA while injured: 2.75
Freaking OP...
His post season ERA was .70. This was against the best players, under the greatest pressure, often cold weather, while others were resting up to pad their next season's stats.
I'm a Red Sox fan, and I knew for years that if the Sox were going to beat the Yankees, they'd better have a lead after 7 innings, because if not, Mo was there to shut the door. Rivera was amazing to watch, even for an opposing fan like myself.
As a die hard Red Sox fan I will even admit that Rivera is without a doubt the greatest closer in all of baseball
Those were the best years in baseball. I loved watching them as a kid. At 9-10 I couldn’t grasp why they knew the pitch was coming and still couldn’t hit it haha… I loved it
Crazy how bro didnt say anything about how he pitched during the toughest decade for pitchers
During that stretch true Yankee fans know as long as Jeter and Rivera were there; the other guys didn't matter. When they spoke about the Yankee mystique what they meant was the overwhelming psychological advantage the Bombers held during that run that set them apart. Captain clutch was going to come through and when they handed the ball to Mo it was lights out.
I really enjoyed this video. As more of a casual baseball fan at that time in my life, I could never understand why no one could seem to hit his one pitch. It really didn’t look that great yet it made the best hitters in the league always look silly. He certainly was something special.
Here before this blows up
You're also here before the artards leave comments about the 2001 WS
@@rancidcrawfishI can't help but think that most "fans" at the time have moved on and deserted them, and anyone who makes such comments were born long after. That being said, that was a tough one.
@@rancidcrawfish Not to mention people with derangement syndrome towards the Yankees.
Raise the roof bro! Chill you have made the greatest achievement since Mariano Riviera!
14:07
I always love to see this crushed-bat chair
Perhaps the most memorable game I've ever been to in person was a late August game in 2009 in Seattle where Ichiro hit a bottom of the ninth, two out, two-run walkoff home run against Rivera. It was electric. A true hall of fame match up.
If it was a west coast game and the Yankees had a 1 run lead coming in the bottom of the ninth with Mo coming in I’d just turn the game off and go to bed, can’t think of many times in his career I woke up the next day and we didn’t win. His level of dominance was just incredible, even his blown saves which where exceedingly rare it was like a couple of soft fart broken bat bloopers. And he did the aforementioned for 18 years.
Owner of the best pitch in baseball history
Did you know only one other player in the history of baseball replicated Mariano Rivera's cutter?
Can you guess the player that it is?
Roy Halladay! Yes, the only other player to replicate that cutter was another Hall of Fame pitcher.
THE 1ST PLAYER(SHOULD HAVE BEEN AT LEAST 100) TO RECEIVE 100% OF THE MLB ⚾ HALL OF FAME BALLOT .. MARIANO 'MO' RIVERA#42 ..
The Sandman was unbelievably great to watch! His delivery looked effortless compared to most pitchers. Some of those pitchers look like they're going to break their arm or have a heart attack each time. Mariano looked like he was having a catch in the backyard. The crazy way that his pitches started their movement just a few feet before the ball reached the batter was mesmerizing. The poor lefties were just completely out of luck when the ball tailed into their hands after it was too late to abort the swing. The slogan "We Do One Thing, And Do It Well" comes to mind here!!!
I was always a huge Red Sox fan growing up but I always had MASSIVE respect for Mariano. Man was incredibly dominant at his craft and played with incredible class. I feel the same about Derek Jeter
04 ALCS I was like its over he's coming in. You had that feeling that Mariano would shut the Sox down in the 9th. Then boom it was like a Miracle David defeated Goliath. He was so dominate and it had to be one.
Yeah but those hitters he was competing against were bums compared to today’s hitters.
@@HT-sm9dm Not really, especially since today's era has a Mendoza line batters as among the top hitters...
@@HT-sm9dm Well I won't tell legions of baseball that. The late Tony Quinn will have the problem with that. The game may change but the players will never will.
Yeah but come on guys. Alejandro Kirk is a godly physical specimen of a man. Imagine him compared to say, Mike Piazza or Ivan Rodriguez. Those guys would be lucky to compete with his shadow in a bat speed contest.
Unanimous ticket to Cooperstown.
Bro wore number 42. What a legend
As a sox fan growing up, I hated the Yankees. But not Rivera. I feared and respected him.
Enter the Sandman.
Thank you for everything you done for us Mariano
More people have walked on the moon than scored against Rivera in the playoffs.
That is actually just so insane to think about.
Growing up, and playing baseball. It blew me away you knew the Cutter was coming from 42, yet no one could hit it. Kenley Jansen got close with his cutter. His prime was crazy too
His post season ERA and WHIP is craaazy
For one season, the Yankees had another reliever who put together an amazing record. In 1927, Wilcy Moore, pitching primarily in relief, posted a record of 19-7 with an ERA of 2.28. What makes this so unique is, like Mariano Rivera, he did it with one pitch, a sinking fastball he could locate with pinpoint control.
