Christmas Gift From Mom - Mariano Rivera Signed Baseball

Mom always enjoys finding me stuff for Christmas that will find its way to the blog, and this year was no different.  She did get me a trash bag full of about 100 pounds of antique baseball gloves, which were really cool.  She also knocked another huge name off of my Hall of Fame list with this signed baseball of Mariano Rivera.  I wanted to get in on a Rivera signing, but baseballs were super expensive, and the cards I would do would also cost me an arm and a leg, so I held off.  This ball is amazing, and has the HOF inscription and the 1st 100% vote inscription.  Pretty amazing!

Rivera (b. 1969) played in the majors from 1995 to 2013, for the Yankees.  The greatest closer of all time retired with a record 652 saves.  His 952 games finished and 205 ERA+ are also all-time records.  He had a won-loss record of 82-60 with a 2.21 ERA and 1,173 strike outs.

Rivera was a 13-time All Star (1997, 1999-2002, 2004-2006, 2008-2011 and 2013) and his best Cy Young and MVP finishes were 2nd (2005) and 9th (2004, 2005), respectively.

He won the World Series with the Yankees in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2009.  He took home the 1999 World Series MVP and 2003 ALCS MVP honors.  His playoff record was 8-1, with 42 saves, 110 strike outs and a 0.70 ERA.  

Rivera was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2019 with 100% of the vote.  He is the only person ever elected to the Hall with 100%, and probably will be the only one, since there are idiots out there who like to make statements with their ballots; the handful of people who didn't vote for Hank Aaron, WIllie Mays, Ken Griffey, Jr., or Cal Ripken should never be allowed near another ballot.

Rivera is the 159th Hall of Famer in my collection.  Thanks Mom!  Merry Christmas, everyone!