How Mariano became the Sandman
ByThe game of baseball has countless sounds associated with it, like the crack of the bat, the pop of the mitt, Take Me Out To The Ball Game, and if you’re in the Bronx, “Enter Sandman” as well. Mariano Rivera has been storming out of the bullpen to the song for more than a decade now, but how did a quiet guy from Panama end up with Metallica as his entrance music? As Bryan Hoch explains, is was largely due to Trevor Hoffman.
Some Yankees higher-ups saw Hoffman’s theatrical entrance with “Hell’s Bells” during the 1998 World Series (and, more importantly, they saw how the fans reacted), and decided they needed something like that for Mo. I don’t remember this at all, but apparently Rivera came out to “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Paradise City” by Guns n’ Roses in 1999, but neither stuck while “Enter Sandman” did. Something about Mo warming up to Axl Rose makes me want to stick a pen in my ear. Anyway, make sure you check out the article, it’s a pretty neat story.
19 Comments»
RAB Info
The Founders
Mike Axisa, Ben Kabak, Joe Pawlikowski
Editor-In-Chief
Mike Axisa Archives | Email
Managing Editors
Ben Kabak Archives | E-mail
Joe Pawlikowski Archives | E-mail
Contributing Editors
Larry Koestler (Archives)
Moshe Mandel (Archives)
Stephen Rhoads (Archives)
Weekend Writers
Hannah Ehrlich (Archives)
Matthew Warden (Archives)
Special Contributor
J.R. O'Grady (Archives)
Technical Consultant
Jay Gordon
Subscribe to RAB by RSS and Twitter
Follow @RiverAveBlues Search RAB
Banner Design By
The Mason Williams Watch
I don’t hate Guns N Roses but the thought of Mo running out to “Shananananananananananana-kneeeeees knees…” is pretty terrible.
I think its funny that everyone- including Metallica, recognizes that Mo has become bigger than the song itself.
I don’t think Im going to listen to “Enter Sandman” once Mo retires. It’s going to too depressing.
It’ll bring back good memories.
The only entrance more theatrical than Mo’s is Rick Vaughn’s in Major League…which is literally more theatrical, being part of a movie. That speaks volumes, I think, about Mo’s presence and impact on the franchise and the fan base.
In order to achieve symmetry, David Robertson will emerge from the bullpen to the sweet sounds of Panamanian great Ruben Blades in 2013.
+1
One of the best experiences I’ve ever had at a ballgame was a few years ago…
Dodgers vs. Padres in SD. Bud Black makes the call to the pen, and these bigger than life bells start ringing in the stadium. The sound must’ve filled all of downtown SD. Then the guitar kicks in as he’s starting to run in from the pen. Even as a part-time Dodger fan (dad was from Brooklyn) it was an unforgettable experience.
I never could equate Mo with Enter Sandman… probably because I never got the pleasure of watching him come out to it in person (I always see the Yanks in Anaheim). But just knowing that Mariano would never listen to Metallica ruins it for me. There’s a phoniness that I can’t get over.
Entrance music is one area that Hoffman has Mariano beat.
Totally agree. I’ve seen Mo emerge at Yankee Stadium many times, and it’s fun, but I saw Trevor Hoffman come out to Hells Bells a few years ago, and it was really an awesome experience. The song is much better entrance music, much more ominous.
Eh, I actually think there is something a bit fitting about the fact that Mo would never actually listen to the song himself. (Warning: amateurish literary analysis ahead). Just like Mo, the character in the song isn’t wasting his time listening to someone sing a song about how scary he is. Rather, he’s out there focusing on BEING scary and leaving nothing but devestation and destruction in his wake. Just like Mo.
You can certainly spin it anyway you want, but for me it boils down to this:
Is the song being played to get the crowd pumped, or the pitcher? Of course a reliever can’t get too amped up, but it’s nice to think that the music helps him channel his inner Rocky Balboa so that he can come in and do his job. IMHO, that should be the primary purpose of the music.
It’s just perfect for a closer and gets across the right message: “Don’t even bother thinking about winning, this game is over.”
But since its Mo coming out to the song, its even more awesome because even the opposing team knows its lyrics true…
Another note. Its weird to be in “career appreciation” mode with Mo even while he’s still as wonderful as he ever was. He’s not supposed to be this good when pundits are writing retropesctives and YES is replaying highlights from games he played in during Clinton’s first term.
But yet, the baseball icon known as “The Great Rivera” is also a present day pitcher known as “Rivera, elite 2011 closer.” Remarkable.
I think it’d be great if Mo became a Metallica fan after all these years and was mailing copies of “Kill Em All” back home.
Metallica played at YSII last night and didn’t even bother to acknowledge it’s role with the Yankees. In fact they just rolled right into it from the end of the previous song. Very disappointing.
Really!? I thought for sure it would be a final collaboration song by all of the bands. That’s a big fat fail.
I always thought Thunderstruck by AC/DC would be a better choice for Mo. It’d certainly be my entrance music.
Unfortunately repetitive movie trailers has ruined “Thunderstruck” for me forever, I will now only relate it to Leslie Mann having bowel issues.
Meh.
Metallica did kinda acknowledge the yanks before enter sandman on Wednesday….if you were there and watching the screens, you woulda seen James grinning and then the cameras zoomed in on his hand holding the guitar pic, and he flipped the pic over and it showed “the big 4″ as well as the interlocking ny….that close of the ny was not so much a mo tribute, but definitely am acknowledgement of that songs place in recent Yankee lore