Boats are anchored in Puerto Caimito, the home town of New York Yankee pitcher Mariano Rivera, in Panama. Rivera was probably destined for a life as a fisherman until his uncle Miguel Rivera died from a mishap at sea. The tragedy convinced him to concentrate on baseball rather than the risky life of a fisherman. Rivera signed with the Yankees two years after the death of his uncle.
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Children jump rope near the baseball field where New York Yankee pitcher Mariano Rivera played during his childhood in his hometown of Puerto Caimito, Panama. Rivera and his friends played baseball on the beach with tennis balls, or balls fashioned from fish nets. Bats were made from branches from the mangrove swamps, and gloves were empty milk cartons.
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Mariano Rivera Palacios, father of New York Yankee pitcher Mariano Rivera, shows his son’s baseball glove at his home where he has a wall filled with memorabilia from his son in Puerto Caimito, Panama. Rivera Palacios, who worked as a captain on a sardine boat, likes to muse about his son’s long journey to New York: “Sometimes when I’m in Yankee Stadium, I’m watching from the stands and I say to myself: `Look where Mariano has come from _ from Puerto Caimito, a town full of mud and a stinking fish meal plant. But this is what feeds us.”
AP
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A baseball bat and a framed picture of New York Yankee pitcher Mariano Rivera hang on a wall inside the home of Rivera’s father in his hometown of Puerto Caimito, Panama. Around this Pacific fishing village he is still known by the nickname “Pili.”
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A couple talks inside an ocean front restaurant not far from where the New York Yankee pitcher Mariano Rivera played during his childhood in his hometown of Puerto Caimito, Panama. His childhood friends like Alfred Munoz remember how Rivera hated to lose. When his team was behind in a game, he’d throw the ball into the ocean and call it a tie.
AP
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A bus waits for commuters along the beach where New York Yankee pitcher Mariano Rivera played during his childhood in his hometown of Puerto Caimito, Panama. Rivera, who debuted in 1995, will retire this season as the career leader in saves and one of the game’s most dominating relief pitchers.
AP
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A statue of New York Yankee pitcher Mariano Rivera stands with other memorabilia at his father’s home in his hometown of Puerto Caimito, Panama. Around this Pacific fishing village.
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People play outside a fenced in baseball field where New York Yankee pitcher Mariano Rivera played during his childhood in Puerto Caimito, Panama. Rivera and his friends played their youthful baseball on the beach with tennis balls, or balls fashioned from fish nets. Bats were made from branches from the mangrove swamps, and gloves were empty milk cartons.
AP
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Mariano Rivera waves to Blue Jays fans in Toronto after the team honored him.
AP
