Mariano Rivera’s faith in God is
completely unshakeable, even in the face of the devastating injury that ended
his baseball season. So it’s no surprise that Mo has decided that God is going
to give him the strength to return to the pitcher’s mound and end his career on
his own terms.
Even the freak knee injury that made my
heart stop, that was even worse than watching Derek Jeter writhing in
excruciating pain on the Toronto turf with a dislocated shoulder, will not stop
Mariano Rivera forever. The New York Yankees closer and future Hall of Famer
vowed that he would come back from the injury, a vow that warms my heart because
while I never wanted Mo to retire from baseball, an even worse fate would be to
see his career end like this.
Rivera’s Yankee teammates, glum and
depressed as they were on Thursday night, were cheered by his decision. They
know him well enough to understand that if he says he is coming back, then he is
coming back, end of discussion, nothing will keep him off the mound. Jeter even
thinks it could happen this year, although that’s probably unrealistic. But the
faith Jeter and Rivera have in each other after 20 years playing together in
the majors and minors is unbreakable. On the day Jeter got his 3,000th
hit, Rivera talked about wanting to see the Yankees shortstop hit a triple to achieve
the elusive cycle. He believed Jeter would get that triple, just as Jeter has
no doubts that his baseball brother will return to his rightful place closing games for the Yankees again.
I have no doubts either, even though I
know the road back will be a long, hard one. But if anyone can navigate that difficult
path, it’s Mo, with a little help from the God he completely believes in.
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