Mariano Rivera Suffers Injury on Yankees Veterans Day
The legendary Mariano Rivera, a Hall of Famer, suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon while attempting to catch a ball during the New York Yankees’ Veterans Day game on Saturday and will require surgery. According to his agent, Fern Cuza, the 55-year-old closer, historical leader in saves in baseball, will be operated on in the next week. In his only at-bat, Rivera hit a single against his former teammate Andy Pettitte and ran smoothly to first base. During Willie Randolph’s turn, Rivera took a step and fell to the ground in center field, near second base. The Yankees revived the Veterans Day game for the first time since 2019.Rivera was the second player to get injured at the event since 2017. Eight years ago, former outfielder and current YES Network analyst, Paul O’Neill, suffered a calf strain while running to first base. Rivera tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in May 2012 while catching balls in batting practice in Kansas City. He returned for his final season in 2013 and finished as the all-time saves leader in baseball with 652, in addition to recording 42 postseason saves. In 2019, the 13-time All-Star became the first player to be unanimously inducted into the Hall of Fame by obtaining all 425 votes in the voting conducted by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He helped the Yankees win five World Series titles and seven American League pennants. Rivera was playing in the Veterans Game for the second time. In 2019, he hit an inside-the-park home run. The event commemorated the 25th anniversary of the 2000 championship team, the last team to win three consecutive World Series titles. Clemens attended the event for the first time, where captain Derek Jeter sent a brief video message when he was introduced after Rivera. Before the game, Rivera said he intended to speak with struggling reliever Devin Williams, who allowed three runs in the tenth inning on Friday. He has allowed nine runs in his last five appearances and 28 earned runs this year, two more than in 2022-24 combined. Rivera commented on Saturday morning: “Nothing can be done about it. Once it’s done, it’s done. Just learn from it, move on, and be confident. You have to trust yourself. If you don’t trust yourself, you’re playing the wrong sport.”It was a fun day until we found out about Mariano. Mariano hurt his Achilles. I don’t know what was going on. We all thought it was a hamstring problem, but I think it’s a little worse than that. I think he’s in the hospital now. Incredible.
Roger Clemens, seven-time Cy Young Award winner
