{"id":807165,"date":"2026-08-08T20:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/807165\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:04:10","slug":"mariano-rivera-makes-his-return-to-old-timers-day-at-yankee-stadium-one-year-after-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/807165\/","title":{"rendered":"Mariano Rivera makes his return to Old-Timers\u2019 Day at Yankee Stadium, one year after injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 A year after tearing his Achilles tendon on Yankee Stadium\u2019s outfield grass<\/a>, New York Yankees legendary closer Mariano Rivera made a triumphant return to Old-Timers\u2019 Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cInjuries are gonna happen, and I\u2019m OK with that,\u201d a smiling Rivera said Saturday, as his fellow retirees took batting practice behind him. \u201cIt was tough, it was tough. I still have to deal with it. I\u2019m moving better, and I\u2019m here. I\u2019m good enough to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was this time last year that Rivera, now 56 years old, crumpled to the ground while trying to field a fly ball off the bat of Willie Randolph. He went to the hospital that day, and ultimately had surgery to repair the injury.<\/p>\n

Players who participate in the game are required to sign liability waivers from the Yankees. The team jokingly announced on its social media platforms Saturday morning that it had<\/a>\u00a0\u201creinstated RHP\/UTIL\/HOF Mariano Rivera (#42) from the 364-day injured list.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are keeping an eye on him,\u201d said Jorge Posada, Rivera\u2019s longtime catcher. \u201cWe\u2019re not putting him in center field. He says he\u2019s gonna pitch. I don\u2019t know, his arm looks good.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Joe Crisalli<\/p>\n

Rivera, who is the game\u2019s all-time leader with 652 career saves, spent his entire 19-year career with the Yankees. He was a 13-time All-Star, finished top five in American League Cy Young voting five times and was named World Series MVP in 1999. The five-time World Series champion became the first unanimous selection to the Baseball Hall of Fame<\/a> in 2019.<\/p>\n

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He threw some batting practice prior to the start of the 78th Old Timers\u2019 Day, looping in pitches to former teammate Hideki Matsui.<\/p>\n

Rivera recalled using Old-Timers\u2019 Day as a player to speak with the greats who came back to visit. \u201cThat was meaningful,\u201d he said. \u201cWhitey Ford. \u2018Whitey, how do you do this thing?\u2019 He did it before us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not many current young players, however, take him up on those same opportunities nowadays.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish they\u2019d do it more,\u201d Rivera said. \u201cUnfortunately, it doesn\u2019t happen that way. But it\u2019s OK to me. I\u2019m not the one that needs it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivera also expressed frustration at the team\u2019s inability to win a World Series since 2009, when Rivera was still New York\u2019s closer.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re telling me. If you have the answer to that, I would like to hear it,\u201d Rivera said. \u201cIt\u2019s been hard. It\u2019s unbelievable. Hopefully this year is the year. It\u2019s not easy, winning championships is not easy. It\u2019s hard. But we have the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivera is one the most decorated champions in Yankees history, so he would know what it takes. On this day, he was only there to prove that in a different sense. To show that one devastating injury wouldn\u2019t keep him from getting back out there and playing on this field once again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love this game,\u201d Rivera said. \u201cI am here because I love this game. That\u2019s it. Nothing else.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 A year after tearing his Achilles tendon on Yankee Stadium\u2019s outfield grass, New York Yankees…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,369,99],"class_list":["post-807165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}