Nothing can match the scene at Cooperstown’s lovely Otesaga Resort Hotel on Hall of Fame weekend, as legends golf, dine and swap stories on the veranda before heading to their big event. To be included among this ultra-exclusive group marks the game’s highest honor, and it must be intimidating for the newbies.

Fortunately for him, Mariano Rivera won’t join this club as a complete stranger.

When he officially enters the Baseball Hall on Sunday, the Yankees legend will find himself with 78 new, living teammates as part of his final professional classification. One of his fellow inductees, Mike Mussina, served as Rivera’s Yankees teammate from 2001 through 2008. Five previously honored Hall members worked alongside Rivera during his 19 seasons in a Yankees uniform.

Four of those five men agreed to share their memories, via telephone, of Rivera and publicly welcome him to their rare air. The fifth, Randy Johnson, declined to comment. They are listed here in the chronological order in when they became Rivera’s teammate.

Wade Boggs, 1995-97

When Rivera made his major league debut on May 23, 1995, at Anaheim Stadium, starting against the Angels, Russ Davis played third base. Yankees manager Buck Showalter rested his regular third baseman, the lefty-swinging Boggs, against Angels southpaw Chuck Finley. Five days later, at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Boggs manned the hot corner as Rivera notched his first win.

Boggs acknowledged not recalling much about Rivera’s run as a starting pitcher, except “it was brief,” he noted with a chuckle. Rivera made 10 career starts, all in his rookie season. Then Boggs witnessed Rivera’s emergence out of the bullpen in 1996, as the team won its first World Series title since 1978.

“The big thing was, he was just a bridge to [John] Wetteland,” Boggs said. “We sort of figured out, if we could get through the sixth with a lead, we had Mariano for the seventh and eighth and Wetteland for the ninth. It just shortens the game so much.”

It was during the 1997 season, Boggs’ last as a Yankee, when Rivera discovered his trademark cut fastball. Boggs witnessed it on the other side as he wound up his career with the Devil Rays.

Baseball signed by Rivera and Andy Pettitte: Rivera and Pettitte were a dynamic duo during the Yankees' dynasty, both arriving in 1995 and retiring in 2013. On May 29, 2009, they notched their record-breaking 58th win/save combination in a 3-1 victory over the Indians in Cleveland. Pettitte went five innings, Alfredo Aceves the next three and Rivera came on to close it out with a scoreless ninth. They went on to finish with 72 wins/saves together. Baseball Hall of Fame Cap from 2013 All-Star Game: The 13th and final Midsummer Classic of Rivera's career was held at Citi Field as the American League won 3-0. Rivera was named the MVP after handling eighth-inning duties and retiring the side in order on 16 pitches. He received a standing ovation from the crowd and both teams when he entered the game, briefly taking the field alone. Baseball Hall of Fame Jersey from 2008 All-Star Game: Rivera's ninth All-Star Game was played in his home park at old Yankee Stadium. The American League won 4-3 in 15 innings. Rivera worked in the ninth and 10th innings, tossing 1 ²/₃ scoreless frames while giving up two hits and striking out two. Baseball Hall of Fame Cap from 400th career save: On July 16, 2006, Rivera became the fourth pitcher in MLB history to reach 400 saves, joining John Franco, Lee Smith and Trevor Hoffman. He did it against the White Sox at Yankee Stadium, throwing the final two innings and giving up only a hit and a walk. He secured the milestone save by striking out Jermaine Dye. Baseball Hall of Fame Cap from 2009 World Series: After an eight-year drought without a ring, the Yankees won another, one for each finger on Rivera's right hand. Again, he closed out all four wins in the World Series against the Phillies without giving up a run while recording a pair of saves. His save in Game 4 was the 11th of his career in the World Series, a record that still stands. Baseball Hall of Fame Spikes from 1999 World Series: Rivera's fifth time pitching in the postseason in as many years in the big leagues resulted in his third World Series title, this time in a sweep of the Braves. He was named the World Series MVP after recording a pair of saves and a win in 4²/₃ scoreless innings. In eight playoff appearances that year, he did not allow a run. Baseball Hall of Fame Cap from 2000 World Series: On the way to his fourth championship, Rivera closed out every game the Yankees won against the Mets in the Subway Series. He got Mike Piazza to fly out as the potential tying run to end the series in Game 5 at Shea Stadium. He posted a 1.72 ERA during the playoffs. Baseball Hall of Fame Ad Up Next Close Anne Hathaway's mom kept her from becoming a 'little monster' When she accepted the Golden Globe for “Les Misérables,” Anne... 7 View Slideshow Back Continue Share this: Facebook

Twitter

Flipboard

WhatsApp

Email

Copy


“It wasn’t a lot of fun,” he said, and while the record shows he went 1-for-4 against Rivera, that one hit (on July 11, 1998) was a “53-hopper through the infield that he broke my bat on.”

Boggs entered the Hall in 2005. Like Rivera, he got in on his first try.

“When you take the greatest reliever, probably, in the history of baseball, his plaque needs to be in Cooperstown,” Boggs said.

