From being an ordinary kid on the streets of one of the most impoverished parts of Panama to being under the lights for the largest baseball franchises, Mariano Rivera has lived two polar opposite lives in his lifetime. While most immigrants such as Rivera may dream of living a stable life in a new land, the 13-time All Star paved an extraordinary life that most people in the entire world could not even imagine living. Through the sacrifices and drive to survive in America, Mariano Rivera reveals a life "of a legend built from the ground up" that everyone can appreciate and admire.
Although Rivera eventually received notable accolades and will be remembered as Major League Baseball's all-time saves and ERA leader, thirteen-time All-Star, and a five-time World Champion, he did not by any means easily accomplish these goals. In fact, he had to work harder than most professional baseball players given the circumstances that Rivera was coming from. Coming from another country, the language barrier was the evident problem, but one of the toughest challenges for Rivera was the competition against experienced players as he describes his memory as, “All around me are guys who have been groomed to do this for a decade or more, and here I am, a guy who got here because one Sunday afternoon the Panama Oeste Cowboys needed somebody to finish a game.” No one would have imagined Rivera, a mere fisherman who occasionally played baseball with fishing nets and wooden sticks, to compete against talented Americans who had been playing their entire careers. His tenacity to continue his survival in the new land was extraordinary as he left behind his family, friends, and even his future wife, Clara, with complete faith in his religious beliefs and his strong work ethic that he acquired back from working in the labor intensive fishing boats. While the chances of making it into the Majors is ever so slim, Rivera managed to accomplish the goal with even more obstacles the majority of professional baseball players, ultimately making his journey a story that everyone must respect.
From the sandlot by the dirty beach to the world-famous Yankees Stadium, Mariano Rivera made history through his incredible motive. Even with all the odds in the world against him, Rivera established himself as one of the most dominant athlete of all time, all while possessing composed character that everyone can learn from. Therefore, it comes to no surprise that Rivera is now know as "The Closer".
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