With the 43-year-old Yankees relief pitcher retiring, Onion Sports examines the greatest moments from Mariano Rivera’s 19 seasons in the MLB.
- 1995: Promoted to big leagues after two years as George Steinbrenner’s valet
- 1997: Records first strikeout
- 1999: Walks out to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” for the first time after his original entrance song choice of “Meat Hook Sodomy” by Cannibal Corpse is rejected by Yankees management
- 1999: Famously calls his shot in Game 3 of the World Series, pointing directly to home plate before delivering a perfect strike
- 2002: Closes out David Wells’ bar tab and drives him home a record 26 times in one season
- 2003: Really starts to get into baseball
- 2004: By blowing Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, allows the Red Sox to go on to win World Series and thus remove any sympathy or solace baseball fans had for Boston
- 2005: Called before Congress to laugh at all the guys on steroids he struck out
- 2006: Got a bunch of strikes on a pretty windy day
- 2010: Throws behind Yogi Berra’s head during annual Old Timer’s Day
- 2012: Pretty impressed after looking at his career stats for first time
- 2013: Enters retirement with the most dignity possible for a member of the New York Yankees
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