Mariano Rivera Used to Make a Baseball Glove Out of Cardboard (Video)

The greatest closer in the history of Major League Baseball may give off the impression that everything comes easy for him, but clearly that is not the case. Not only were every one of his 603 career saves hard-earned, but growing up in Panama sounds like it was a challenge and a struggle for Mariano Rivera.

The Sports Grid shared an interesting video with us on Thursday in which Rivera demonstrates how he used to make a baseball glove out of cardboard. Growing up with a poor family in a poor neighborhood, Rivera says the children could not afford gloves and balls so they had to learn to improvise. Check it out:

That can’t be much better than using your bare hand, can it? Hearing a story like this reminds us of how spoiled we can be at times and how we take things for granted. If you were a baseball player growing up, you probably went through five or six different gloves — at least — from the time you were young through high school. Rivera was happy carrying around a piece of cardboard. Perhaps well-calloused hands have contributed to Mo becoming the best closer baseball has ever seen.