Exit Sandman: Mariano Rivera to retire after 2013

2013 is already shaping up into a transition year for the Yankees, and if the Bronx Bombers need a bigger symbol for that transition, this will be the last season for legendary closer Mariano Rivera.

Rivera, who is best known for his trademark entrance at Yankee Stadium, as he is for his incredible cool in the games toughest moment, the ninth inning, will call it quits after the season.

Rivera hinted this could be it a couple of weeks ago in an interview with WFAN's Sweeney Murti, telling the Yankees beat reporter that he would let everyone know soon about his future, and, that he felt blessed to be back on the field for another season.

Rivera will exit baseball as the games greatest closer in baseball history. He enters the 2013 season with 608 saves, and if he can reclaim some of that ole' magic for one more season, he will more than pad those credentials. He is also the best postseason closer in the game, with 42 saves, which is nine more than the next two guys on that list combined.

He will go down as one of the all time greats, and will be the last player not named Jackie Robinson, to have the number 42 retired. Rivera is vastly credited as being a part of the core that won five World Series championships since 1996. The others being Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, and Bernie Williams. Williams and Posada are retired, Pettitte retired twice before returning; he will pitch again this year. Jeter is trying to come back from a horrific leg injury he suffered in the ALCS last year.

Of all the great Yankees to come through the Bronx the past 17 years, it was Rivera who was the constant; a man who seemed like so much more who stood as an indestructible wall between a win and loss for each Yankee opponent. Whenever the Metallica song, "Enter Sandman," rang through the cannons of the House that Ruth Built, and later, in the House that Jeter and Rivera Built, you knew one thing: Game Over!

It is easy to forget that Rivera began his Yankees journey as a starter for Buck Showalter's Bombers in 1995, the year that many consider was the beginning of the Yankees dynasty. He eventually moved to the bullpen in 1996, as a set up man for John Wettland, and by 1997 took over as the full time closer; a job he has held ever since.

It is sure to be an emotional year for Rivera and the Yankees. With a team that is not certain for any postseason this season, every moment Rivera trots out of that Yankees bullpen will be a moment to cherish; it's not often we get to see living legends perform at the top of their game for one more ride.