page_title: Mariano Rivera
section_title: 1995–1997
hierarchical_section_title: Mariano Rivera / Professional baseball career / Major leagues (1995–2013) / 1995–1997
caption_attribution_description: Former New York Yankees players Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, and Derek Jeter look on during Bernie Williams Day at Yankee Stadium on May 24, 2015
context_page_description: Mariano Rivera is a Panamanian-American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees, from 1995 to 2013. Nicknamed "Mo" and "Sandman", he spent most of his career as a relief pitcher and served as the Yankees' closer for 17 seasons. A thirteen-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion, he is MLB's career leader in saves and games finished. Rivera won five American League Rolaids Relief Man Awards and three Delivery Man of the Year Awards, and he finished in the top three in voting for the AL Cy Young Award four times. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as part of its class of 2019 in his first year of eligibility, and was the first player ever to be elected unanimously by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
  Raised in the modest Panamanian fishing village of Puerto Caimito, Rivera was an amateur player until he was signed by the Yankees organization in 1990. He debuted in the major leagues in 1995 as a starting pitcher, before permanently converting to a relief pitcher late in his rookie year. After a breakthrough season in 1996 as a setup man, he became the Yankees' closer in 1997.
context_section_description: After being called up to the major leagues on May 16, 1995, Rivera made his debut for the New York Yankees on May 23 against the California Angels. Starting in place of injured pitcher Jimmy Key, Rivera allowed five earned runs in ​3 ¹⁄₃ innings pitched in a 10–0 loss. He struggled through his first four major-league starts, posting a 10.20 ERA, and as a result, he was demoted to Columbus on June 11. As a 25-year-old rookie just three years removed from major arm surgery, Rivera did not have a guaranteed spot in the Yankee organization. Management considered trading him to the Detroit Tigers for starter David Wells. While recovering from a sore shoulder in the minor leagues, Rivera pitched a no-hit shutout in a rain-shortened five-inning start on June 26. Reports from the game indicated that his pitches had reached 95–96 mph (153–154 km/h), about 6 mph (9.7 km/h) faster than his previous average velocity; Rivera attributes his inexplicable improvement to God. Yankees general manager Gene Michael was skeptical of the reports until verifying that Columbus' radar gun was not faulty and that another team's scout had taken the same measurements. Afterwards, he ended any trade negotiations involving Rivera. On July 4, in his first start back in the major leagues, Rivera pitched eight scoreless innings against the Chicago White Sox, allowing just two hits while striking out 11 batters. In five subsequent starts, he was unable to match his success from that game. After a brief demotion to Columbus in August, Rivera made one last start in the major leagues in September before he was moved to the Yankees' bullpen. Overall, he finished his first major-league season with a 5–3 record and a 5.51 ERA in ten starts and nine relief outings. His performance in the American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners, in which he pitched ​5 ¹⁄₃ scoreless innings of relief, convinced Yankees management to keep him and convert him to a relief pitcher the following season.
  Rivera was nearly traded prior to the 1996 season to address the Yankees' depleted depth at the shortstop position. Owner George Steinbrenner considered an offer to send Rivera to the Mariners in exchange for shortstop Félix Fermín, but Yankees management convinced Steinbrenner to instead entrust the position to rookie Derek Jeter. In 1996, Rivera served primarily as a setup pitcher, typically pitching in the seventh and eighth innings of games before closer John Wetteland pitched in the ninth. Their effectiveness as a tandem helped the Yankees win 70 of 73 games that season when leading after six innings. Over a stretch of games between April 19 and May 21, Rivera pitched 26 consecutive scoreless innings, including 15 consecutive hitless innings. During the streak, he recorded his first career save in a May 17 game against the Angels. Rivera finished the regular season with a 2.09 ERA in ​107 ²⁄₃ innings pitched and set a Yankees single-season record for strikeouts by a reliever (130). Baseball-Reference.com calculated his value to the Yankees that year to be 5.0 wins above replacement (WAR), a figure no reliever has surpassed in a single season since. In the postseason, he allowed just one earned run in ​14 ¹⁄₃ innings pitched, helping the Yankees advance to and win the 1996 World Series against the Atlanta Braves. It was the franchise's first World Series championship since 1978. In MLB's annual awards voting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA), Rivera finished in twelfth place for the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award and third for the AL Cy Young Award, which is given to the league's best pitcher. Commentator and former player Tim McCarver wrote that the Yankees "revolutionized baseball" that year with Rivera, "a middle reliever who should have been on the All-Star team and who was a legitimate MVP candidate".
  Yankees management decided not to re-sign Wetteland in the offseason, opting instead to replace him with Rivera as the team's closer. In April 1997, MLB retired the uniform number 42 league-wide to honor the 50th a
caption: Rivera (second from right) with his fellow Core Four teammates in 2015. All four made their major-league debuts for the Yankees in 1995.
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