This is a story that came up when Mariano Rivera, Yankees legendary closer was being inducted into the 2019 Hall of Fame, along with Mike Mussina and the late Roy “Doc” Halladay. In MLB’s Hall of Fame, where some of Halliday’s artifacts are kept, there is a ball with blue lines on it, supposedly drawn on by Mariano as a reference Halliday. There is actual footage of Mariano and Halliday conversing in the outfield of Yankee Stadium at the 2008 All-Star game. You can clearly see Mariano and Halliday in a deep conversation about the inner workings of a Mariano’s famous cutter, sharing a tip to an already almost unhittable pitcher. Now that ball is forever enshrined in MLB history.
One of the best parts about this story was the fact that Derek Jeter and the rest of the Yankees fined Mariano in kangaroo court for teaching his secret to not only an already great pitcher, but a pitcher in their division no less. Kangaroo court is basically a court held between players where they are fined a certain amount of money for doing something stupid. They can plead their case if they think they can beat it, but I’m sure it would have been hard for Mariano to plead not guilty in this one. As Cano talked about with A-Rod, Halliday was almost unhittable as it was, he didn’t need much help. Mariano didn’t see it this way, he saw Halliday as a guy who was curious and wanted to better himself, so Mariano gave him a little help. I just think it’s hilarious that there’s actual video evidence of Mariano teaching him because I’m sure his Yankees teammates were extremely curious as to what was being discussed.
It really speaks to the testament of both pitchers. Halliday wasn’t afraid to ask someone like Mariano for help because he knew it was only going to make himself better. As you get older in the game of baseball, you can start to lose some of that stuff that made you so effective early in your career and have to reinvent yourself. Who better to go to that one of the most successful closers of all time, who basically made his career throwing one single pitch. Mariano had no problem sharing some knowledge with any type of player who was willing to ask for his help. I truly believe that no matter who the pitcher was, he would have helped him out. Mariano even put it in plain terms stating that if he took money from the people he gave advice to over the years, he would have a lot of money. It wasn’t about that, it wasn’t about hiding some secret, he was more than willing to share with anyone that seeked advice because he knew he was once that player seeking that same help.
Halliday’s “new” cutter was pitch that really helped him out during the later part of his career, as his cutter usage went from 33.7% in 2007, to 41.66% in 2008 and peaked at 49.62% in 2009. During “Doc” Halliday’s second CY Young season in 2010, he threw his cutter 41.70% of the time. He would hold opponents to just a .254 batting average with his cutter compared to a .289 batting average against his heavily favored sinker. Unfortunately halliday passed on November 7th, 2017 in an aviation accident, so he personally never got to discuss the story with Mariano during their 2019 Hall of Fame induction. But I find it rather poetic that both were included in the same Hall of Fame class as Mariano played a part in helping Halliday become effective in the latter parts of his career. Mariano has had no regrets for helping out a fellow ball player, he just wishes he would have been able to share the stage with “Doc” for such a worthy induction. I miss baseball, stay safe everyone.
The Washed Up Athlete 