Great to turn on my Kindle this morning and read where Mariano Rivera got his 500th save. And no disrespect for Trevor Hoffman because 500 saves is a great accomplishment for anyone regardless of their team's position in the standings but to get 500 saves as a New York Yankee in the fire of a pennant race every year and every game and add the extra load of all the post season saves makes "MO" stand out as the greatest closer of all time. I remember when that talk started several years ago when he hadn't reached 300 saves yet and I said, "Let's wait and let him achieve what he's going to achieve and then crown him". Now, he's achieved it!

I remember when MO started a game against the White Sox in his first full season, I saw White Sox catcher, Ron Karkovice, in the stadium tunnel after the game and asked what he thought since Mo had pitched a strong game and recorded a lot of strikeouts. He remarked how the White Sox scouting report said he was a sinker/slider pitcher!! All Mo threw was high fastballs! He didn't have the reputation of throwing that filthy mid 90 mph cutter yet!

To accomplish what he has with almost exclusively one pitch, the pitch we have come to know as a cutter..even though it really is what I always called a pure slider, and throw it at one speed in one location makes what he's done even more remarkable. High and tight to left handed batters, in on their belt buckle, breaking bat after bat of even the best hitters. It's the reason right handed batters had more success against him because that pitch was always moving toward the sweet spot of their bat not into the handle like the leftys. Over time he added a '2 seamer' which broke the opposite way and an occasional change up but it was the cutter that he will always be known for. He even learned how to 'back door' it against leftys, making it cut across the outside corner of the plate and 'front door' it to rightys, cutting at the last instant across the inside edge of the plate which is a dangerous pitch to throw. Miss by a couple inches over the plate and it's a fairly easy pitch for big league hitters to hit.
 
I am very grateful that I was in the YES boooth for most of his accomplishments, like I was for Derek's. It was quite an honor to see him achieve greatness as his legacy grew and grew each year. Congratulations MO! I was just in Cooperstown and I saw a blank space on the wall for another plaque. You'll have one there 5 years after you call it a career. Well Done.