If Your Birthday is November 29th...

...you share it with the greatest closer of all time, Mariano Rivera.  Cooperstown's only unanimous inductee spent 17 years holding baseball's most tension-filled assignment -- nailing down the last three outs of a game.  Those 652 career saves -- plus 42 more (matching his uniform number) in the post-season -- were part of five Yankee World Championship clubs.  
Modest, gracious and always team-first, the native of Panama became so synonymous with the Metallic song "Enter Sandman," that they performed for him when the Yankees celebrated Mariano Rivera Day on September 22nd, 2013.

Sharing the date with Mo are longtime Mets 3rd baseman Howard Johnson and the late White Sox Hall of Famer Minnie Minoso, who was born 100 years ago today!

While I normally post my Baseball Birthday stories on Friday, how could I overlook the chance to spotlight Mariano Rivera?

 

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