MORE THAN JUST A NUMBER
THE 652 saves, most in MLB history, tell only part of the story.
The legacy of Mariano Rivera lives on not only in that number, but in the Yankees’ bullpen with the way Rivera went about his work. Just as the way he wore the legendary No. 42 with class, Rivera not only delivered, he acted the part of the Greatest Closer of All-Time.
He performed to the best of his ability with dignity and pride. He made no excuses in the rare times he failed. Even if it was on the biggest stage, and in the end he carried home five world championship rings, 42 (such an appropriate number) postseason saves, including 11 in the World Series, and a World Series ERA of 0.99.
“I don’t know if anybody has ever said this before, obviously it takes 25 guys to win, but if you took away Mariano, I don’t know if you win those five rings,’’ one-time Yankees setup man Jeff Nelson told The Post.
Nelson was part of the Yankees’
1996, ’98, ’99 and 2000 world championship teams.
“I don’t think I win a ring, Maybe one, maybe. I don’t know,’’ he said.
“Mo’s presence on that team was probably more important than any other guy. How many guys we used through the years. I know everybody had their roles. [Mike] Stanton and I. Or [Derek] Jeter or Bernie [Williams], Tino [Martinez], you can go down the list of superstars that we had, but if it came down to one guy and the importance of one person, Mo would be the guy. You take him away, I don’t know what the Yankees would have done.
“When Tino and I got traded to New York, the Mariners wanted Rivera and the Yankees wouldn’t give him up.
“There were so many different moments,’’ said Nelson, a rising star in the broadcasting world with YES and other outlets.
And what was the feeling like in that Yankees’ bullpen with Mo in charge?
INFLUENCE ON YANKEE BULLPEN CONTINUES EVEN AFTER PLAYING CAREER
“When it came down to the sixth or seventh inning, you got to see him smile when the game was out of hand and he knew we weren’t getting in,’’ Nelson said. “So we all got to kid around a little bit, and Mo got to relax a little bit because he knew he wasn’t going to get in the game. If anything you can take away from what he was like, you never knew by his demeanor if he did a good job or a bad job, a good game or a bad game. You never knew.
“And if he did have a bad game, which was very rare, it was quickly over, and that is something all the other relievers and everybody on the team, learned from.’’ That is the legacy of Mo. “It was like, wow, here is a guy who pitches in the ninth inning, pitches in the toughest inning in baseball, or even the toughest in sports, you have a bad game and he comes back the next day and it’s like nothing ever happened.
“You look at ’97 and he gives up the home run to Sandy Alomar and he comes back in ’98 and we won 125 games,’’ Nelson added. “So it is something like that that people learn. I learned from him. If I had a bad game I have to quickly forget about it because you are going to be in there the next day and he set a good example for that.’’
Yankees setup man Dellin Betances said that is a lesson he carries to this day.
“For me, I just grew up a fan of his,’’ said the native New Yorker. “What I learned from watching him is that he was always kind of calm and always went about his business the right way.
“I first met him before I signed with the Yankees and then I got to know him better after I signed. Being a reliever, the biggest thing is having a short-term memory, and Mo was the best of that. Good game or bad game.
“If a guy who has the most saves in the history of the game and was a unanimous selection to the Hall of Fame was like that, we can all learn from that. We can always try our best and not knock ourselves over for one or two bad games.’’
Said fellow Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle: “Whenever you were around him, you learned a lot, just the way he carried himself. Every day he came to the yard you could just tell he was here to do the job, a complete professional.
“I was in camp his last year in 2013 and I tried to watch everything he did and he still does come around a lot and talks to us and that’s nice too. You really do learn so much from him and just to be in the same place where he was, on the mound at Yankee Stadium, he’s a legend.’’
In numbers and in how he always handled the Mo-ment.