The New York Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera has announced that he is retiring after this season, and will leave baseball as the game's greatest closer of all-time.
A likely first-ballot Hall-of-Famer, the 43-year-old Rivera is a 12-time All-Star and played on five World Series championship teams.
The career saves leader with 608, Rivera has only blown 39 saves in his career, and posted a 2.21 ERA with 1,119 strikeouts in 1,219 2/3 innings.
Rivera says he would have retired after the 2012 season, but sustained a season-ending torn ACL in May, and wanted to exit on his own terms.
