Bomber Bites With Jumping Joe–No East Coast Bias in Saying Mariano Rivera is the Greatest

Voting for the baseball Hall of Fame is hard.  It has also been made increasingly difficult in recent years as voters struggle with PED users and suspected users and navigating the “Rule of 10” which allows only ten names to be placed on the ballot in a given year.  Many writers have gone to extreme lengths to protest the rules including submitting blank ballots or not voting for a surefire Hall of Famer like Randy Johnson or Pedro Martinez on the assumption that they will make it in without their vote.

And yet writers still find a way to vote for guys that have no business in the Hall of Fame discussion like Darin Erstad who received a vote this year.  Another definitive non-Hall of Famer is Troy Percival, who received three votes this month.  One writer tried to make the unbelievable comparison of Percival to Mariano Rivera, saying that the real reason that Rivera is a near guaranteed first ballot Hall of Famer and Percival received only three votes is “East Coast Bias.”

Everyone is obviously entitled to their own opinion, but to say that Rivera was merely a product of the New York media is plain wrong.  Rivera won five World Series titles, made 13 All-Star teams, led the league in saves three times, won a World Series MVP, ALCS MVP and All-Star Game MVP.  He is also the all-time saves leader with 652 saves.  He has a lifetime ERA of 2.21, 56.2 WAR and ERA+ of 205.  That ERA+ is the all-time best as well.

More from Yankees News

• Yankees chose worst possible player to ring in New Year on 2023 team calendar
• Yankees make upside play, sign former Rangers top prospect outfielder
• Michael Kay’s Anthony Volpe story will get Yankees fans amped for Opening Day
• No, Yankees should not acquire Trevor Bauer for 2023
• Yankees’ Marwin González replaces Red Sox LF in Japan in logical next step

All of that of course is before we even mention his postseason success.  In 141 postseason innings (roughly two seasons worth for a reliever), Rivera has an ERA of 0.70.  He is 8-1 with 42 saves in that span.  Of those 42 saves in the postseason, 31 of them required him going more than one inning.  He has earned the title of best postseason pitcher of all time, not just best postseason closer or postseason reliever.

He has more saves than Hall of Famers Rollie Fingers (341) and Goose Gossage (310) combined.  And for those who say that getting saves is easier in today’s games, Rivera had 119 regular season saves lasting more than one inning.  Second place on that list since 1996, is Keith Foulke with 55, or less than half of Rivera’s total.

Meanwhile, Percival was a nice player for four teams over a 14-year MLB career.  He racked up 358 saves and made four All-Star Teams.  He never led the league in saves.  He ERA was a run higher than Rivera.  His career WAR was just 17.2.  In 2002, his only appearance in the playoffs he had a 2.79 ERA in 9.2 innings.  In short, he was nowhere close to Mariano and comparing the two is a disservice to both.

Rivera is one of the greatest players in the history of baseball, and will be voted into the Hall of Fame without question in 2019.  With fellow closer Lee Smith unable to gain enough momentum to gain admission and Trevor Hoffman, the former all-time saves leader, likely to get squeezed by the Rule of 10 next January, voting for and campaigning for guys who would merely be candidates for the “Hall of Very Good” let alone the Hall of Fame like Percival, is becoming more and more a distraction from the real issues facing Hall of Fame voters.