It feels too early to be here
He was a phenomenal closer, and I know I’ll get hate for saying this, but the blown playoff saves against Arizona in game 7 of the World Series (01) and Boston in game 4 of the ALCS, on the verge of a 4-0 sweep in that series which they would infamously blow (04) will always sting. Ok you can destroy me now 😂
I tell you as a Sox fan our hope was 99% gone when he came in. You had to believe there was a chance but with Mariano it always felt like you were facing the Roman army or the Persian Immortals.
Us Yankee fans were spoiled while he was playing. He essentially made the gane a 7 inning game... because if it was ever close and got to the eighth inning, we knew Yanks would win.
As a Red Sox fan, I started liking Mariano Rivera as a person in 2005. The Yankees were of course the scheduled opponent for the Sox’ home opener, and as each Yankee was announced, they were lustily booed by the Fenway faithful. The bigger the star, the louder the boos. That is, until Rivera was announced. The boos turned to raucous cheering. Rather than take this attempt at humiliating him for his blown saves stoically or getting upset, he just smiled and tipped his cap. Classy move.
On an unrelated note, former Red Sox third baseman Bill Mueller’s last name is pronounced MILL-er, not MYOO-ler. My next door neighbor at the time had the same first and last name, but pronounced it MULL-er so the difference stuck with me.
Great video.
A living legend
To be fair, that 85 mph LL pitch amouhts tk about 110mph In MLB, and I don't think many pros could hit that either ;)
with crazy weird movement, to boot.
His biggest failures are some of the greatest moments in baseball history simply because of his presence on the mound. He was almost God-Like to watch.
Yep. He was the Goliath to a few David's during his incredible career
The "his greatest failures" crowd always stops by.
@@susanmullen8648 Some more insane than the others, not all are like the OP unfortunately.
Can confirm. Watched him live back in the day
Red Sox fan here. I always respect the skill that the Yankees could bring to the game. But Rivera is the only Yankee I ever feared. There was immense pressure to be well ahead by the end of the 7th. Because if you weren't, you'd have to face him, and the game was over. The best closer ever, and in some ways, maybe the best pitcher ever.
Mariano rivera could throw a cutter ranging from 91-94 mph to all 4 corners not to mention almost always jamming them when he threw inside
At his peak he can hit upper 90s as well. What can be said his ability to locate his pitch is what enabled him to adjust to declining velocity.
If you heard the Metallica song "Enter Sandman" at the stadium, you knew who was heading to the mound and the game was over. So many great memories at the old Yankee Stadium.
As a Tigers fan it hurts thinking about a David Wells for Rivera trade. The fact he learned to throw the cutter at Tiger Stadium is just salt in the wounds.
Marianos postseason ERA is about 1/3 of the ERA of the greatest regular season reliever in history, which is himself.
In my opinion, he's the single greatest pitcher ever, including starters. On a per inning basis, his WAR is the best ever. Among pitchers with 1,000+ innings, he leads in ERA. The fact he needed just one pitch to do it is remarkable. Closed out games for 16 full seasons (1 year missed for injury, one as the greatest setup man ever and his debut season as a starter) and only failed 11% of the time.
And his lead on the next best closer is the biggest lead any "best at position" player has. Every position you will get some legitimate debate. But not ckoser. If someone says Mo wasn't the GOAT closer, you can simply dismiss their opinion as uninformed or completely biased.
Plus anyone who said Mo was only great because he was with the Yankees and should not be given credit needs to look at how Chapman and Holmes been in crunch time. Often times the biggest thing you find regarding their arguments is how much they would ignore Mo's postseason ERA.
Trevor Hoffman and coming out of the bullpen to Hells Bells (he was the first to use that song) was the most electrifying thing you ever experienced and the crowd would go crazy.
He was more like a force of nature than anything, you know it's coming, but still cannot do anything. That is the most gangster shit in baseball ever. One of my favorite players ever
When your signature pitch is called the buzzsaw, because the amount of bats he cut in half, you know you’re a beast.
Sand man is for SURE the Michael Jordan of closers and for sure the cutter pitch! So glad he was a Yankee his entire career!!!
What’s interesting for Rivera is he was constantly put in the situation to get a save and he almost always consistently delivered in closing the game all the way up till he retired. Was he the best closer ever with the best stuff? Maybe not the best in everything but his cutter was the nastiest thing I’ve probably ever seen.
The amazing thing is that closer wasn’t his best position. He was even a better set up man in 1995
*1996
On top of that he didn't have his cutter at the time as well. Makes you wonder how much better he could have been had his signature pitch been there at the time.
