The strange sight of the Yankees missing the playoffs has opened the door for an even stranger sight: Mariano Rivera playing center field.
Before Rivera threw his final pitches at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night, manager Joe Girardi said that in the final series of the season, the final series of Rivera’s career — this weekend in Houston — he was “absolutely” considering granting Rivera’s long-held wish to play the same position as Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Bobby Murcer and Bernie Williams.
“I don’t know how I would do it. It’s probably something I would have to talk to him about,” Girardi said. “In my mind, thinking that he’s going to want to pitch, it would be a situation that I might bring him in in the eighth [inning] to play in the outfield and [have] him close it out in the ninth, if we have that opportunity.”
Rivera, who has always been regarded as one of the Yankees’ best athletes, has a long-standing practice of shagging fly balls in the outfield during batting practice, which is how he tore his ACL last year in Kansas City and prompted him to come back for one more season.
If Rivera is given the opportunity, it likely would be for no more than an inning, but despite the narrow window, the 43-year-old said he would not take the outfield if it meant looking like Willie Mays circa 1973.
“One thing I will tell you, if I can do it, I will do it, [but] if I cannot do it, I will not be making a fool of myself,” Rivera said before he made his 576th and final appearance in The Bronx. “I’m a professional. This is not a joke for me. This is business. This is serious. I respect the game.
“I don’t know, all you guys thinking [it’s a joke], but this is not a game for me. This is something I respect. I put the request in way back, a long time ago, and now my knees are not the same. We’ll see what happens.”
The fascinating development to a mostly meaningless final series against the Astros could become even more interesting if Rivera is forced to field a ball on or near the 30-degree incline of Tal’s Hill in center field of Minute Maid Park.
“I’m going to try and warn him about it and hopefully we don’t give up any balls on that hill,” said Girardi, displaying legitimate curiosity in what would happen if the ball carries that far. “Go ahead, go get it and see if he can throw ’em out.”