Former New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera took a tour of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and what he saw amazed him.
Legend says that Mariano Rivera has ice water coursing through his veins. Consequently, the moment was never too big for the New York Yankees legend, as he calmly became the best closer the MLB has ever seen.
However, on Friday the 49-year-old let the moment get to him at the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Friday.
According to northjersey.com’s John Kekis, during the visit Mo “stopped at the entrance to the Plaque Gallery inside the Baseball Hall of Fame and just gazed at the walls, awestruck by the moment.”
Voters recently made Rivera the first ever unanimous Cooperstown selection. Therefore, the trip to the museum was filled with meaning for the Panama native.
“I can’t comprehend it. It’s just amazing. Too much,” Rivera told Kekis. “It’s quite a journey from a fishing village to a place where the best of the best is.”
On that journey, Rivera amassed a record 652 saves as he pitched to a minuscule 2.21 ERA. He added 42 saves and an even stingier 0.70 ERA in 141 postseason innings.
While he acclimated himself to his future shrine, Mo took the opportunity to give props to Rod Carew, the only other Panamanian in the hall.
“He represented us in a great way that we can never forget no matter what I did,” Rivera told Kekis. “If it wasn’t for him, it would have been different. He was a special man.”
Classy as ever, Rivera voiced his respect for the rest of the hall of fame legends as well:
“For a man who loves the game of baseball, what all these men did and passed it on to us, there couldn’t be a better day.”
The only better day might be July 21, 2019. That’s when the actual ceremony to induct Rivera and the rest of his class into Cooperstown takes place.
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