The Best relieve pitcher ever.

I've always admired mo but he's getting old and so is Trevor Hoffman so step it up a little bit and you wil pass him out for the saves record but you also have to play more seasons then him because your behind he will make the hall of fame as the best closer in the history of baseball and i will be the second best

Though he may not ever catch Hoffman, especially with recent shoulder surgery, he should go down as the best closer ever.

Traditionally, closers don't do well in HOF voting, so I'm hesitant to say first ballot, although he deserves to be. Despite my loathing for the pin-striped ogres, this guy was not just all-league, he was all-galaxy for more than a few years.

If this guy isn't elected to the Hall on the first ballot, they should kick all the relievers that are already in, out.

Has had a great career and will be remebered as one of the best closers ever. HOF voters have not proven to be kind to get closers with their voting, but considering that Rivera is a Yankee and the voters lean toward East Coast players, he'll probably enter on the 1st ballot.

No doubt. The most dominating closer since Eckersley.

Thus far, the greatest closer in the history of the game. After all of his great years and his total domination in the postseason over the years, he has to be first ballot.

He is one of the best pitchers I have seen but I'm giving him a four since he is a closer. But if he makes it I expect him to open the door for more closers in the hall.

Zuch makes a good point here, but I would propose that if you switched Mariano from the Yankees over to the Red Sox, beginning in 1996, the Sox would have been the team of the 1990's and the Yankees would have been the also-ran, leaving every other position player and pitcher alone. I know it's sacrilegious to suggest a pitcher win the MVP award but if a true "Most Valuable Player" trophy were awarded to THE most valuable guy on any team over the past 10 years or so, it should be given to Mariano Rivera. Nobody has dominated his position like he has, since Babe Ruth. If closers aren't important, then why does every team finishing short of the World Championship (except the Yankees) point to that position in explaining why they failed to bring home the hardware?

Yeah, he is a closer and why should he be in the Hall of Fame when all he has to do is get three or less outs. I agree that the closer position should not be valued as highly as a starter, but if there is any reliever in the past 25 years who should be in Cooperstown, it should be Mariano. The guy has been dominant for almost a decade now, and the Yankees would have struggled more with anybody else as their closer over that time period.