Mariano Rivera

My parents were wonderful to me growing up.  One of the neatest things they would do for me would be to take me to the old Met in the Twin cities. More often than not they would take me to Yankee games.

We would get there early and watch guys like Thurmun Munson and Reggie Jackson hit. But, what was most beautiful was to watch the great pitchers like Ron Guidry and Louis Tiant shag fly balls. It amazed me that these pitchers could play the outfield with grace.

They looked like kids in the outfield, giggling as they would run down long fly balls hit in the alleys. As a kid I didn’t get it, as I got older I started to understand it. They hated to just run sprints, but put them in the outfield on a nice summer day and they would run for hours.

That was what Mariano Rivera was doing yesterday when he tore his ACL.

One of the Yankee outfielders said recently that the best center fielder in Pinstripes the last twenty years was Mariano Rivera

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 Rivera told reporters today he would return. I hope so.