Yankees Announce Mariano Rivera's First Appearance to Headline 2019 Old-Timer's Day Roster
By Sean Facey
There's a new guy on the block on the Yankees' Old-Timer's Day roster, and he's joining the squad...unanimously.
The Yankees have announced that legendary closer Mariano Rivera will make his first appearance in the 73rd edition of the classic event, coming up in just a few short weeks before his Hall of Fame induction.
The 73rd annual Old-Timer’s Day roster has been announced and includes 4 first-timers, including 1 unanimous Hall of Famer ?.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 12, 2019
See you there on June 23rd! pic.twitter.com/B0ereORzoc
It's about time, too! Rivera is one of four first-timers on the roster. The others are Jerry Hairston Jr., Jason Grimsley and Jean Stottlemyre, the widow of Mel Stottlemyre.
It feels a bit unfair that some of these folks are going to have to square off against the only unanimous Hall of Famer in MLB history, but that's just part of the fun.
Rivera, a 13-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion, finished his career with an MLB-record 652 saves.
Yankees announce that Mariano Rivera will be making his Old Timers’ Day debut this year on June 23
— Erik Boland (@eboland11) June 12, 2019
With the recent subpar performance of the bullpen, the Yankees might want to keep an eye out to see if they should consider trying to convince Rivera to come out of retirement, just for half of a season.
We can only hope that he busts out that famous cutter of his when he gets the call to come into the game.