Mariano Rivera

Mariano Rivera (born November 29, 1969) is a Panamanian-American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, from 1995 to 2013.

Nicknamed "Mo" and "Sandman", he spent most of his career as a relief pitcher and served as the Yankees' closer for 17 seasons.

A thirteen-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion, he is MLB's career leader in saves (652) and games finished (952).

Rivera won five American League (AL) Rolaids Relief Man Awards and three Delivery Man of the Year Awards, and he finished in the top three in voting for the AL Cy Young Award four times.

Mariano Rivera was born in Panama City, Panama, on November 29, 1969, to Mariano Rivera Palacios and Delia Jiron.

Rivera has one older sister, Delia, and two younger brothers, Alvaro and Giraldo.

Supported by Mariano Sr.'s job as captain of a fishing boat, the family lived in Puerto Caimito, a Panamanian fishing village that Rivera described as "poor".

As a young man, Rivera played soccer and baseball with his friends on the beach during low tide.

Soccer was his favorite sport, and Pelé his favorite athlete.

For baseball games, they substituted cardboard milk cartons for gloves and tree branches for bats, and they fashioned balls by taping wads of shredded fishing nets.

Rivera used this makeshift equipment until his father bought him his first leather glove when he was 12 years old.

Speaking about his youth, Rivera said that although he stayed out of trouble, he "was hanging with the wrong people".

Rivera attended Escuela Victoriano Chacón for elementary school and La Escuela Secundaria Pedro Pablo Sanchez for his secondary education, but he dropped out in ninth grade.

At age 16, he began to learn the fishing trade by working on a commercial boat captained by his father, catching sardines.

Rivera, who worked six-day weeks, year round, called the job "extremely hard" and was more interested in becoming a mechanic.

He spent three years learning the fishing trade, saving the money he earned in hopes of opening an automobile repair shop.

Two incidents on his father's boat validated his doubts about fishing as a career.

In 1988, Rivera's uncle Miguel was lashed by an unsecured rope that shot off a hydraulic mechanism, and a month later he died from his injuries.

About a year later, at age 19, Rivera was forced to abandon his father's ship after it began capsizing due to a malfunctioning water pump and an overweight load of fish.

Rivera continued to play sports during his teenage years but eventually quit soccer around age 17 after a series of ankle and knee injuries.

Consequently, he shifted his attention to baseball, though he considered it a hobby rather than a potential profession.

At age 18, Rivera joined the Panamá Oeste Vaqueros, a local amateur baseball team, as a utility player.

Scout Herb Raybourn watched him play shortstop in a 1988 baseball tournament but did not project him to be a major leaguer.

Raised in the modest Panamanian fishing village of Puerto Caimito, Rivera was an amateur player until he was signed by the Yankees organization in 1990.

With his presence at the end of games, signaled by his foreboding entrance song "Enter Sandman", Rivera was a key contributor to the Yankees' success in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

He debuted in the major leagues in 1995 as a starting pitcher, before permanently converting to a relief pitcher late in his rookie year.

After a breakthrough season in 1996 as a setup man, he became the Yankees' closer in 1997.

In the following seasons, he established himself as one of baseball's top relievers, leading the major leagues in saves in 1999, 2001, and 2004.

Rivera primarily threw a sharp-moving, mid-90s mile-per-hour cut fastball that frequently broke hitters' bats and earned a reputation as one of the league's toughest pitches to hit.

An accomplished postseason performer, he was named the 1999 World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) and the 2003 AL Championship Series MVP, and he holds several postseason records, including lowest earned run average (ERA) (0.70) and most saves (42).

Rivera is regarded as one of the most dominant relievers in major league history.

Pitching with a longevity and consistency uncommon to the closer role, he saved at least 25 games in 15 consecutive seasons and posted an ERA under 2.00 in 11 seasons, both of which are records.

When he retired, his career 2.21 ERA and 1.00 WHIP were the lowest in the live-ball era among qualified pitchers.

Fellow players credit him with popularizing the cut fastball across the major leagues.

Along with his signature pitch, Rivera was known for his precise control, smooth pitching motion, and composure on the field.

In 2013, the Yankees retired his uniform number 42; he was the last major league player to wear the number full-time, following its league-wide retirement in 1997 in honor of Jackie Robinson.

In 2014, MLB named its AL Reliever of the Year Award in Rivera's honor.

A devout Christian, he has been involved in charitable causes and the religious community through the Mariano Rivera Foundation.

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as part of its class of 2019 in his first year of eligibility, and is to date the only player ever to be elected unanimously by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA).

For his philanthropy, Rivera received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States, in September 2019.