Long-time readers of this blog will know that I’ve been pretty hard on the Yankees, but watching the highlights of Mariano Rivera’s 500th career save last night – a strikeout looking to get out of a jam in the bottom of the 8th and then a one-hit 9th, sandwiched around his first career RBI (of sorts) during an unexpected Yanks rally – was thoroughly enjoyable. I still remember Rivera’s first full season in the big leagues, which started off by mowing down one batter after another during a freezing early April and concluded with an absolutely dominant playoff run as the setup man to John Wetteland. Well over a decade later, the guy still brings it:

Plus, he’s simply a class act. Just goes to show what can happen when a team takes patient care of the talent it develops from within the system, instead of trading it away for another fleeting chance at short-term gratification. Here’s hoping I feel similarly about Joba Chamberlain when I make it to 40.

Filed under: sports