A Farewell Tour on The Largest Grandstand of Them All
Standing
ovations, lovely parting gifts, chants of Enter Sandman. These are all things
that Mariano Rivera has had throughout the his final season [more so than other
seasons] in Major League Baseball. We even saw him tear up on Citi Field when
he was presented with a tribute from his fellow all-stars. Words can't even
express the impact he's had on the game, so we're able to see it through the
"little people" and the stadium workers he's interacted with this
season.
Throughout
his final farewell tour, Mariano has become akin to Axle Rose and has received
"farewell gifts" of sorts from various teams. In Tampa Bay we saw
Mariano receive a sand sculpture and a donation to the Mariano Rivera
foundation. In Chicago he received a framed scorecard from his first appearance
at Cominskey Park, from his first game after 9/11 as well as a donation to the
Jackie Robinson foundation in his honor.
The Gifts
didn't stop there, in San Diego the Padres gave Mariano and his entire family
beach cruising bicycles. The Dodgers presented him with a custom fishing pole
and made a considerable donation to his foundation. The Rangers gave Mariano
inscribed cowboy boots, hat and made a donation his foundation.
It should
be noted that his farewell gifts tour began when the Twins gave Mariano a chair
of broken dreams as well as a considerable donation the Mariano Rivera
Foundation. The Angels gave Mariano an oil painting of himself. The Athletics
presented Mariano with a surfboard, a bottle wine and a slightly larger
donation [than the Dodgers, not to be out done after all] to his foundation.
The Mariners simply made a contribution to his foundation. The Mets gave
Mariano a mounted fire hose and callbox.
image via usatoday
Mariano has
had the biggest farewell tour in recent years, Chipper Jones retired just the
year before, receiving more standing ovations than anything. Football,
Basketball and Hockey greats who have retired over the years simply receive a
standing ovation upon exit of their last game, which makes baseball such a
great game to retire from, aside from Ray Lewis, Brett Farve has been the most
talked about non-baseball retiree in the last ten years [simply because he
couldn't make a decision on his retirement]. Even Former Red Scott Rolen almost
embarked on his own Brett Farve-esq. farewell tour.
The best
farewell tours, however, are the players that ride out into the sunset quietly,
like Crash Davis in Bull Durham. Todd
Helton of the Colorado Rockies is doing just that, and that's WORTH talking
about (Jim Thome retired in a similar fashion and Chipper Jones was more talked
about that season). Helton is in his
17th season, all of them played in the mile high city. His amassed nearly 2,500
hits (3 Shy of 2,500 as of 8/27), he has 363 homeruns (more than Joe DiMaggio,
Yogi Berra and Daryyl Strawberry).
image via RockiesReview.blogspot
Rockies
Manager Walt Weiss rests Helton against elite pitchers [which probably bothers
Weiss an Helton]. Helton hasn't played the day after a night game all season
and he's batting a career low .250 with a .699 OPS. With five all-star game
appearances, four silver slugger awards an three golden gloves by 30 Helton
everyone thought he'd be a shoe-in to Cooperstown. Before 30 Todd Helton had
271 HRs, 1,535 hits, 915 RBIs, 924 runs, 373 doubles, a .337 BA, and a 1.040
OPS. Plagued by injuries and chronic back problems the second half of his
career has been everything but noticeable. Since 2005 he's hit 91 HRs, 959
hits, 470 RBIs, 461 Runs, 210 doubles, a .291 BA and a .836 OPS.
Helton may
not be the kind of player that makes it to Cooperstown, after-all the ballots
really have only been to nice to fan favorite players [that's just my own
personal opinion, don't take it for anything more that that]. Only five players
in the history of the MLB have had 200 hits, 40 homeruns, 100 runs, 100 RBIs,
100 extra base hits and 100 walks in a season [Helton is one of those five.
Furthermore, only Wade Boggs, Rod Carew and Tony Gywnn have reached 2,000 hits
faster than Helton has in the last 50 years.
Helton is
fading gracefully into oblivion, in true fashion, no rocking chairs or standing
ovations. No retiring at the end of one season and then coming out of
retirement "for a year" the next. He's simply doing what every player
should -retire when he can't play the game he loves anymore.
