Closer role gave Rivera what he wanted

Last-guy mindset helped Yankees pitcher reach Hall

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — It never changed for Mariano Rivera — from his childhood in the fishing village of Puerto Caimito in Panama to the pitcher’s mound at Yankee Stadium.

“I always wanted to be the last guy to kick the ball or took the last shot at the basket. Give me the ball,” Rivera said. “I wanted to contribute to this victory. I wanted to help my team do whatever it took to win, and it worked many times.”

With that mindset came greatness.

A lightly regarded pitcher when signed as an amateur free agent with the New York Yankees in 1990, Rivera struggled as a starter but found his niche as a reliever with a devastating cut fastball.

The Yankees won seven pennants and five World Series with Rivera in the bullpen. His major league record of 652 saves was his ticket to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was nicknamed Sandman, after the Metallica song “Enter Sandman” that boomed across Yankee Stadium whenever he headed to the mound, ready to silence bats.

His greatness and humility — win or lose — helped Rivera achieve another milestone. He’s the only player in history to be elected unanimously, receiving all 425 votes in the January balloting.

“I feel humbled that I was the one that the Lord blessed,” said Rivera, 49, who will be inducted Sunday. “It won’t change my life, but it’s something that you know that you were the first one. That is special.”

Rivera joins Rod Carew as the only Panamanians elected to the Hall of Fame. He heads a class that also includes pitchers Mike Mussina, Lee Smith and the late Roy Halladay, and designated hitters Edgar Martinez and Harold Baines.

Baines and Smith were selected in December by a veterans committee. Rivera, Mussina, Martinez and Halladay were elected in January by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Rivera grew only stronger in the postseason, allowing just 86 hits with 110 strikeouts, 21 walks and only 11 earned runs in 141 innings and registering 11 saves in the World Series. He also was 4-1 in World Series clinchers, the lone loss in 2001 to the Arizona Diamondbacks on a bloop single by Luis Gonzalez with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth.

“When it comes to the playoffs, you’re talking about facing the best of the best in the critical situations and critical times,” said Rivera, who will deliver part of his induction speech in Spanish to a crowd local officials project to be around 50,000. “I wanted to be in those situations. I wanted to be the last guy that throws that last pitch. I have a passion for it.

“I maybe believe that that was the situation that my abilities went to a different level. Thank God that I was able to function on those critical times.”

Skip Dickstein The Associated Press Closer Mariano Rivera on his Hall of Fame career with the Yankees: “I always wanted to be the last guy to kick the ball or took the last shot at the basket. Give me the ball.”