I remember one of his middle relief appearances in '95, he walked the bases loaded, but then struck out the next 3 batters.
If you want to be the best you must beat the best. The Sox in 04 they could say they beat one of the best Closers of all time before they could advance to the World Series and win it for the first time since 1918. No shame for Mariano that day. Just one bad pitch and great baserunning by Dave Roberts the game was tied. Any lesser pitcher it would of been all forgotten!!! Pedro and Mariano will go down as great pitchers of that era.
W video
This title is “Perfect “!
That's true! literally and figuratively
It is funny, NOT ONE of these other "PREMIER" closers come CLOSE to Mariano. The regular season is untouchable as is, but the POSTSEASON stats are what truly make him baseball's version of WILT CHAMBERLAIN in the form of a reliever. He holds ALL THE RECORDS lol
Why wasn’t Gagne mentioned???
Short peak; his 3-year run was INSANE, but he basically vanished the instant he lost even a little off his stuff.
I think we’re going to see Ohtani become a closer, after his recent injury, plus the WBC.
I think the starting is going to be too much, and that way, he can still be active pitching.
ALSO, Robinson, Aaron, Mays, Williams, Mantle and some other should have also been unanimous votes for the HOF. Criminal that Aaron and Robinson were not.
Ruth was not a unanimous vote LOL
I mean 3 people did not vote for Ken Griffey Jr. so these things are unpredictable
Or he can focus on his hitting more if he doesn't pitch.
I agree
Do a video on Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders
Only one other player fully replicated Mariano Rivera's cutter. That man was Roy halladay of the Toronto Blue Jays.
And as you know, Roy halladay was a pitcher as good as Moe.
Whenever somebody asked opposing hitters in the American League who faced roy, what it was like, they said it was similar to facing Mariano Rivera for nine innings. That is the caliber of player that it takes to replicate Mariano's style.
Obligatory "More men have walked on the Moon than scored an earned run against Mariano Rivera in the postseason."
My theory is this.
At 95mph+ it is proven the human eye cannot track the ball from about 20 to the plate so every hitter’s brain has to determine where the ball will end up after the first 40 feet. Your brain can do that calculation.
But his cutter broke so late the ball was simply not where the batter’s brain said it would be when it crossed the plate.
So it didn’t matter the hitter knew what was coming.
1) 13:22 that was absolutely WICKED!
2) The Yankees beat the Phillies in 6 games in 2009, not 5.
3) His divine intervention cutter is proof that God is in fact a Yankee fan
0:07 “and Chapman”
Me *ehhhhh*
“Sometimes”
Me: *there it is*
Mannn the Yankees only missed the World Series in 97 and 2002 in a 8 year span but had a chance to win 6 championships in that span as well .. crazy
Has the amount of broken bats ever been tracked? By both hitters and batters? Seems Mo would be pretty far up there, if not first by a lot and at least the most memorable, considering the Twins gave him that chair.
Mariano Rivera was ridiculous! And he came outta nowhere, I'd put him up there with Nolan and Pedro as one of the goats!
yankees fans were spoiled. it's funny that they still expect to dominate but some of those players were truly once in a lifetime
They expect it because they are constantly in the top of payroll spent
Mel Stoudamire really helped Mo fine tune the cutter
No steroid allegations. Probably got a big ol' hog on him, too. He's a goddamn hero
You should look at the nonsense the user SniffyJB posted claiming that he juiced. It didn't take much to get the guy to start resorting to insults when pressed.
Wow...that's INCREDIBLE!! I wonder what it was that made him so hard to hit.
He didn't come up with that cut fastball overnight...he was developing it for a while...but he himself said one night it all came together and he was able to throw it as needed...then he further developed with finger placement and pressure to move it to anywhere he wanted in the strike zone. People don't give Mel Stottlemyer enough credit because he worked with Mariano to perfect the pitch.
@@GSP-76 Right, but I wonder what made it so hard to hit, as in, I wonder what it looked like on the receiving end and why it was so effective. I guess it just moved unpredictably. Dunno.
@@rmp5s It was the movement he had...ball was already coming at you 95mph but the crazy change in direction as it approached the plate is what made it impossible to hit...he didn't have a lot of different pitches..the batters knew exactly what pitch was coming but we're mostly helpless in getting a hit.
Can someone explain why his cutter is somehow that much better than the cutters that other pitchers throw? Couldn't other pitchers just grip the ball the same way he does it to emulate the same pitch?
Location.
Good video but my guy, the tempo and inflection of your voice over is very annoying.
GOAT
Just would like to share that I met Mo yesterday and chatted with him about his career. He said that in his whole career only one series bugs him and that was 2003 Marlins World Series. But I really just wanna brag about talking baseball with Mo. Complete out of body experience.
Correction, In the 2009 WS, Yankees closed out the Phillies in 6 games, not 5.