OT: congrats to mariano rivera

[tcdyess]

Yes, baseball has changed, but his dominance, class and humble nature should be revered by all true baseball fans. Congratulations to a true competitor and champion!!!!

[iwantitiwinit]

With

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by tcdyess

Yes, baseball has changed, but his dominance, class and humble nature should be revered by all true baseball fans. Congratulations to a true competitor and champion!!!!

+1, even as a fan who really, and I mean REALLY doesn't like the Yankees. The greatest there's ever been in his role. Now if only his 1992 Bowman in top grade would come down out of the stratosphere, when even gem mints aren't all that hard to find. A good time to buy will probably be 5+ years from now, when he's much more out of sight, out of mind, from purely a HOF collector's perspective.

Regards,

Larry

[vintagecpa]

What an amazing career. Being a fan that enjoys rooting against the Yankees, my two favorite moments were the blown saves of the Colorado-NY game 7 and the Boston-NY game 4 in the ALCS that Boston came back from the 0-3 deficit. He seemed to save every other game however.

[drc]

He's a poor man's Doug Jones.

(Just being a smart ass)

[canjond]

I was lucky enough to work with Mariano after the '96 World Series. These are two of my favorite items I had autographed. One of the cards is also signed by Mo's then girlfriend (and now wife). Not sure how PSA authenticated her signature though!

[tcdyess]

Beautiful signature!! Even those are classy.....

[dstraate]

I'm in agreement with all other posters on this one. When a guy breaks a record under suspicion of cheating, or is just prickly and impersonal, it takes away from the accomplishment for me. I am really pleased to see one of the "good guys" finishing first.

[steve B]

Yes, congratulations to him on a major accomplishment. He may be on a team I like least of all, but he's topnotch all the way.
(unless he's making a save against the Sox, then......Ah hell, even then he's still topnotch and a great competitor. )

Steve B

[shaunsteig]

Originally Posted by vintagecpa

What an amazing career. Being a fan that enjoys rooting against the Yankees, my two favorite moments were the blown saves of the Colorado-NY game 7 and the Boston-NY game 4 in the ALCS that Boston came back from the 0-3 deficit. He seemed to save every other game however.

err, Arizona in game 7. that one still stings, cause we spent game 3 and 4 beating up their closer...

Couldn't agree more -- it's been such a pleasure watching him pitch so effortlessly all these years, with not the slightest bit of conceit or entitlement. I honestly believe that his stabilizing presence in the bullpen in 1996 (he was Wetteland's setup man, locking down the 7th and 8th innings) was a major factor in that championship team, which itself served as the basis and start for their great run those years.

[hunterdutchess]

Originally Posted by vintagecpa

What an amazing career. Being a fan that enjoys rooting against the Yankees, my two favorite moments were the blown saves of the Colorado-NY game 7 and the Boston-NY game 4 in the ALCS that Boston came back from the 0-3 deficit. He seemed to save every other game however.

Don't forget the biggest choke job of all time IMO, after September 11th 01 he had a chance to close out the Diamond Backs and bring a championship to N.Y. but could not seal the deal.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by hunterdutchess

Don't forget the biggest choke job of all time IMO, after September 11th 01 he had a chance to close out the Diamond Backs and bring a championship to N.Y. but could not seal the deal.

"Choke job" indicates he wilted under the pressure, instead of being merely human.

0.71 ERA in 94 playoff appearances against the best teams in baseball.

How many of those 0.71 runs was the product of broken bat hits and flares off the end of the bat?

[vintagecpa]

Originally Posted by hunterdutchess

Don't forget the biggest choke job of all time IMO, after September 11th 01 he had a chance to close out the Diamond Backs and bring a championship to N.Y. but could not seal the deal.

I stand corrected. It was Arizona, not Colorado. Hard to keep track of all these expansion teams.

[pitchernut]

and whats truly amazing (at least to me) is that he did this with basically one pitch