Playing with Purpose Page 5

  New York won two of the first three games and stood on the brink of eliminating the Indians in Game 4. The Yankees held a 2–1 lead going into the eighth inning with Mariano coming into the game. That meant only one thing: game over.

  Usually that was the case, but not on this crisp October 4 night in Cleveland. After recording the first two outs, Mariano gave up a game-tying home run to Indians catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. Cleveland went on to score a run in the bottom of the ninth inning and win 3–2. The next night, the Indians beat the Yankees 4–3 and moved on to the American League Championship Series.

  In just twenty-four hours, the Yankees went from four outs away from the World Series to having their season ended. Mariano had only recently developed his miracle pitch, but it was no miracle finish for the Yankees.

  The defeat would have crushed many pitchers, but Mariano stayed composed and strong. He hated to lose, but he knew he’d brought his best pitch. Alomar had just made a better swing.

  Yankees Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra once said, “Ninety percent of this game is half mental.” That statement, as odd as it sounds, may be true. But one thing is definitely true: Mariano Rivera possesses amazing mental toughness. Derek Jeter called him the most mentally tough player he’s ever played with.

  “I never will,” Mariano says when asked why he doesn’t throw his hat or get angry after a blown save. “You can’t let them get to you. You have to be the same, no matter what.”

  The Yankees looked pretty much the same when they showed up for spring training in 1998. But early on, it was apparent that something was different. This team was more focused, more determined, and more committed to winning.

  New York tore through the regular season, claiming a franchise record 114 wins. The Boston Red Sox finished in second place—22 games back—in the American League East. Those 114 wins stood as an American League record until Seattle won 116 games in 2001.

  Amazingly, the Yankees were even more impressive in the playoffs. They swept Texas 3–0 in the first round then avenged the previous year’s defeat by beating Cleveland four games to two in the American League Championship Series. In the World Series, they swept the San Diego Padres in four games. Through thirteen playoff games in 1998, New York nearly doubled its opponents’ run production, outscoring its foes 62–34.

  Mariano did his job in the postseason. He was six for six in save opportunities and didn’t give up a run. He saved three of the four World Series games, even notching a pair of two-inning saves. When he recorded the final out in New York’s series-clinching 3–0 victory, he fell to the mound with his arms in the air.

  “I was thanking God for everything,” he says of that moment.

  As good as Mariano was in 1998, he was even better in 1999. For the entire season, Mariano recorded more saves (45) than he allowed hits (43). Take away one bad streak at the beginning of July, when he blew three saves in five attempts, and Mariano may have posted the best season ever by a relief pitcher.

  At the tail end of his sluggish streak, Mariano found himself on the mound in Yankee Stadium facing the Atlanta Braves. Normally, once Mariano dug his cleats into the dirt next to the pitcher’s rubber, he heard nothing and could only see the catcher’s mitt. But on July 16, 1999, he heard something. It was a joyous sound that he’d never heard before. He’s convinced it was the voice of God.

  The voice told him, “I am the One who has you here.”

  Mariano tried to stay focused on the game. But hearing God’s voice isn’t an everyday occurrence. It’s hard to concentrate when you believe you’ve just received a message from the Lord. Mariano allowed the Braves to score four runs in the ninth inning and the Yankees lost 10–7.

  From that point on, however, Mariano was nearly unhittable. He converted his next 22 regular season save opportunities to help New York to a 98–64 record—tops in the AL East. Then he was a huge part of the Yankees’ march through the playoffs.

  New York beat Texas in three straight games, defeated Boston four games to one in the American League Championship series, and blasted the Braves four consecutive times in the World Series. Mariano pitched twelve-plus scoreless innings in the postseason and notched six saves.

  The Yankees had won their twenty-fifth World Series title, and Mariano was voted the series’ Most Valuable Player. He saved Game 1 by recording the last four outs. In Game 3, he walked away as the winning pitcher as the Yankees came from behind to win 6–5 in ten innings. And he again notched the last out to clinch the world championship in Game 4.

