In an era when an athlete very rarely stays with one team for his whole career, nineteen year Yankee Mariano Rivera said goodbye in his home stadium in his final game as a Yankee last night. He's been with the Yankees for nineteen years and is the best closer the game has ever seen.
His final game at Yankee Stadium was something like I've never seen. He came out of the bullpen for the final time, and had a warm reception by the fans. He got one out in the eight and it looked like he was going to finish the game. However, manager Joe Girardi had something else up his sleeve.
He asked the umps if longtime teammates Andy Pettite and Derek Jeter could go to the mound to pull Rivera from the game for one last, triumphant goodbye from fans, his teammates, and the MLB. Out of the dugout came Pettite and Jeter. The signal to the bullpen and Jeter tells him he's done with three simple words. "It's time to go." Rivera then gives both of his longtime teammates a huge hug that lasted for a long time crying the whole time. He goes to the dugout then acknowledges a curtain call multiple times. And for the last time he walks off a baseball field.
His final walk off of a diamond came when he went to the pitching mound to get some dirt as a keepsake from his nineteen years with the Yankees. The only way it could've ended better was if he got a save. The Sandman will go down as the best closer in MLB history and will truly be missed from the game. It's over for him.
Exit Sandman, what a career,
Darren.
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