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New York Yankees: Mariano Rivera deserves to be unanimous Hall of Fame inductee

By Alex Jordan

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 14: Mariano Rivera poses with his plaque before a game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on August 14, in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 14: Mariano Rivera poses with his plaque before a game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on August 14, in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /
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The Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2019 has been announced and former New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera is one of the inductees. Rivera got elected to the Hall unanimously, which is how it should be.

Former New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera was on the ballot for the Hall of Fame for the first time. On Tuesday, Mariano was elected to the Hall of Fame unanimously.

The biggest question when it came to Rivera and the Hall of Fame was not if he would get in, but if he would he get 100 percent of the votes.

As of mid-afternoon Tuesday, Rivera was picked by all 221 voters totaled, which is about half of the expected ballots, by Ryan Thibodaux’s Hall of Fame vote tracker, according to WFAN.

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Ken Griffey Jr. has come the closest to being the first unanimous selection for the Hall of Fame.

He had a record 99.3 percent of the votes in 2016.

So, Rivera is the first player to be voted into the Hall of Fame with 100 percent of the votes.

“Amazing. … It was a beautiful, long career,” Rivera told MLB Network after he got elected, via David Schoenfield of ESPN.

Rivera’s former teammate and manager Joe Girardi told Newsday’s Neil Best last week, per Erik Boland of News Day:

"“To me, Mo was the perfect closer because (A), he was extremely athletic, (B), he was extremely durable, (C), he was extremely efficient. He didn’t have 25-pitch innings. They were nine, eight, 12. So he was able to bounce back extremely well. He knew his body extremely well, and he knew how to prepare. He never threw more than eight pitches in the bullpen before he came in to the mound. So I think all of these things attributed to his longevity. He was the perfect closer. No emotion out there, very calm. No moment was ever too big for him.”"

David Ortiz told Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe, via Michael McMahon of NESN:

"“Mariano is one of the greatest players of all time without a doubt and the best closer ever, in my opinion. I don’t think there will be one person mad that Mariano is in the Hall of Fame, not even a Red Sox fan. That guy was special and he was even better as a human being. I’m so glad to see him going to the Hall.”"

Rivera deserves to go into the Hall of Fame unanimously.

He is the best closer of all-time and a Yankee legend.

He had a major league record 652 saves, a 2.21 ERA and a1.000 WHIP, which is the lowest in the live-ball era among qualified pitchers.

He was an All-Star 13 times and won five World Series championships.

In the postseason, where legends are truly made, Rivera was 8-1 with a 0.76 ERA, the best among all pitchers, and he had 42 saves.

The Yankees retired Rivera’s number 42 when they added him to Monument Park.

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Rivera was one of the best pitchers in MLB history and it would have been wrong if he had not gotten into the Hall of Fame unanimously.

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