Mariano Rivera Injury: An Injury Mars a Favorite Routine

Mariano Rivera Injury: AnInjury Mars a Favorite Routine

On the surface, Mariano Rivera’s injury seems to have come doing something reckless or at the very least pointless.
The legendary closer tore up his right knee Thursday as he was sprinting to chase down a fly ball during batting practice. The initial reaction from many quarters has been a raised eyebrow: Why exactly would a 42-year-old relief pitcher be out there chasing flies at top speed?
The reality is that Rivera, an exceptional athlete, has been shagging flies in the outfield before games for 20-plus years without incident. Rivera loves to shag fly balls — in fact, playing the outfield has always been something of a dream for baseball’s all-time saves leader. For years, Rivera has lobbied the Yankees to let him play an inning in center field before he retired.

So Rivera was unapologetic after the injury that may have ended his career.
“If it’s going to happen like that, at least let it happen doing what I love,” Rivera said. “And shagging, I love to do. If I had to do it over again, I would do it again. No hesitation.”
Rivera is certainly not alone in his love for batting practice fly balls. Inside baseball, it’s standard practice for pitchers to convene in the outfield and catch flies off the bats of the position players. Some are better than others, and some try harder than others.
But all pitchers participate, and most consider it a part of their conditioning as well as a limited means of keeping their fielding skills sharp.
Rivera’s teammates rallied around him. After years of watching him chase down flies with the grace of a natural outfielder, not one said they saw this as anything other than bad luck.
“It was a freak thing,” said Yankee captain Derek Jeter. “If it was someone out there that never really is out there and didn’t know what they were doing then it would be a different story, but Mo gets his conditioning when he’s out there shagging fly balls. He’s like a center fielder anyway. It’s a freak thing. There’s no other way you can explain it.”
Manager Joe Girardi said that Rivera has not apologized for what happened — and Girardi would never want him to.
“No, and I don’t expect him to,” Girardi said. “We’ve all seen Mo run around for how long has he been here, 40 years?”
The boyish enthusiasm on display as he chased down those flies is part of what has made him great, his manager suggested. Stifling that would come at a cost.
“That”s part of who he is. You take that away from him, he may not be the same guy, he may not be the same pitcher,” Girardi said.