There are few jobs in the world where if something goes wrong all of the blame can be placed on one person — absolutely and unequivocally one person.
In the world of sports, the job that falls into this category is a baseball closer. Closers typically enter a game when their team is ahead by one or two runs. Their job is to “save” the game, and secure a win in a close contest. If a closer fails to do their job their team loses, and the loss is 100 percent their fault.
For the last 16 years no person on Earth has been better in this situation than Mariano Rivera. Rivera has been the closer for the New York Yankees since 1997 and has been a pivotal part of five of the team’s World Series victories.
I remember being 8 years old and watching Rivera save and close out the 1998 World Series for the Yankees.
For 16 years Rivera has been “saving” the Yankees in pressure-packed situations. Almost 90 percent of the time that Rivera took the field — to “Enter Sandman” by Metallica — the Yankees walked off the field with a victory.
Last Thursday, at 11:53 p.m., I got a text from one of my best friends saying Rivera had torn his ACL and meniscus shagging fly-balls on an off day. My friend asked if the greatest closer in baseball history would finally call it quits at age 42.
I never answered the text because I didn’t want to admit that I thought one of my heroes and favorite athletes was done for good.
Luckily for me, I
never had to acknowledge this question. When I woke up Friday, Rivera had
already come out and said he would be back for the Yankees’ 2013 World Series
campaign.
To non-sports fans, this probably seems incredibly insignificant, and probably is, but there is a lesson to learn from Rivera.
Rivera worked one of the highest-pressure jobs in the world for 16 years, not to mention he did it for the New York Yankees. He has five World Series rings, holds almost every record for a closer and several for a pitcher.
Rivera loves the game of baseball and loves to compete. He did not let an uncontrollable event decide his future. He has decided to come back and continue doing what he loves to do — work in the highest-pressure situation and win games for the Yankees.
Despite encountering a setback that would derail the careers of many much younger players, Rivera chose that his life’s passion should end the way he wants.
We all have dreams and passions that keep our adrenaline pumping, and we all encounter obstacles that make these dreams or passions hard to continue pursuing.
If you are passionate about something, do not let anyone but yourself decide how you enjoy it.
Be the one to write the end of your own story.
— wfgryna@indiana.edu
