Jenkins: Examining the box score of Mariano Rivera’s final game
From Wes Jenkins at The Hardball Times on February 4, 2019:
When Mariano Rivera was announced as the Baseball Hall of Fame’s first unanimously elected inductee on January 22, footage of his final career appearance was a prominent part of the day’s coverage. It shows Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter sauntering to the mound on September 26, 2013, to take Rivera out of his last game, three Yankee greats uniting one last time.
It also briefly showed Robinson Cano and Eduardo Nunez talking a few steps removed from the mound and this gentleman, young and seemingly overwhelmed by the gravitas. His face didn’t immediately register with me.
That’s then-22-year-old John Ryan Murphy, now Diamondbacks third-string catcher, during his first major league cup of coffee. In fact, Mo’s last game was Murphy’s third complete major league game behind the plate. Imagine that, a player who was only three years old when Rivera started his career, catching an all-time great’s final game as he only just begins his own odyssey.
Rivera, Pettitte, Jeter–if I were Murphy, I, too, would stare slack-jawed, expressionless, and (probably) unsure of where to put my hands.
Read the full article here: https://tht.fangraphs.com/exit-sandman-examining-the-box-score-of-mariano-riveras-final-game/
Originally published: February 8, 2019. Last Updated: February 8, 2019.