Joe Posnanski: Mariano Rivera's a true Yankee, almost mythical in his dominance

If there's an expression of the Yankee myth, it's Mariano Rivera in the ninth Rivera has 502 saves by essentially throwing one pitch -- the cut fastball Rivera learned the pitch in 1997 while playing catch with Ramiro Mendoza "They say his father was a fisherman. Maybe he was as poor as we are and would understand." -- The Old Man and the Sea There is a Yankee mythology that sustains New York fans and drives everybody else crazy, and it goes something like this: To play for the New York Yankees, you need to have a certain quality -- quiet dignity, maybe, that's part of it, or valor or a sense of the moment. All of that. More. To be a Yankee, the mythos goes, you should suffer your pain in private like Mantle, and keep hitting home runs even when your hair falls out like Maris, and find your true self in October like Reggie.... [read full story]                    

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