By SAMANTHA CARR
Mariano Rivera has already
established himself
as one of the greatest relief
pitchers in the history of
baseball. He further solidified
that position on Sunday
when he notched his
500th save, a mark hit by
only one other player.
Rivera earned the save
by getting the last out of
the eighth inning and pitching
a scoreless ninth to hold
the Mets back in a 4-2 win
for the Yankees. Rivera was
the fifth pitcher in a game
started by Chien-Ming
Wang.
“I’m proud of what I
have done with the team,”
Rivera told MLB.com. “I’m
proud of my teammates.
I’m proud of everything we
have accomplished. Every
time I have the chance to
wear this uniform, I’m
proud.”
He also had his first career
RBI in his third career
regular-season plate appearance.
He earned a seven-
pitch bases-loaded walk
from Mets’ closer Francisco
Rodriguez, who owns the
single-season saves record.
“The RBI is the best,”
Rivera said. “It was my first
RBI. It was my 500th
save.”
Rivera is already second
on the all-time saves list
behind fellow active closer
Trevor Hoffman (571). Hoffman
reached his 500th save
on June 6, 2007, and he donated
his Padres jersey,
cap, spikes, glove and the
final out ball to the Hall of
Fame.
Rivera became the Yankees
closer in 1997 and remains
at the top of the active
ERA list with 2.308.
He has won the Rolaids
Relief Man of the Year
Award four times and has
been named to the All-Star
Game in nine seasons. Rivera
is a noted postseason
performer, holding the alltime
record for saves and
ERA.
He has won four World
Series championships with
the Yankees and was
named the World Series
MVP in 1999 and the ALCS
MVP in 2003.
He has led the Major
Leagues in saves three
times, and his strikeout-towalk
ratio is 3.931, good for
fourth best all-time. He has
971 strikeouts in 880 appearances
and a .575 winning
percentage. He has
finished in the top five for
Cy Young Award voting
five times.
Rivera and teammate
Andy Pettitte have already
donated a ball to the Hall of
Fame from their 59th career
win-save earlier this
season.
Rivera has a number of
artifacts in Cooperstown,
including the spikes from
the 1999 World Series, his
cap from the 2000 World
Series and from his 400th
save in 2006 and his jersey
from the 2008 All-Star
Game at Yankee Stadium.
Samantha Carr is media
relations coordinator for the
National Baseball Hall of
Fame and Museum.