  When asked what it felt like to be the MVP, he deflected the praise to his team.

  “We all were MVPs,” Mariano said. “The whole thing: manager, coaches, the twenty-five guys that were on the field.”

  Joe Girardi believed the honor was well deserved. “He’s the best,” the Yankee catcher said. “He’s the best closer I’ve ever seen.”

  The Yankees had won back-to-back titles by sweeping their opponents in two straight World Series. No team had accomplished that feat since the Yankees did it in 1938 and 1939. The 1998 Yankees were called one of the best teams in baseball history, but the 1999 team was even more dominant in the postseason. Could the Yankees make it a three-peat? Their fans couldn’t wait to find out.

  Mariano Rivera stands strong as a baseball hero for kids in both the United States and his native Panama. He’s a role model for his play on the field—and for his faith in Jesus Christ. (AP Photo/Francis Specker)

  Panamanian Hero

  A week after Mariano Rivera stood on his own personal float during the 1999 victory parade in New York City, he was standing next to the Panamanian president in Panama City.

  During the off-season, Mariano often returned to Panama with his family. His children played with their cousins, and everybody enjoyed some rest and relaxation. But on November 3, 1999, Mariano wasn’t relaxing. All eyes were on him as President Mireya Moscoso gave Mariano the Manuel Amador Guerrero Order, one of the country’s highest honors.

  The award was named after Panama’s first president and is given to people who distinguish themselves in the arts, sciences, or politics.

  Mariano spent some extra time in Panama City to speak at a church about the July night when God spoke to him. Tears rolled down his face as he described the unforgettable experience of hearing the words, “I am the One who has you here.” Just like when God spoke to Moses or Paul, hearing God’s voice changes a person … and it changed Mariano.

  “That meant that the only reason I’m here is because He’s my strength,” Mariano said to Jack Curry of the New York Times. “He put me here. Without Him, I’m nothing. I think it means that He has other plans for me, to deliver His Word.”

  Quitting baseball wasn’t out of the question. If God called him to preach, Mariano was ready to walk away. At the time, he thought he’d play four more years.

  “Inside of me, I’m thinking four more years,” Mariano said. “That will be enough. I love the game, but I love God more.”

  11

  GREAT WINS AND DEVASTATING LOSSES

  Repeating as World Series champion is incredibly difficult, so difficult that only ten teams in the history of baseball have achieved the feat. (Baseball historians will correctly cite that three teams prior to the 2000 season won three or more in a row. But ten teams won two straight before failing to repeat the following season.)

  The Chicago Cubs accomplished the World Series repeat first, during the 1907 and ‘08 seasons. Then five other teams won back-to-back titles by 1930. The Philadelphia Athletics (now the Oakland A’s) did it twice. The Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and New York Giants (the team moved to San Francisco before the 1958 season) all did it once.

  After 1930, only four teams repeated as champs. The Yankees won titles in 1961 and ‘62 and again in 1977 and ‘78. The Cincinnati Reds also won two straight, in 1975 and ‘76. Then the Pittsburgh Pirates went back-to-back, in 1979 and ‘80. The World Series crown left the United States for a couple of years in 1992 an
d ‘93, when the Toronto Blue Jays were baseball’s best.

  Obviously, if repeating as World Series champions is extremely difficult, then achieving the “three-peat” is far more so. The Oakland A’s did it in the early 1970s. And two Yankee teams did one better: from 1936 to 1939, they won four straight World Series. Then during the late 1940s and early ‘50s, the Bronx Bombers brought home five consecutive titles.

  If any team was prepared to attempt the rare three-peat, it was the 2000 Yankees. Led by starting pitchers Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens and a batting order that featured Bernie Williams, Paul O’Neill, Derek Jeter, Tino Martinez, and Jorge Posada, the Yankees had an aura of greatness.

  But when you’re the best, every team you play will bring its best effort to beat you. New York finished the regular season 87–74, which was good enough to win the AL East. But the team limped into the playoffs after losing fifteen of its final eighteen regular season games.

