The Post tracked down some well-known names to get their take on the legacy of Mariano Rivera
JOE MAUER, Twins catcher
“He’s the best closer of all-time, No. 1, but the most frustrating thing is you know what’s coming but you still have a tough time doing anything with it. I’ve seen him nine years ago and I’ve seen him today, and it’s still Mariano Rivera, THE best. When he gets the ball, it’s usually not good for our team.”
JIM PALMER, Hall of Fame pitcher
“Excellence. You don’t get 647 saves if you’re not any good. What do all the greatest players have, all have in common? Consistency over a long period of time. Plus he’s a class guy. The excellence and just how he carries himself… He never showed up a hitter, he’s not very demonstrative. He doesn’t have to point [up] even though we know he’s a very religious guy. He’s a class act and he happens to be as good as anybody who ever tried to save games. If I had him as a teammate, I’d probably still be pitching.”
FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ, Ex-Mets closer
“He is the best. I think the day he was born, they just grabbed the mold and they broke it to make sure no one else could ever be like him. A lot of people are going to miss him. Especially me as a player, I’m going to miss him not being out there in the ninth inning.”
BUCK SHOWALTER, Former Yankees manager
“I think my biggest thing that I think about is what a great example of how to handle success. You see some guys, they hit 30 home runs a year, they hit a home run, they act like it’s the first one they’ve ever hit and may never hit another one. Mo, when he saves a game, it’s like, ‘Well, this is my job. This is what I’m supposed to do, right?’ I think about all the people he was exposed to early on, where their substance is their style. That’s Mo. His substance was his style. And the way he treated teammates. The way he handled success and failure. He never gave you an edge as an opposition to want to beat him. It wasn’t like pointing at — it was just professional and it was like, ‘Golly, I wish this guy would give me an edge, something to make me dislike him instead of respect him.’ ”
NICK SWISHER, Former Yankees teammate
“It’s very rare in your life that you get to play with true professionals like that, just the way the guy goes about his business everyday, it’s so impressive and I’m so happy for all the success he’s had, because he’s such a great dude. We were kind of locker-mates, we kind of had that wall there, so just being around him all the time, he’s got good energy, it just kind of feeds off him. Nothing seems to rattle him. But for me, man, it was an honor to play with him. I’ve been able to play with a couple of Hall of Famers in my career so far, and he’s definitely one of them. I’ll be interested to see how that Hall of Fame vote turns out, because it’s going to be real high. … The most memorable [Rivera] moment for me was the last out of the World Series. He’s running over to first base, ground ball to Robbie, throws to Tex, that’s always going to be burned in my head. It was such an amazing moment.”
DAVE RIGHETTI, Former Yankees pitcher
“I don’t know how to compare him to anyone. If anything, he reminds me of Dr. J. The grace, dignity and way he went about playing. It was fun to watch and something about him, you never really rooted against Dr. J. Maybe Larry Bird did, but there was something about how they went about their business. Dr. J, you didn’t really look at his tenacity because he was so quiet about the way he went about his business. The same thing is true with Mariano. You can’t be more tenacious than Mariano Rivera.”
DAVID ORTIZ, Red Sox designated hitter
“Mariano is bigger than baseball. It’s not gonna be the same next year. Many things have changed since I first came up to the big leagues. One thing that hasn’t is Mariano coming into the ninth inning for the Yankees and things being pretty much over. It’s still like that. How can you be that good for that long over your whole career? That’s amazing. It’s so hard to take him deep. There’s almost no one harder to hit home runs off of because of that late movement. You can’t get extended.”