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MLB WORLD SERIES: CARDINALS v RED SOXOctober 24, 2013Mariano RiveraBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Game Two GREG AMSINGER: Hello everyone, welcome to Game 2 of the Fall Classic, my name is Greg Amsinger from MLB Network. I'm honored to be here tonight of the special presentation of the Commissioner's Historic Achievement Award. The two men to my left need no introduction. With that I'd like to turn it over to Commissioner Selig. COMMISSIONER BUD SELIG: Thank you very much. And good evening to everybody. This is a night that I have looked forward to for a long time. Tonight I'm proud to present the Commissioner's Historic Achievement Award to Mariano Rivera. I debated today, all of you know the great statistics in his 19‑year career with the New York Yankees, so I'm not going to bore you with those. I'll get right to the heart of the matter, clearly unequivocally, he's the greatest relief pitcher of all time, and did it in a way that was remarkable. All records we have said are made to be broken, but this is one that I'm very confident will stand the test of time. More importantly to me, because his on‑field exploits were so remarkable, that it's really beyond debate. But he's the last player who is going to wear No. 42. When I retired Jackie Robinson's number in 1997, we made the correct decision, and having Mariano continue to wear it, and he wore it with great class. And I guess that's the point I'd like to make tonight. I don't want to embarrass him and I don't want to embarrass his family, but he became the face of baseball for this generation. And he did it in a way with so much class and so much dignity and so much honor, that it couldn't help but make me as the commissioner of baseball proud to think that one of our great stars of this generation represented the game so beautifully. And what I found fascinating was his farewell tour. Going to visit people, people who worked in ballparks all around that he had played. His own sensitive feeling for conveying to people, whether it's in Boston, where he got booed I'm sure on a few occasions, or Cleveland or Chicago or everywhere else he went, it was unprecedented. Nobody had ever done anything like that. And what that was was a manifestation of the kind of career that man has had. It's often said that whether they like it or not, players are role models. They are. And can you imagine for this generation this is our role model? Congratulations, Mariano. (Applause.) MARIANO RIVERA: Well, first of all I would like to say thank God for having me here, keeping me safe after driving like a maniac to arrive to receive this award. I have my wife and my boys here with me and I appreciate that, thank you very much, to be here with me. All of you guys, Commissioner, thank you for this tremendous award that I'm humbled to receive because all I did was try to do my job, and help as much as I could. And I'm proud with that. I have the support of my wife, my kids, my family, my teammates and millions of people praying for me. So I was surrounded with tremendous people many years ‑ Mr. T, that's how I call him, Joe Torre. Also Buck Showalter gave me the opportunity in 1995, my first year in the big leagues. I've been blessed. I've been blessed. And it's an honor and a privilege to receive this award with such dignity and class because that's the way I respect the game. That's the way I play the game. And I still will continue loving the game the way I play the game. So for me and my family, this award means a lot. And it will be in a special place. Not in my corner, but in a special place, in a special place, because it means that I have a chance to play for one commissioner, you know. And I'm retiring, it's an honor and privilege to receive from the same commissioner that I played for all these years. So thank you, Bud, thank you very much for that (applause). GREG AMSINGER: We'd like to open it up for questions. Anyone with a question for Mariano Rivera, we'll get it to you as quickly as we can. Q. So few great athletes get to go out on top and on their own terms like you did. How hard is it to retire when you're still as good as you are? MARIANO RIVERA:  Well, I don't think it's hard when you make your mind. If I don't make my mind, my wife and my kids will take me out of the game themselves. So I make the decision because I asked the Lord for one more year. I didn't ask for two more years; I asked for one more year. And he gave it to me. And for me, when I saw that decision made, I was happy with that. And the result was a blessing knowing that I could play. I don't know about that, because I give everything that I have in the tank. So I have nothing left. So if you see me like this, and you think I can play, I will tell you that I can't play no more, because I have nothing left (laughing). Q. It's been almost four weeks, how is retirement going so far? MARIANO RIVERA: I'm good, man. But I say and I continue to say that I not retired yet. I'm in the offseason. And I like this so much that I'm trying to ‑‑ boss, listen to this, okay? ‑‑ since I did the whole American League and all the time with the family traveling with me, so I decided I'm going to give another shot in the National League (laughter). So here it is, guys. GREG AMSINGER: Breaking news. MARIANO RIVERA: I don't know. COMMISSIONER BUD SELIG: That's okay. We'll make sure that happens, that you can be sure of. MARIANO RIVERA: I had to make you laugh, guys. Q. Mariano, Charles Barkley said in a famous commercial where he said "I am not a role model." It seemed that you relished this position you were put in. You didn't shy away from it. You didn't tell people ‑‑ and you lived up to being a role model. Is it hard to act the right way, to do things the right way? And I also wanted to ask, did you ever get in trouble when you were a young boy with your parents? MARIANO RIVERA:  Oh, many times. That is many times I got in trouble. But I think the Commissioner said it perfect, either you like it or not, you are the role model. It doesn't take nothing. It doesn't take anything to be nice, you know. It doesn't take much to say "thank you", "hello, how are you doing?" Just be nice. It doesn't take much. So I don't know why you will say that you're not a role model, because kids look at you. And I think that if we do the right thing and play the game the way we should play it, I mean that's all we need to do. And outside the game help as much as you can. That's being a great role model. You don't need to do something different that you don't know how to do. You don't ask to be something different. You just do what you know what to do. Q. You've been such a huge part of the game obviously for almost two decades. Where do you see your role with baseball going forward? Do you plan to take special family time off before you get back into baseball? MARIANO RIVERA:  Yeah, I'm going to take a lot of time with the family, since I've been away from them for so many years, that I have to give them time. I'm the chauffeur right now for taking them to school and bring them back from school. But at the same time, also, I have my wife that is the pastor of the church that I am congregating with. So I have to give a lot of time on that. And so I don't think I have time left. So I'm okay with that. I'm busier now than I was playing baseball. I'm okay. I'm happy. And we just enjoy time. Q. You were always fashionably late for Spring Training, but I'm just wondering what do you think your feelings are going to be inside when February 1st rolls around this year? MARIANO RIVERA:  Oh, that's a good question because now you don't talk now about retirement anymore, you're talking about temptation. So I'm going to go as far as I can go to where people don't play baseball. I don't know what's going to happen. I know that I'll be busy, and it's something that's going to happen. So since I'm retired, I'm just going to enjoy it. I'll maybe go back there and say hello to the boys and spend time with them a little bit. I don't know. I don't know what will happen. But I hope that my feelings will continue the way they are right now. Q. So there's a possibility we will see you? MARIANO RIVERA:  Maybe, maybe, yes, maybe. If I'm in Tampa, I will take a little half an hour to an hour to say hi to the boys. Why not? I love them. And that's what I have done my whole career. So they won't be strangers for me. Those are my boys and they always will be. So if I'm there, I will say hello definitely. Q. Good or bad you always spoke about how you looked forward, always looking forward to that night's game or the next outing. Now that that's over, have you had a chance to look back at all your accomplishments and what you did in your career? MARIANO RIVERA:  Well, a little bit. A little bit. I thank God for that. I thank God because He allowed me to play for 19 years, and I was able to give my best. So, yes, I look back and I reflect on all those years. All I have to say is thank God for these years. Thank you. COMMISSIONER BUD SELIG: Well, just in closing, in the life of a commissioner you have a lot of good days, bad days, and I can't tell you how much this has meant to me, and this is really for me, a very, very special day. Congratulations. Again, on behalf of Major League Baseball, thank you for all the class and all the dignity. It has been a real pleasure. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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