  The playoffs weren’t any easier as the Oakland A’s pushed the Yankees to a deciding fifth game in the AL Divisional Series. Six first-inning runs and Mariano’s pitching in the eighth and ninth innings made the difference as New York advanced to face Seattle in the League Championship Series.

  The Mariners blanked the Yankees in the first game of the ALCS. But then Orlando Hernandez, Pettitte, and Clemens won three straight games by a combined score of 20–3 as the Yankees took a 3–1 series lead. The Yankees secured the American League championship and another trip to the World Series with a 9–7 Game 6 win at Yankee Stadium.

  New York baseball fans couldn’t have been happier with the World Series matchup between the Yankees and the Mets. Many people called it the “Subway Series” because fans could ride the subway to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx or to Shea Stadium (the Mets’ home field) in Queens.

  The Subway Series received a lot of hype, but in the end it was mostly no contest. Although every game was decided by two runs or less, the Yankees dispatched the Mets in five games. Mariano earned saves in the final two games, including an exciting Game 5 at Shea Stadium.

  The two teams entered the ninth inning tied 2–2. After two straight strikeouts, the Yankees put together a two-out rally to score two runs as Posada and Scott Brosius came home. Leading 4–2, Mariano entered the game and recorded a strikeout and a walk against the first two batters he faced. With the tying run at the plate and Mets fans going crazy, Mariano calmly got Edgardo Alfonzo and Mike Piazza to hit fly balls to end the game.

  New York had its three-peat!

  As Yankee teammates mobbed Mariano on the mound, it marked the first time in history that the same pitcher had nailed down the final out in three consecutive World Series.

  Mariano Rivera shows his competitive nature every time he steps on the mound. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)

  Three-Peat Treat

  In 1988, Los Angeles Lakers basketball coach Pat Riley submitted a trademark application for the term three-peat. His Lakers had just won back-to-back NBA titles and looked poised for a run at a third. Shooting guard Byron Scott came up with the term. Riley liked it so much that he applied for the trademark so he would make money every time somebody put the word on a T-shirt, hat, or coffee mug.

  But Riley had to wait to earn any money on his idea. The Detroit Pistons swept the Lakers in the NBA Finals that season. Four years later, Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls wrapped up their third straight championship, and the term three-peat boomed in popularity. It even made it into Webster’s Dictionary in 2002.

  Following the victory, the New York Times writer Jack Curry wrote, “The most crucial factor and the greatest reason the Yankees are three-time champions is Rivera. He is the infallible weapon that no other teams have.”

  Longtime Yankees owner George Steinbrenner gushed, “The core group, winning four World Series out of five years, in this day and age, when you have to come through layer after layer of postseason play, we can put our record, our dedication, our resolve against any team that has ever played the game of baseball.”

  At first glance, it would appear that the stoic and composed Panamanian and the iconic and sometimes erratic Yankee owner would have little in common. But over the years, Mariano and Steinbrenner developed a deep respect and friendship. Mariano always referred to him as “Mr. George.”

  When Steinbrenner died in July 2010, it hit the organization and Mariano hard.

  “Mr. George, I learned a lot from that man,” Mariano says. “That man always was giving, and he didn’t want anyone to know. That was the most important thing to me—that he didn’t want anyone to know. That man, to me … was one of the best.”

  The Yankees were certainly the best as they headed into the 2001 season. Led by strong pitching, New York won its fourth-straight AL East title with a 95–65 record. Roger Clemens won twenty games, including an American League record-tying sixteen in a row. And Mariano had his best season to date, recording 50 saves.

  After dispatching Oakland and Seattle in the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Yankees found themselves on the cusp of winning a fourth-straight World Series. New York held a 2–1 lead and Mariano had the ball in the eighth inning of a deciding Game 7 against Arizona.

  The eighth inning followed a typical pattern when Mariano pitches. Four batters, three strikeouts.

  But in the ninth, Arizona’s Mark Grace started things off with a single. The Diamondbacks, looking for the potential tying run, then attempted to bunt pinch runner David Dellucci to second. Mariano leaped from the mound, fielded the ball, and tried to throw out the lead runner at second. The ball, however, sailed into center field at Bank One Ballpark. During seven seasons in New York, Mariano had committed just one error. Now he had his second.

