For number 6 on this list of the most iconic cards in baseball, we have our 2nd Yankee in Mariano Rivera.
This Bowman card from 1992 is Rivera's true rookie card which helps to make it one of his most in demand cards.
Generally within the baseball card world, pitchers don't get the same love that hitters do. As Greg Maddux would infamously say; "Chicks dig the long ball". And it would seem that the same is true for baseball card collectors.
If pitchers are underappreciated, then relief pitchers are even more so. One of the few exceptions is Mariano Rivera and for good reason.
Rivera was a career New York Yankee who first came up to the Majors in 1995 as a starter. After going 5-3 with a less than ideal 5.51 ERA and 1.51 WHIP, the Yankees decided to turn him into a reliever the following season. By 1997, Rivera was the closer for the Yankees and remained there for the next 17 seasons.
Rivera finished his career with the all time highest number of saves - 652 - which is a record that is unlikely to be beaten any time soon. By comparison, Craig Kimbrel has the highest number of saves by an active player and he has racked up just over 350 saves in his 12 MLB seasons to date. He would have to average over 30 saves a year for the next 10 years to top Rivera's record.
Mariano Rivera also has one very major accomplishment under his belt that I haven't mentioned yet. He was the first, and so far only, player to ever be voted into the baseball Hall of Fame unanimously. When you think of all the names that are on plaques in Cooperstown, you really appreciate just how big of a deal this is.
Now onto the card itself. 1992 Bowman was an interesting set of cards for a number of reasons. Primarily for the larger than usual class of rookies that were included. Alongside Rivera, fellow Hall of Famers Trevor Hoffman & Mike Piazza were also had rookie cards in this set.
But the photographs used for the 1992 Bowman cards are also notable. They used a combination of traditional action shots alongside a more casual approach for certain cards. And Mariano Rivera's card is clearly one of the more casual ones. Rather than photograph him mid-pitch or in uniform, Bowman opted to go for the "tucked in golf shirt whilst leaning against a slanty metal beam" approach, which looks very dated by today's standard.
But in all likelihood, this unusual image alongside Rivera's reputation as the best closer of all time combined to make this one of the most easily recognisable cards there is.
In fact, this card is so iconic that it was chosen to be one of only twenty cards that were given to artists to base new card card art upon for the recent Topps Project 2020 set. Needless to say, nearly all of the artists incorporated either Rivera's golf shirt or his pose as part of their design.
For whatever reason, the value of Rivera's 1992 Bowman card is surprisingly affordable - certainly when compared to other cards on this list. You can find this card ungraded for around £60, with the price rising to around £900 for a PSA 10.
Mariano Rivera's legacy is one of being the very best of what he did. According to fangraphs.com, he threw his cutter an amazing 87% throughout his career. Hitters knew what was coming but they still couldn't do much with it. He was that good.
Exit light. Enter night.
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