With two outs in the top of the eighth inning Thursday night, Joe Girardi emerged from the Yankees dugout. The sell-out crowd in the Bronx arose from their seats, eagerly anticipating who the Yankees manager would call in from the bullpen. With the raise of Girardi’s right arm, and a tap on that right forearm, the crowd of over 50,000 Yankee fans knew one thing: the all-time Major League Baseball record holder for saves was about to take the mound at Yankee Stadium for the last time in his career. 
The late Yankees PA announcer Bob Sheppard’s voice echoed through the stadium. “Now entering the game, number 42, Mariano Rivera, number 42.” The speakers blared Rivera’s walkout song, “Enter Sandman” by Metallica one last time as he jogged to the mound like he had done hundreds of times for the last 19 years. The Yankee fans yelled and cheered as they greeted, yet said goodbye, to the greatest closing pitcher of all time.
Rivera faced four batters and recorded four outs, which seamed appropriate for the situation. With two outs in the top of the 9th inning, fellow teammates and friends Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter walked out of the dugout to close the books on Rivera’s final night in New York as a Yankee. This brought the crowd to another roaring ovation. In tears, Rivera hugged his two longtime Yankee teammates on the mound as the fans continued to cheer — and hold back tears of their own.
“They both came to get me out,” Rivera said of Jeter and Pettitte in an on-field YES Network postgame interview. “I was thankful that they came out because I needed them there.”
As Rivera walked to the dugout, he removed his cap and held it up to the crowd, thanking them. Overcome with emotion, Rivera and Girardi embraced outside the dugout. Rivera said he never expected his emotions to get the best of him on this night.
“It means a lot to me,” Rivera said of the ovation he received from the fans. “These fans are the best in the world. They came to support me. I thank God. These fans are number one. I love you guys. Thank you very much.”
Mariano holds the record of saves in a career at an astounding number of 652 saves. Not only were Yankee fans saying farewell to Mariano, but the entire baseball world was, too. Holding the best ERA of all time with a minimum of 1,000 innings at 2.21, Rivera is arguably the greatest pitcher to ever play the game. 
The emotion felt on that Thursday night reminds us of how much the sport means to professional athletes. Whether you’re 18 or 40, walking away from the game you love can tug at your heartstrings like nothing else in the world can. It can be so much more than a game and shape who you are as a person, friend and teammate.
Rivera’s departure will forever go down as one of the most memorable moments in Yankees history, alongside Lou Gehrig’s “luckiest man on the face of the earth” speech and Babe Ruth’s farewell wave of the cap to the crowd in the last game of his career. 
Unfortunately for the Yankees, their season has come to a disappointing end, as they failed to make the postseason. But on this night, none of that mattered. Baseball fans across the globe said goodbye to one of the greats and the last person to ever wear number 42 in major league baseball. We will miss the skill and precision Rivera brought to the mound, but we will never forget what he means to his teammates, the Yankees organization, the fans and maybe most importantly, the game.