Yankee Reliever Mariano Rivera, 42, will call it quits Wednesday at a press conference immediately after the Yankees play the Mets at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, FL in the team’s final spring training game.
Word of the not-entirely-unexpected news slipped out after Fernando Cuza, Rivera’s agent, was briefing reporters in Kissimmee, FL where the Yankees had just wrapped up a spring training game against the Houston Astros.
Rivera, will leave Tampa on Wednesday evening and head straight to New York where he will lead a midnight prayer service as the new pastor at the Refugio de Esperanza church in New Rochelle, NY. Rivera purchased the former North Avenue Presbyterian Church in 2011 for $1 after promising city officials he would invest $3 million in restoring the 104-year old structure.
Pressed to explain why he would leave the Yankees on such short notice with the season scheduled to begin Friday against the Tampa Rays, Rivera was tight-lipped.
“Let’s just say New Rochelle needs me more than the Yankees,” said Rivera before getting on the team bus from the 90-minute trip back to the Yankees spring training complex.
Rivera has been hinting at retirement all spring.
“I know now,” Rivera told reporters last month. “I just don’t want to tell you. I know now. I will let you guys know when I think I should tell you.”
Rivera, arguably the greatest pitcher of all time, plans to rehabilitate the existing church structure which would remain a church but also serve as the home for a community center offering educational support services for area students.
“Mariano liked the location because it is in an area that is centrally located to reach a diverse group of students”, said former City Council member Joe Fosina who is working with Rivera to bring the plan to fruition.
Fosina said that Rivera has been putting up his own money for the project. The Church will be used for prayer services on Sunday, making use of the parking lot at City Hall which is largely unused over the weekend.
New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson told a reporter for the New York Daily News that he was excited to hear the news that Rivera was on this way to the Queen City on the Sound.
“I’m not much of a sports fan,” said Bramson “but I know a good thing when I see it.”
“Mariano’s work on the old North Avenue Church will serve as a major distraction from my own pitiful record on development in New Rochelle”, added a gleeful Bramson.
Rivera’s deep commitment to his faith is well-known. He had previously announced plans to become a evangelical minister after retirement from baseball. The Mariano Rivera Foundation annually distributes hundreds of thousands of dollars to underprivileged children in the US and Panama through church-based institutions.
Through the Mariano Rivera Foundation, the Yankee star has built school cafeterias in Puerto Caimito and La Chorrera Panama, and provided hot lunches at a rural Panamanian elementary school. Money has been donated to the Panamanian National Program “Escuelas Ranchos – Escuelas Dignas” which focuses on education for children from the indigenous communities and poor urban areas and for the construction of schools in rural areas of Panama. With the assistance of The Mariano Rivera Foundation Houses of Worship have been built in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Panama and The United States.
“Having grown up in a third-world country, downtown New Rochelle certainly feels like home,” said Rivera who grew up poor, the son of a fisherman in the tiny Panamanian village of Puerto Caimito.
Yankee teammates expressed relief at finally getting rid of Rivera.
“He’s been hanging around for 16 years, hogging the limelight,” said Yankee Captain Derek Jeter. “It’s well past time for him to give some of our younger players a chance.”
New Rochelle City Manager Charles B. Strome echoed Jeter’s remarks.
“Mariano is a good pitcher but he’s no John Franco,” said Strome.
How Did You Break the Code
Cox, you are a genius. Somehow you found out that Rivera, Jeremy Lin, and Tim Tebow have formed a multi-racial alliance to combat the king of all Enablers Ratner and also hold kneel-ins for Council Members who are blinded by the light.
Jeter’s supposed remark would
Jeter’s supposed remark would definitely be the POT calling the KETTLE black.
You had me until the Bramson quote
Bob, you had me until the Bramson quote. While Bramson’s development record is factually pitiful Bramson would cut off his right arm before admitting it publicly.
April Fool’s Day
Is Bob pulling the wool over us ?
definitely a joke . Jeter
definitely a joke . Jeter would not say such a thing and we all know Chuck Strome is a big Met fan , thus the ” he’s no John Franco comment.” Bob did have me going for a while until I realized the date. ha, ha