Legendary New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera tore one of his Achilles tendons during the club’s 77th Old-Timers’ Day game on Saturday, his agent Fernando Cuza confirmed to The Athletic.
Rivera’s former teammate, Roger Clemens, initially broke the news of Rivera’s injury during an appearance on WFAN radio. Rivera may have suffered the injury during a defensive play during Willie Randolph’s at-bat — he took a step in before going to the ground. During the preceding half inning, Rivera had hit a single off Andy Pettitte:
Rivera, 55, spent his entire 19-year MLB career with the Yankees, who first signed him out of Panama to a $2,000 bonus in 1990. Over his 19 seasons with the Yankees, Rivera used his signature cutter to put up an ERA of 2.21, record a record 652 saves, earn 13 All-Star selections, and establish himself as the greatest closer in the history of the game. Burnishing Rivera’s reputation is that he was even better across 96 career postseason appearances. He remains the only player to be unanimously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Saturday’s event at Yankee Stadium commemorated the Yankees’ 2000 World Series championship and featured many important figures from that title team, such as Rivera, Clemens, and manager Joe Torre:
Saturday marked the first Yankees Old-Timers’ game since 2019. The exhibition took place before the Yankees’ eventual 5-4 win over the Houston Astros.