a Greater Glory

Sports commentators love to make bold assertions like, “He is the greatest to ever play the game” or “Nobody is more dominant than him.”  When I hear these bold proclamations, I often laugh and then I kind of shiver.  The shivering isn’t because I am cold, instead it’s because that is a scary thought.  The greatest there ever was, really?  One of the first things that I learned about sport was that there is always somebody who wants to knock you off of the top and they are working extremely hard to do that.

If we had a time machine and I could go back to 1972 and watch and listen to the sports commentators talk about Jack Nicklaus, I could sit there and chuckle to myself.  I am sure at that point in time they would have been calling him the greatest golfer to have lived (and up to that point, they could possibly be right).  The reason I could chuckle?  I know this guy who will be coming up in the near future and will take the golf world by storm, you know, that Tiger guy.

These same claims are starting up again as Roger Federer goes for his 15th championship.  This is a record in tennis and is a feat that should be loudly applauded, but does this mean that he gets the title of “The greatest tennis player to ever live”?  In the sports world there will always be somebody who is going to be the next big thing.  it’s crazy to say, but in 15-20 years we could be sitting and looking back at Roger and Tiger and be remarking how they were good, but so-and-so and so-and-so are leagues ahead of them.

The coolest part about all of this, is that within Christianity the idea of the greatest, is completely backwards to that of the sports world.  Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 18:1-4:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus never wanted the person who was the best, the person who was the most popular, or the person who pumped their fist and banged their chest.  Jesus took the cast-outs, the neglected, and the people who humbled themselves like children. What if the commentators based their “Greatest Player” ideas on the players who not only played well, but were outstanding people?  It’s likely we would be praising a bunch of guys who for the most part we have never heard of.  Sure you hear of the more prominent ones (i.e. Mariano Rivera, Kurt Warner, etc.), but what about the guys who lived their faith and evangelized in their leagues like there was no tomorrow, then we could call them “The Greatest”

It’s hard to believe that over 13 years have passed since Mariano Rivera recorded his first save of his career.  How long ago was this?  Well for starters, Braveheart had just won the Academy Award for best picture, Bob Dole had yet to pick Jack Kemp as his running mate, and I was in Mrs. Hampton’s third-grade class, banging out state capitals like it was my job.  Maybe the most impressive stat of that time was the attendance at Yankee stadium the night of Rivera’s first save:  19,087.  To put that number in perspective, the Washington Nationals are currently averaging 23,030 this year alone.

Anyway, back to Rivera.  It’s difficult to measure his worth to the Yankees over the last decade and a half.  Granted, the save has been a watered down statistic for the past 20 years or so and the modern era has been very lenient on pitching statistics general.  But still, there are several reasons why Rivera has been the MVP for the Yankees (yes, I said it) during their dynasty reign.

Reason #1:  Being the man during the steroid era while pitching in a bandbox

Maybe the main reason why we can say he has ice in his veins.  Rivera broke into the league amidst the pruning of baseball’s biggest juicers.  No names will be mentioned (thanks Raul Ibanez) although we can assume that Rivera pitched against some of the biggest juicers in the American league at that time.  Just in case that wasn’t enough, this guy had to pitch in little-league field they called Yankee Stadium – 315 ft. down the lines and 380 in the gaps.  You wouldn’t be able to tell from the results because he posted a lower than 2.00 ERA in each of his first three seasons as the closer.

Reason #2:  Being the man when it counts:  October

Most people have heard how money Rivera has been in the postseason, but the numbers say it all:  8-1, 0.77 ERA, 117.1 IP, 0.750 WHIP (which is ridiculous by the way).  Again the result is four World Series rings.

Reason #3:  The Cutter

Maybe the most devastating pitch in baseball.  Experts like to talk about Joel Zumaya’s fastball, or Brad Lidge’s slider, Francisco Rodriguez’s curve, or Trevor Hoffman’s changeup.  The difference between these closer’s and Rivera?  He has ONLY thrown one pitch his entire career.  It hasn’t mattered how much film a hitter can possibly watch, he has no chance.  Yankees reliever Brian Bruney sums it up:  “Let’s say you get a guy who comes into the league today, let’s say he throws 110 miles an hour, he will not be as good as Mo because his pitch is better than anything you could ever imagine.”

It’s almost as if this guy was born to pitch.  When asked if he ever feels threatened on the mound, Rivera responded “Never.  I’ve always loved the competition. I’m not afraid of it.”  That’s why we’ve loved to watch you pitch Mo.

Congratulations to Mariano Rivera on his 500th save.  Mariano from all accounts is a committed Christian who is playing in the biggest baseball market in the world. For him to achieve this is monumental and amazing, congratulations to Mariano.