The New York Yankees have had Mariano Rivera as their closer for what feels like forever and now the most dominant relief pitcher ever will hang up his cleats and in honor of his retirement, Sports Illustrated has put him on the cover for a story titled "Exit Sandman".
Rivera has been on the cover before and all season he has been getting gifts and honors from all the teams in baseball while also meeting with fans in opposing cities as he makes his farewell tour. Rivera is known as one of the good guys in the game and after coming up from poverty in Panama, he will go down as the greatest closer in the history of the sport.
Rivera has the most saves of any player in baseball with over 650 and he is having another banner year, making 43 saves with a 2.01 ERA and since the Yankees aren't likely making it to the postseason, his record 42 saves likely will remain that number for a long time, as it will be hard for anyone to top it. This season Rivera is giving up more hits, but after getting injured and missing all of last season basically, it's quite amazing how good he has been since recovering.
The Yankees signed Rivera as a young player and he first expected to be a starting pitcher before becoming the dominant closer that he is today. He discovered his main pitch, the cutter on accident and that pitch has transformed baseball history, as he is the only player to pitch the last out of the World Series multiple times and he also has allowed just 11 runners to score in the postseason, which as ESPN has pointed out, are less men than have walked on the moon.
