Mariano Rivera , considered one of major League Baseball’s greatest closers of all time, has suffered a season ending, and possibly career ending injury.
Rivera was shagging flyballs in the outfield before Thursday night’s game, when he collapsed. His diagnosis, a torn ACL tendon and meniscus, leave many wondering if the Yankee’s pitcher’s career is done.
The ball player had already been hinting that this was his last season before he retires, but no one wanted to see it end this way.
Rivera was taken to nearby Kansas University MedWest, where a doctor gave the torn ACL tendon prognosis. Yankees Manager Joe Girardi said that:
“If that’s the report…if that’s what it is, that’s as bad as it gets.”
Mariano Rivera was very emotional at the end of the game, saying through tears that he had let his team down.
He also could not tell if he will ever be able to pitch again. The 42-year-old baseball player stated:
“At this point I don’t know, we have to face this first…It all depends how the rehab is going to happen. From there, we’ll see.”
Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said of his fellow team member’s injury that:
“I thought we were hoping for the best. I told you this game is cruel before the game. It’s even more cruel now. That’s terrible. You can’t say anything else. It’s terrible.”
No one on the Yankees team blames Rivera, who has been doing the same exact warm up for his 18 year career. The closer believes that, along with pitching, he would also make a good centerfielder.
He even asked Girardi multiple times to allow him to play the position during a game before he retired. Ironically, Girardi refused on the basis that if could cause injury. Alex Rodriguez, who saw the injury take place, stated after the game that:
“I saw it all go down. It’s hard even to talk about it tonight. I mean, Mo has meant so much to us on a personal level, and his significance on the field, on the mound. But the bottom line is we’re the New York Yankees, and nobody is going to feel sorry for us.”
Mariano Rivera, always a fighter, said of the injury that:
“If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen doing something I love to do. And shagging I love to do. I’d do the same thing, without hesitation. The reasons why it happen, you have to take it as it is. Fight through it. You know, just have to fight.”
Check out one take on Mariano Rivera’s injury here:
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