  The next batter also bunted. This time Mariano had plenty of time to get the out at third base. That brought the Diamondbacks’ leadoff hitter, Tony Womack, to the plate. Womack broke his bat hitting the ball but got enough wood on it to double down the right field line. The game was tied 2–2.

  After Mariano hit Craig Counsell with a pitch, the bases were loaded for Luis Gonzalez. Gonzalez had put up career numbers in 2001, hitting 57 homers and driving in 142 runs. Yankee manager Joe Torre had a decision: play his infielders at double play depth or bring them in to try for a play at home. Torre chose to pull them in, and on the second pitch, Gonzalez hit a broken-bat flare that landed just beyond Derek Jeter’s reach. Had Jeter been in his normal position, it would have been a routine out.

  That didn’t matter now, because Arizona had upset the Yankee dynasty to win its first World Series.

  Mariano faced reporters after the game and politely answered questions. He said he had done his best and gave it everything he had.

  Weeks after the disappointing loss, Mariano saw God’s hand at work. Had the Yankees won the game, a ticker tape parade for the whole team would have been held back in New York City. Without a championship, Yankees teammate Enrique Wilson changed his plane flight and went home to the Dominican Republic early. Wilson had originally booked a November 12 flight on American Airlines Flight 587. Tragically, that plane crashed in Queens, New York, killing all 260 passengers on board.

  “I’m glad we lost the World Series,” Mariano said after discovering how that loss saved his teammate, “because it means that I still have a friend.”

  More difficult losses followed. New York bowed out of the 2002 playoffs in an opening-round loss to the eventual World Series champion Anaheim Angels. Then, in 2003, the Florida Marlins defeated the Yankees in the World Series by a count of four games to two.

  But Mariano’s greatest loss came off the field. He has often said his most treasured moments were those he spent with family and friends from church. He’s just as at home in his native Panama—maybe even more so—as he is in New York or at his winter home in Tampa. In 1999, he built a two-story villa with a pool and basketball court near his childhood home in Puerto Caimito. Because he plays baseball most of the time, he hired family members to care for his place year-round.
r />   After the Yankees defeated Minnesota in the 2004 AL Divisional Series, Mariano received unthinkable news: two of his cousins had died in his swimming pool in Panama. Victor Darío Avila, his wife’s first cousin and a childhood friend of Mariano’s, worked at the home as a gardener. His teenaged son, Victor, often joined his dad to help out. The two were found electrocuted in the water after a live electrical cable ended up in the pool.

  Mariano and Clara immediately flew to Panama to comfort family members and help with funeral arrangements. The losses devastated everybody in the tightly knit fishing village. Mariano did everything he could for his family, attended the funeral, and then boarded a private plane back to New York. Six hours later, he landed at the airport and went straight to the stadium.

  Over the years Mariano Rivera and shortstop Derek Jeter (right) have been part of five World Series championship teams for the New York Yankees. During that time, they’ve developed a deep respect for each other. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

  Showing tremendous focus and resolve, he saved Game 1 against the Boston Red Sox. He doesn’t remember eating or sleeping before the game, but he got the job done on the field.

  “The most difficult part of my day was leaving my family, knowing they are still in pain,” Mariano said. “It was tough coming on that plane alone. There’s tears coming out of my eyes … but I have a job to do, and I have twenty-four players there waiting for me.”

  He notched a save in Game 2 as well. In fact, the Yankees led the series 3–0 before Boston rolled off four straight victories to end New York’s season.

  With the season ended, Mariano could get back to his family. He usually spent a month around Christmas in Panama. But this year, the memories of the loss of his cousins were too fresh and too painful. Instead of traveling down to Panama, he flew thirty family members to the United States. He spent the winter lifting weights and riding his stationary bike at home. He didn’t throw a ball until spring training because he felt he needed to be away from baseball and with his family instead.