On January 22nd, 2019, Mariano Rivera became the first player to be voted into the baseball hall of fame unanimously. This means that every single voter put him on their ballot.
Before Mariano, the closest player to unanimous was Ken Griffey Jr., who was 3 votes away. For a while, voters were refusing to make anyone unanimous. The argument was if (insert legend who wasn’t unanimous) wasn’t unanimous then no one should. But Mariano’s resume was too good for voters to leave off. He is without a doubt a hall of famer, but the question is should he have been unanimous.
I think he deserved to be the first unanimous hall of famer. I got to watch him towards the end of his career. Even in his older age, he was the best relief pitcher I have personally ever seen. He managed to keep his closer’s job from 1997 to 2013. No other reliever has kept the closer’s job for that long. He has changed the way baseball gets played, changing it from “keep the starter in as long as he can go” to “get the starter out and let the bullpen dominant”. This change wouldn’t have happened without the consistent dominance of Mariano Rivera.
There are many stats that prove the case. He has 652 saves, more than anyone in history. His 2.21 ERA ranks him 13th of all time. His WHIP of 1.00 ranks him 3rd all time. He carried dominance into the playoffs. In Mariano’s 141 pitched in the playoffs, he only gave up 11 runs (0.70 ERA). This means more men have been on the moon than runs he’s given up in the playoffs. He also has lots of accomplishments, including; 13 time all star, 5 time champion, 1999 world series MVP, 2013 All Star game MVP, 5 time reliever of the year and got his number retired.
Some people believe that he didn’t deserve to be unanimous. They used the argument brought up earlier, where if all of these great players like Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and Ted Williams weren’t unanimous, why should Mariano be. They also say that a guy who only pitched one inning a game shouldn’t be unanimous. His one inning was really important, but still just one inning out of nine in a baseball game. These arguments tend to come from Ken Griffey Jr. fans, who are still mad that Griffey is not receiving the unanimous honor.
Personally, these argument’s aren’t the best. Just because all of those legends weren’t unanimous, doesn’t mean Mariano shouldn’t have. His resume speaks for itself. Snubbing Mariano won’t fix the problem, it will only add to it as it would have added another legend to the snub list. Also I don’t think him only pitching one inning is a fair argument. He played his role, better than any other player in history for the sake of winning. That one inning was the most important inning of the game, when the game is on the line and you need to get three outs for the win.
The career of Mariano Rivera is more than worthy of being unanimous hall of famer. Hopefully now that someone has finally become unanimous it will open up the door for more players who are worthy of the title to get it. So now players with a resume worthy of unanimous aren’t snubbed because “this legend wasn’t unanimous so why should he”. Mariano’s story is truly inspiring, from a poor fisherman’s son who tried out for the Yankees with a broke shoe to the first ever unanimous hall of famer. It is a blessing to witness him make history.
