One of the Greats....

      History was made today as Major league Baseball has a new all time Saves leader.  The title now belongs to Mariano Rivera. As a closer, The guy has been absolutely lights out for a decade and a half.  602 saves is an amazing record, even more so when you consider Mariano has only 38 career blown saves. Thats 94% success rate. He is a surefire first ballot hall of famer. 

   Bagholder has never been much of a Yankee fan. In fact, in my Bookie days - I had several clients who religiously pounded the Yankees. I can't begin to describe the psychological pain of having money against the Yankees, then watching Mariano take the hill with a Yankee lead late in the game. It meant the game was over, before it was over - and everybody involved knew it.  The outs were just a formality.   

    One of the things that separates the good from the great is how they perform when it matters the most. In Playoffs, Mariano has 49 wins & saves against only One loss. Look it up. Bagholder has been a lifelong Cubs/Dbacks fan, which means we don't get post season games where I come from very often.  In my lifetime, the Cubs have not been to a world series while the Diamondbacks have only been to one. As fate would have it, the one was in 2001 against Mariano & the Yankees. 

    Bagholder was blessed to have attended Game 7.  A couple of greats in their own right started that day, Curt Schilling went for the Dbacks, Roger Clemens started for the Yankees. Pitchers duel the whole way until Alfonso Soriano hit a Home run giving the Yankees the lead late in the Game. The silence in the stadium after that home run, was the eeriest moment of my life. 50,000 Dback fans were gutted with one swing. Morale was non-existent as we  all knew Rivera was going to pitch the ninth.  

 In one of lifes little ironies, Bagholder had no financial interest in the game that day. I was however, emotionally invested, as a Dback fan. The pain of watching him take the mound in the ninth was worse than the pain of the Countless times I was on the wrong side of his saves as a bookie. When you are a fan, and your team loses a big one - it takes a little piece of your soul, leaving behind this small empty place, filled with what could have been.  Losing money pales in comparison.

   At that point in his career Mariano had NEVER lost a post season game. In storybook fashion, that Dback team came back in the bottom of the ninth to beat Mariano & the Yankees. It is the only post-season loss of his stellar career and Bagholder is one of only 50,000 people who saw it live.   Hard to believe its been ten years already.  

   Mariano looks the same today as the day he came in the league. Virtually un-hittable. Absolute money, when it counts. Our hats are off To Mariano, to give credit where credit is due. He is the best the game has ever seen. It would be a pleasure to see him deal for many more years. 

I, for one, won't bet against him.