The Yankees signed Mariano Rivera for $2,500 in 1990, and he threw his final pitch for the club in 2013. In between, he played in 19 major league seasons, won five World Series titles and compiled the most saves in M.L.B. history.

Numerous reporters from The New York Times documented his lengthy career, from his emergence with the Yankees to his championship triumphs and his final farewell. Here is a collection of excerpts from several of the most memorable points in his career.

‘A Young Panamanian’

By Ira Berkow, Feb. 22, 1993 (The first mention of Rivera in the Times)

Steve Howe was telling Mariano Rivera, a young Panamanian pitcher, about his spring trainings in high school in Clarkton, Mich.