From Heritage Park to Cooperstown, Mariano Rivera completes his journey

Cooperstown

The trip from Colonie to Cooperstown is 75 miles or so, but the journey for Mariano Rivera took a quarter century.

As a skinny 24-year-old native Panamanian who barely spoke English, Rivera flashed through Heritage Park in the summer of 1994 as a starting pitcher for the Albany-Colonie Yankees of the Class AA Eastern League.

Rivera's adventure culminated Sunday afternoon when he was enshrined, with five others, into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The first player ever to appear on every writer's ballot for Hall inclusion, Rivera delivered his induction speech with the passion and effectiveness he showed in 17 seasons as the greatest closer in the history of baseball.

He rose through the ranks of the minors, pitching nine games — all starts — for the Yankees' AA affiliate, going 3-0 with a 2.27 earned-run average. He had 39 strikeouts and eight walks in 631/3 innings before getting promoted to Triple-A.

By the middle of the following season, Rivera was in the show.

"It's a privilege and honor to just be part of one organization," Rivera said during his 24-minute, 26-second address. "I did it with dignity, with honor and pride. I tried to carry the pinstripes the best that I could. I think I did all right with that."

Baseball's all-time saves leader with 652, Rivera aschewed his written words and basically winged it to the crowd, estimated at 55,000, on the grounds of he Clark Sports Center.

"I had my speech (written) just to have it in case I had to go to a backup plan," he said afterwards, "but my intention was always to speak from my heart."

He spent a majority of his time showing apprecation to those who helped him along the way. Rivera said "thank you" 42 times and "gracias" — during a one-minute portion in which he addressed the audience in Spanish...