Five Facts: Mariano Rivera

I have posted five facts about Ellsbury and Betances and about Tanaka. Now it's Mariano Rivera's turn.



The age Mariano Rivera began pitching: 19
That is pretty late, considering many players who played since little league or even before that.

His first pitching coach was Hoyt Wilhelm: Wilhelm is the first-ever relief pitcher in the Hall of Fame.
Hoyt Wilhelm was inducted in 1985 with 227 saves. I am not exactly sure what defines a relief pitcher. If we look at GS/G for example, Satchel Paige started 26 out of 179 games, and was inducted in 1971. If we look at the number of saves, Wilhelm is the first one with 200+ saves. The others with 200+ saves: Rollie Fingers (inducted in 1992, 341 saves,) Dennis Eckersley (2004, 390,) Bruce Sutter (2006, 300,) and Rich "Goose" Gossage (2008, 310.) Rivera has 652 and Trevor Hoffman has 601 saves.

Only pitcher to make more All-Star Game: Warren Spahn
Spahn pitched in 17 All-Star Games. Next few include Rivera (13) Tom Seaver (12) Roger Clemens (11) Steve Carlton, Whitey Ford, Tom Glavine, Randy Johnson, Juan Marichal (10.) The most game started is 5, by Don Drysdale, Lefty Gomez, and Robin Roberts. Rivera owns the most saves with 4 followed by Dennis Eckersley with 3.

He saved 72 of Andy Pettitte's wins: That's a record for any starter & closer combination
I knew about this stat. Here is a complete list of the winning pitchers of Rivera's saves:

72    Andy Pettitte
49    Mike Mussina
35    Roger Clemens
32    Orlando Hernandez
26    CC Sabathia
25    David Wells
24    Chien-Ming Wang
23    Ramiro Mendoza
20    David Cone
17    Mike Stanton
15    A.J. Burnett, Javier Vazquez
13    Phil Hughes, Randy Johnson
12    David Robertson
11    Joba Chamberlain, Jeff Nelson, Ivan Nova
10    Tom Gordon
9    Kevin Brown
8    Dwight Gooden, Hiroki Kuroda, Boone Logan, Jaret Wright
7    Tanyon Sturtze
6    Alfredo Aceves, Brian Bruney, Scott Proctor, Paul Quantrill
5    Jose Contreras, Freddy Garcia, Jason Grimsley, Hideki Irabu, Jon Lieber, Ted Lilly, Carl Pavano
4    Phil Coke, Kyle Farnsworth, Aaron Small, Cory Wade
3    Shawn Chacon, Bartolo Colon, Sterling Hitchcock, Steve Karsay, Shawn Kelley, Denny Neagle, Kenny Rogers, Rafael Soriano, Luis Vizcaino, Allen Watson, Jeff Weaver
2    Willie Banks, Randy Choate, Tyler Clippard, David Huff, Aaron Laffey, Al Leiter, Damaso Marte, Sergio Mitre, Mike Myers, Donovan Osborne, David Phelps, Sidney Ponson, Edwar Ramirez, Darrell Rasner, Jose Veras, Adam Warren, Gabe White, Jay Witasick
1    Jonathan Albaladejo, Jason Anderson, Luis Ayala, T.J. Beam, Armando Benitez, Brian Boehringer, Ryan Bradley, Brandon Claussen, Chad Gaudin, Dan Giese, Kei Igawa, Randy Keisler, Ian Kennedy, Graeme Lloyd, Esteban Loaiza, Dan Naulty, C.J. Nitkowski, Ross Ohlendorf, Antonio Osuna, Chan Ho Park, Bret Prinz, Clay Rapada, Ron Villone, Bob Wickman, Todd Williams, Kerry Wood

Before choosing "Enter Sandman"...: He tried "Welcome to the Jungle" "Paradaise City" by Guns N' Roses
I am glad he chose Enter Sandman. What a great song for the greatest closer ever.