The Closer
June 9th, 2014. Filed under: Monday's Musings.
It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old…or for somewhere in between!
The Closer
By Mariano Rivera
with Wayne Coffey
The greatest relief pitcher of all time shares his extraordinary story of survival, love, and baseball.
Mariano Rivera, the man who intimidated thousands of batters merely by opening a bullpen door, began his incredible journey as the son of a poor Panamanian fisherman. When first scouted by the Yankees, he didn’t even own his own glove. He thought he might make a good mechanic. When discovered, he had never flown in an airplane, had never heard of Babe Ruth, spoke no English, and couldn’t imagine Tampa, the city where he was headed to begin a career that would become one of baseball’s most iconic. What he did know: that he loved his family and his then girlfriend, Clara, that he could trust in the Lord to guide him, and that he could throw a baseball exactly where he wanted to, every time.
With astonishing candor, Rivera tells the story of the championships, the bosses (including The Boss), the rivalries, and the struggles of being a Latino baseball player in the United States and of maintaining Christian values in professional athletics. The thirteen-time All-Star discusses his drive to win; the secrets behind his legendary composure; the story of how he discovered his cut fastball; the untold, pitch-by-pitch account of the ninth inning of Game 7 in the 2001 World Series; and why the lowest moment of his career became one of his greatest blessings.
In The Closer, Rivera takes readers into the Yankee clubhouse, where his teammates are his brothers. But he also takes us on that jog from the bullpen to the mound, where the game — or the season — rests squarely on his shoulders. We come to understand the laserlike focus that is his hallmark, and how his faith and his family kept his feet firmly on the pitching rubber. Many of the tools he used so consistently and gracefully came from what was inside him for a very long time — his deep passion for life; his enduring commitment to Clara, whom he met in kindergarten; and his innate sense for getting out of a jam.
When Rivera retired, the whole world watched — and cheered. In The Closer, we come to an even greater appreciation of a legend built from the ground up. – See more at: http://www.littlebrown.com/thecloser.html#sthash.HX39f0PZ.dpuf
ISLAND BREEZES
I’m not sure why I signed up to review this book. I knew very little about baseball and nothing about Mariano Rivera. I wasn’t sure why, but I’m very glad I did. Now I know a lot more about baseball, and I feel as if I know the man called The Closer.
This book takes one into the heart of baseball as well as into the heart of Mariano. It tells of his love for baseball, family and God.
Here is a quote from The Closer that made my heart sit up and take notice. “It’s so easy to get caught up in the problems and complications and sadness that life can confront us with, but by opening my heart to the Lord, I am filled with lightness, with appreciation for the gifts He has given me, with the ability to pay attention to what is good and not what is not good.”
That, my friend, is wisdom that we should all hold in our hearts.
Thank you, Mr. Rivera, for showing us the heart of a godly man. If you were still the Yankee closer, I would be a huge Yankee fan. I wish you and Clara well as you work with the Refuge of Hope.
***A special thank you to Amy Morrow of The Barnabas Agency for providing a review copy.***
Mariano Rivera was a New York Yankee for nineteen seasons. He is Major League Baseball’s all-time saves and ERA leader, a thirteen-time All-Star, and a five-time World Champion. He and his wife, Clara, have three sons and live in New York.
Wayne Coffey is one of the country’s most acclaimed sports journalists. A writer for the New York Daily News, he cowrote R. A. Dickey’s bestselling Wherever I Wind Up and is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Boys of Winter, among other books. He lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife and children.