Mariano Rivera ‘Sports Illustrated’ Cover A Retirement Decision Gift For Yankees Great

The Mariano Rivera Sports Illustrated cover is like a final retirement gift for the famous Yankees baseball player.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Mariano Rivera’s retirement decision had everyone on hooks all year long.

This is actually the fourth time we’ve been graced with a Mariano Rivera Sports Illustrated cover. SI headlines the issue with the title “Exit Sandman,” presumably referring to Mariano Rivera’s retirement.

It wasn’t until this month that Mariano Rivera’s retirement decision was announced for certain, with the Yankees player putting it in blunt terms to swarming reporters crowding his locker:

“I already told you guys. I don’t want to come back like that again. I made my decision. They can do whatever they want. That’s fine. I don’t tell (Girardi) what to do. But on my behalf, I already made my decision in spring training.”

The Mariano Rivera Sports Illustrated cover is not the only retirement gift Rivera will be receiving. Some have begun sending gifts and checks to the Mariano Rivera charity. From other baseball teams he’s received a giant oil painting selfie, a custom fishing pole, beach cruisers, wine, surfboards, sand sculptures, cowboy hats, an Enter The Sandman gold Metallica record, and a rocking chair made from broken baseball bats. Other baseball memorabilia includes a bronzed broken bat from the Orioles, a mounted fire hose nozzle, and pitching mound dirt collected from baseball fields mounted in a frame.

Mariano Rivera’s MLB record of 651 saves is just yet another reason to make another Mariano Rivera Sports Illustrated cover. Yankees’ CC Sabathia says Mariano Rivera deserves every praise he gets, not only for his actions on the field but those done outside the limelight:

“This is what I would tell people about Mariano. Believe everything you hear about him, because it’s all true….If you want to be a better player or a better person, you watch him.”

What do you think about the Mariano Rivera Sports Illustrated cover?

[ Mariano Rivera Sports Illustrated Cover Image via Walter Iooss Jr./Sports Illustrated]