Comments on: Word to God

By: Shaun P.

Shaun P. — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 16:36:44 +0000

[19] I guess so, but I expected more, as I think Alex did too.

I wonder who Rivera would use as a co-author?

By: Diane Firstman

Diane Firstman — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 16:30:37 +0000

[18]

Its a poorly-written article for the avid fans who know the details better, but its a decent article for Joe Schmo in his recliner on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

I COULD see Rivera penning a memoir, but I think it would NOT emphasize his baseball life, but more of his family/spiritual life.

By: Shaun P.

Shaun P. — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 16:11:31 +0000

[1] [2] I’m not sure Mo really cares to ever have someone write that kind of profile, but that’s just my two cents.

I do take issue with something Traub wrote: “Fans began to pay attention to saves, which relievers earned by entering a game with a slim lead and preserving the victory,”

No, it wasn’t that all of a sudden, fans started to pay attention to saves, it was that Jerome Holtzman didn’t invent saves until 1969, and then the great fireman of the 70s were transformed, wrongly, into the save gatherers of the 80s, 90s, and today. Sparky Lyle once led the league with but 23 saves – and the Goose, one of the greatest relievers of all-time, had more than 30 saves in a season but one time (33, in 1980).

I’d say that it was Righetti’s record-setting 46 saves in ’86 (in NY, of course), followed by what Eckersley did for the A’s in the late 80s, and then Bobby Thigpen’s then-record 57 saves in 1990, that got fans to really pay attention to saves. The advent of ESPN, SportsCenter, and the 30-second highlight definitely contributed, as well.

By: RagingTartabull

RagingTartabull — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:58:30 +0000

[11, 14] yeah I didn’t mean to open up a can of worms or anything. I could care less what the guy does after the 9th inning…I didn’t marry him.

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:58:16 +0000

Maybe it’s the kind of story that would come out on a guy who was hostile with the press but not with a saint like Mo. After all, if a local tabloid guy breaks a story like that he’d likely ruin his career in that clubhouse.

By: williamnyy23

williamnyy23 — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:56:55 +0000

[13] I was going to say the same thing. I guess it depends on the kinds of stories that people want to tell. Unfortunately, a good life doesn’t always make a great book.

By: williamnyy23

williamnyy23 — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:54:41 +0000

[11] Interesting…I can’t speak for your source, but I’d have to imagine that something would have come out over all these years. Unfortunately, that’s exactly why tabloids exist these days.

Besides, what exactly is a “Romeo”?

By: RagingTartabull

RagingTartabull — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:54:06 +0000

I think we can all agree that you don’t get much duller than Jeter.

I mean I love the guy, but if someone ever decided to write a 400 page book about how much he loves his parents…

By: williamnyy23

williamnyy23 — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:52:18 +0000

[6] I don’t think Mo’s story would be told to a “journalist”, but I could see Mo collaborating with someone on his life story at some point down the line.

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:52:10 +0000

10) He heard it from me and I’m not at liberty to say where I got it from. I’m not saying it’s true, it’s second-hand info on my part. But I’ve no reason to doubt the source or to doubt that a ballplayer, any ballplayer, has a rep as a romeo.

By: williamnyy23

williamnyy23 — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:48:58 +0000

[5] From whom, when did you hear that? I’ve never heard such a rumor.

[8] As long as media outlets will pay the likes of Roberts, no topic is off limits.

By: FreddySez

FreddySez — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:47:39 +0000

I’m down with Alex’s take on this article — it’s like it was written for somebody’s aunt who doesn’t follow baseball, sort of like Fox post-season color commentary. It may just be a case of Traub wanting to shout “first!” in what is certain to be a litany of feature-length apotheoses.

As for Mo being boring: We all strive toward the ideal of building your career, and your life, around the simple pursuit of something you love. If any of us were to achieve that as completely as Rivera appears to have done, how quotable would we be? The serenity that frustrates writers is part of what I admire in the man.

Reading this got me thinking about (and looking up) a coupla random things.

1. A quick stop by Retrosheet confirmed what I’d suspected: Game 2 of the 1995 ALDS contained both Mariano Rivera’s first post-season appearance and Don Mattingly’s last home run. Some day you will, indeed, know synchronicity. Better, and more fortunate, for me to quote Mark Twain instead: Wit ye well, I saw it done.

2. I can’t find any record of anyone asking Rivera about one topic — or of his talking about it: The 1989 U.S. invasion of his country. It took place only months before he signed his first free-agent contract with the Yankees, and he was playing ball in Panama then. Isn’t that odd?

By: RagingTartabull

RagingTartabull — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:46:34 +0000

[7] maybe a Selena Roberts-type. I’m not saying thats a subject that is for public consumption, unless Mo decides he wants to run for President of Panama at which point it’s fair game, but I guess its always there if someone wanted to pursue it.

I am in no way advocating that this happen, I’m just saysin’.

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:42:08 +0000

5) Yeah, but who is going to tell that story?

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:41:42 +0000

4) Possible, but I just don’t think modern jocks with the kind of savy that Mo has, reveal anything about their personal lives. He’s not dull, I’m sure, that was probably the wrong term. He’s just a dull subject or a limited one. And 3) you are right, we aren’t the target audience here.

By: RagingTartabull

RagingTartabull — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:39:49 +0000

[2] I seem to remember you saying that you had heard a thing or two about Mo’s reputation as a little bit of a “Romeo”…now THAT could be interesting.

By: williamnyy23

williamnyy23 — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:34:22 +0000

[2] Good point…With Mo, I think added obstacles are language and faith. I think he would be more open to a spanish speaker as well as someone whom he believed respected his faith, which undoubtedly would be an integral part of his story.

By: RagingTartabull

RagingTartabull — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:32:33 +0000

I tried but couldn’t get through it. Traub is a very good writer, but this was written for casual fans. Fact is we know Mo too well for any of this to be particularly interesting. One morning Mo woke up and had a 95 mph fastball…its a great story, but we’ve heard it 200 different ways over the past 15 years. Same with 2001, or 2003, or anything else really. There isn’t much new stuff to say.

I don’t think Mo is inherently dull necessarily, but the aspects of his character that are most interesting (his childhood, his religious zealotry) are hard to get a real hold on unless he decides to completely open up to the author.

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:19:26 +0000

1) In theory you are right, but I think it’s HIGHLY unlikely that a jock in this day and age would EVER trust a WRITER…they’ve got nothing to gain and everything to lose.

By: williamnyy23

williamnyy23 — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:18:25 +0000

Sounds like Traub is not much of a sports fan.

I agree that Mo isn’t an easy person to profile, but I disagree that he is inherently dull. It seems that everyone focuses on his greatness, which really speaks for itself. However, the right person could probably elicit a very interesting profile if Mo really trusted him/her.