Joe Torre, 1996-2007

Showalter’s pinstriped run ended with a heartbreaking, five-game American League Division Series loss to Lou Piniella’s Mariners. The rookie Rivera did everything he could to save Showalter’s job that week, throwing 5¹/₃ scoreless innings while striking out eight and walking one.

That week, too, Rivera captured the attention of his next manager.

“I didn’t really first catch notice of him until the playoffs against Seattle,” Torre said. “That was pretty impressive.”

Nevertheless, when Torre surprisingly became the Yankees’ manager in 1996, he didn’t immediately propel Rivera to a prominent role. He and his pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre, prioritizing experience, tabbed veteran Bob Wickman as the primary setup man to Wetteland. By the end of April, however, with Wickman struggling and Rivera dominating, the Yankees realized Rivera could give them two or even three dominant innings every few days.

“In that role, it gave me only six innings to screw the game up,” Torre joked. “He was a godsend.”

Wickman didn’t even make it through the season, getting dealt to Milwaukee in August. Then the Yankees let Wetteland go to Texas via free agency, promoting Rivera to the closer role for 1997 … and not everyone remembers that he struggled some in his first go at patrolling the ninth inning. Rivera blew nine of 52 save opportunities in ’97, a total he never topped in 16 more seasons on the job, and in his final appearance of the year, summoned to eliminate the Indians in AL Division Series Game 4 at Jacobs Field, he surrendered an eighth-inning, game-tying homer to Sandy Alomar Jr. The Yankees proceeded to lose Games 4 and 5, their season ending in a blur.

“When we got back after that loss in Game 5, I grabbed him coming off the airport tarmac,” Torre recalled. “I told him, ‘We wouldn’t be in that situation if not for you.’ The next year in spring training, we had the same talk at Legends Field: ‘Just do what you do.’ ”

That worked. Rivera recorded the last out of the next three World Series, the Yankees capturing four of five championships.

A special committee voted Torre into the Hall in 2014, largely on the strength of his success as Yankees manager. Rivera becomes the first player from that pinstriped core to join him.

“When I went in there, I was counting the years on when I’d be able to embrace my guys,” said Torre, who noted his Hall classmate Bobby Cox enjoyed the good fortune of getting inducted with his Braves pitchers Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux. “Once you walk into that hotel, into the Hall, [realize] what those plaques are about, it’s a remarkable feeling.”

Tim Raines, 1996-98

Already a 17-year veteran in 1995, Raines didn’t start the White Sox’s July 4 home game against the Yankees and their rookie starter. Yet the man known as Rock still recalls that contest, when Rivera set a career best by pitching eight innings for the victory. Given that small, excellent sample size, Raines might have been less surprised than anyone when he joined the Yankees the next season and watched Rivera become something special.

“I just remember him being the setup guy, [us] having more trust in him as our setup guy than we did in Wetteland as our closer,” Raines said. “And then, obviously, he became the closer. It was remarkable, the things he was able to accomplish. In all the years I played, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Raines, who also spent 2000 spring training with the Yankees and didn’t retire until 2002, recalls Rivera’s personality as much as his performance.

“You would always see him smiling,” Raines said. “He was probably our best outfielder, too. He would run down more balls in batting practice than our guys would in games.”

Like Boggs, Raines can boast of a hit against Rivera, a single in his one encounter while with the A’s on April 6, 1999.

“I just got it barely over [Scott Brosius’] head. It didn’t even make it to the outfield,” Raines said. “I looked at him, and he looked at me, and we had a big chuckle about it.”

Rivera’s joining him in the Hall, which welcomed him in 2017, is “not a surprise,” Raines said, though the right-hander’s timing — at age 49 — might be.

“I thought he’d pitch until he was 50,” Raines said. “He probably could pitch today and get people out.”

Ivan Rodriguez, 2008

What if the Core Four had included Rivera, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte … and the man known as Pudge? Well, that handle probably wouldn’t have come to fruition had the Yankees and Rangers completed trade discussions they held in 1997 that would’ve sent Jorge Posada, among others, to Texas for Rodriguez, who instead signed a long-term deal to remain a Ranger.

Pudge finally joined the Yankees 11 years later, in a midseason trade with the Tigers, after Posada went down with a right shoulder injury. In the first game the future Hall of Fame battery connected, on Aug. 1 at the old Yankee Stadium, Rivera entered a scoreless tie in the ninth inning and gave up a run for the loss. It got better after that, with Rodriguez behind the plate for seven of Rivera’s saves before the catcher moved onto the Astros the next season.

“It was fun to catch him,” Rodriguez said. “When I put the glove down, he threw the ball right there. He’s a guy that never missed locations. He always had a game plan. He stayed inside on lefties and would throw that front-hip cutter to right-handers. That was his weapon.

“I was very happy to be part of his [652] saves that he had.”

Rodriguez entered the Hall with Raines in 2017.

“I think it’s going to be a very good day for him and his family,” Rodriguez said. “I’m looking forward to seeing him and Mussina. It’s going to be fun. It’s a special week for all of them.”