Rangers’ on-deck-circle donut ploy vs. Rivera really ‘worked,’ says Young
Mariano Rivera received 100 percent of the vote Tuesday to gain election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, which should tell everyone how good he was and how highly respected he was over his 19-year career.
Michael Young, the Texas Rangers Hall of Famer who received nine votes Tuesday in his first and only year on the Hall ballot, shared his story of how good Rivera was.
He easily beat the Rangers’ ploy to beat him.
“Here’s my Mo story,” Young tweeted Wednesday morning. “We’d have the guy in the on-deck circle use the metal donut. If Jorge [Posada] set up inside, he’d knock the donut off hard, hitter would hear it, and know it was cutter inside. Ya, not very obvious. It worked. He’d get three outs on 12 pitches instead of nine. Congrats Mo!”
Young was even backed up by his former Rangers teammate Mark Teixeira, who was also a teammate of Rivera’s with the New York Yankees.
“As a teammate of @MikeyY626 with the @Rangers, I can confirm this story,” Teixeira tweeted. “It was a desperate action by hitters who knew we were toast. That’s why I signed with the @Yankees ... didn’t have to face Mo anymore!”
Young also tweeted his thoughts on Roy Halladay, who, like Rivera, was elected by the Baseball Writers Association of America in his first year on the ballot. Halladay, who won Cy Young Awards with the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies, died in 2017 when the plane he was piloting crashed.
Young spent a half-season with the Phillies in 2013 and saw Halladay up close. He also attempted to convince Halladay in 2009 to accept a trade to the Rangers, a deal that would have included a young left-hander named Derek Holland.
“Congratulations to the Halladay family,” Young wrote. “Doc was one of a kind. A nightmare to face, but such a privilege to play with him. He was the best. Plain and simple.”
