10 best MLB All-Star moments

Mariano Rivera in final All-Star Game in New York (Queens/Citi Field)

Another picture of grace, Mariano Rivera spent much of his final big league season touring the league, collecting relics and praise for his wicked cut fastball, but more so for his respectfulness and kind demeanor.

There’s a saying in baseball about doing things the right way and “the game will pay you back”. Rivera certainly received much from baseball—a handful of excellent memories, more than enough money for he and his family to be set for life, and many lifetimes to come.

But none of those memories, nor any of that money, could compare to the admiration shown him in his final All-Star Game in the city he’d spent his entire Major League career, even if it was in the wrong team’s ballpark.

Undoubtedly there were many Yankees fans in the park on the hot, humid evening in Queens, NY in July, 2013. But even those who were not Yankees fans could appreciate the man who redefined what it meant to be a closer.

The Yankees have always been an easy team to hate, probably especially when they were a dynasty in the late 1990s. Yet Rivera, along with teammate Derek Jeter, was not a player anyone with half a heart could hate. Annoying, yes. The one pitch pitcher was frustrating as all get-out for opponents and their fans.

But respect is the word most fitting for Rivera. He was certainly shown plenty of it when he entered the game in the Bottom of the 8^th for a final time in an All-Star Game. Like Ripken in 2001, Rivera was given the MVP—interestingly not an honor bestowed on Jeter a year later in Minneapolis, though he may have been more deserving.

But it wasn’t even the MVP award, it was the way every All-Star on the field and in the dugouts generally appreciated him and showed it. There may never be another Mariano Rivera in baseball—a one pitch savant, or a man with as much class.

Next: From one Yankee legend to another