So yeah, that happened. Mariano Rivera recorded one of baseball's highest milestones last night, reaching 500 saves. Making him only the second man to reach this enormous task. Which had me thinking, thanks to good old ESPN, greatest ever?
I have to be an objective blogger here and not act like my answers to all of the following questions would be an absolute yes! Do you hate the Yankees? Ever since Jeffrey Maier? Oh, for your entire life? So you boo Mark Teixeira when they visit Baltimore? He's a traitor right? Totally second to Youkilis in the majors this year to? Yell A-Roid at the games? Find it hilarious he sat due to "fatigue" last week then was out until past 2:00 am the same night(allegedly)? Think this has gone on long enough?
At first I couldn't imagine that Rivera was the best ever all due to the above reason. I even started to drop names of guys that I thought were better. Lee Smith, Dennis Eckersley, Goose Gossage, John Franco, Randy Myers, George Sherrill...okay maybe with the exception of that last one. I was completely blind to the facts. I was completely unaware that reaching 500 saves was equivalent to hitting over 700+ homeruns (before performance enhancing drugs). Only in the fact that there are less then a handful for each. At this time there are only 3 players with 700+ homeruns (Babe Ruth 714, Hank Aaron 755, Barry Bonds 762). That is what makes having 500 saves an even more impressive mark.
The fact that Trevor Hoffman is the leader with 572(and counting) while sporting no rings. Unfortunately for Hoffman he was in a smaller market with San Diego and got to watch Rivera celebrate his second championship on his field back in 1998. Even Hoffman himself when asked has said, "he(Rivera) will go down as the best reliever in history hands down." However if records have proven anything it is that if you are the leader in that category, rings have little to do with what people think. There are probably millions of Yankee fans who think otherwise (26 baby!). God I love hearing that.
When Rivera was around for the first championship in 1996 he was a set up man for John Wetteland. At the time it was the best one two punch in baseball. The amazing thing about Rivera is how he succeeds with different kinds of fast balls. His most well known and deemed the best "out pitch" in baseball in 2004 by ESPN is his cutter. Chipper Jones deemed it "the buzzsaw" because of its ability to break the bats of left handed hitters (he watched then teammate Ryan Klesko break 3 bats in a single plate appearance against Rivera in the 1999 World Series). The funny thing about the cutter is that Rivera says(claims) that he came about the pitch while playing catch with Ramiro Mendoza, "It was just from God. I didn't do anything. It was natural." There is so much movement on all of his pitches and he has such great location it is just hard to hit him. He can paint the corners or jam you inside causing you to ground out, breaking your bat in the process. While his velocity has lowered he still has excellent composure (and body english when he does blow a game, trying to will balls back into the ballpark), movement and location that he is still successful.
So since I have started this article Rivera has added to his save total recording his 501st save last night(not in a season that would be some sort of record). However he still remains 2,201 RBI behind Hank Aaron. I think that one is out of reach. So what milestone will be reached this season? So far we have had two impressive ones in 300 wins with Randy Johnson and 500 saves with Rivera. 600 saves/200 saves by Trevor Hoffman(572)/Brad Lidge(178)? 1,800 RBI by Ken Griffey Jr.(1,796)? 400 homers for Vlad Guerrero(394), Andruw Jones(380) or Albert Pujols(349)? I mean...he is Pujols after all, right?
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