My Review of “Closer” by Mariano Rivera

I finally got around to reading the book “Closer” by the Yankees great and recently retired Mariano Rivera and wow what a book. I know I am probably way behind on this but so is the life of a father, a husband, a 40+ hour a week worker, a blogger, and a professional writer. I do what I can when I can, you know? Anyway back to the book, I loved it. Mariano delivered the book the same way he wanted to deliver his pitched, quick, concise and to the point and it was well appreciated.

If you’re a Yankees fan you know about how Mariano blew the save in 2001 in the World Series, you know about getting the final out in the 1998, 1999,2000, and 2009 World Series. You know about the blown saves and the triumphs of Mariano so he didn’t spend too much time on those stories. Instead he spent time telling us things we didn’t know, like how he almost punched a drunk guy in a New York pizza parlor. Or how he almost died when his dad’s fishing boat had a faulty water pump and had to escape on a life boat. Or how the Yankees and Chico Heron originally scouted Mariano as a shortstop and thought he didn’t have enough of a bat and only got on the mound because the team needed a guy to take one on the chin and finish a game.

While I wish we heard more about coming up with Andy Pettitte, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and playing with the likes of Don Mattingly, Bernie Williams, etc. I understand why we didn’t hear about it. I would have loved to hear more about Ruben Rivera stealing Derek Jeter’s glove in the clubhouse or stuff like that but Mo wasn’t one to ruffle feathers and such. He wanted his books overall message to be about his relationship with the Lord and that’s what he delivered, whether it be with a baseball or the pen in his right hand.

It was a great book, one I will likely read again. I have brought it up to my son to read a chapter a night before bedtime but he is still stuck on his Plants vs. Zombies books so maybe later, but I cannot wait ti share this story with my son and it comes highly recommended from this guy, buy it now.