The cut fastball, or “cutter,” is a pitch in which the ball breaks toward the pitcher’s glove side as it reaches home plate. It is somewhere in the middle between a slider and a fastball: faster than a slider but slower than a fastball. New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera established himself as the greatest closer in the history of the game, with practically one pitch: his cutter.
Mariano’s cutter is arguably the greatest single pitch in the history of baseball. Funny enough, it was developed completely by mistake. In June 1997, while playing catch with then teammate Ramiro Mendoza, Rivera was goofing off and threw a pitch, which his teammate told him to throw again. Rivera tried to get the ball to stop cutting away, but with some reassurance from his teammate, realized that he had found something.
With the cutter at his disposal, Mariano started his quest to become the greatest relief pitcher ever. With his final game on Sunday, and the retirement of the last player ever to wear the number 42, a very illustrious and celebrated 19-year career is coming to an end. With 13 All-Star Games appearances, five world championships and an MLB-record 652 saves, there remains only one question with Rivera: will he be the first unanimous inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame?
Rivera, who has spent his entire big league career with the Yankees, was signed out of Panama in 1990 at the ripe age of 20 for only $3,000. Before signing with the Yankees, Rivera had never been on a plane, been out of Panama and didn’t speak a word of English. After four years in the minors, Rivera made his major league debut as a starting pitcher on May 23, 1995. After a rough year in which he made ten starts, Rivera was sent back down to the minor leagues, never to start a major league baseball game again.
Rivera started to show the potential he had in 1996, serving as the setup man to Yankees closer John Wetteland. He recorded his first career save on May 17, 1996, saving the win for Yankees starting pitcher Andy Pettite. Rivera has saved 72 of Pettite’s wins, which is the most ever for a starter-closer duo in MLB history. After the discovery of the cutter, Rivera was in as the closer and never looked back.
Rivera was the anchor in the Yankees’ bullpen for the dynasty of the 90s, which won the World Series in 1996 and 1998-2000. Rivera is also remembered for blowing the save in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series against Luis Gonzalez and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Even though this was his biggest postseason mistake, Rivera has the most career postseason saves with, ironically enough, 42. On top of that, Rivera also has the lowest postseason ERA (0.70) and most games pitched (96).
To add to even more of his honors, Mariano is the only player to be named the MVP of a World Series (1999), League Championship Series (2003) and All-Star Game (2013). Despite being the greatest closer of all time, the only accomplishment Rivera hasn’t captured is a Cy Young award. He has finished in third place three times and second place twice. Though having the Cy Young trophy on his shelf would be nice, Rivera probably wouldn’t trade it for the five World Series rings sitting in his study.
Though this year has been very disappointing for the New York Yankees, and with a third-place finish looking ideal, Rivera can say that his final season was a success. With 44 saves (third in the American League) and a 2.15 ERA, Rivera at age 43 is still one of the best relief pitchers in the game. But sadly, since the Yankees aren’t in the playoffs this season, Sunday will be the last game ever to see the last man wearing number 42 to pitch. One of the most common sayings in sports is to go out when you’re on top. At age 43, the Sandman will exit where he has been his entire career: on top.
Connor Anthony can be reached at connor.anthony@spartans.ut.edu.