Anyone who might snicker at the competitiveness or athletic endeavor of an old-timers’ game should consider what happened to New York Yankees Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera during Saturday’s alumni exhibition.
Rivera suffered a torn Achilles tendon during the Yankees Old-Timers Game and will undergo surgery to repair the injury, his agent confirmed to The Athletic.
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Roger Clemens first revealed that Rivera hurt his Achilles tendon while appearing in the WFAN broadcast booth with Suzyn Waldman and Dave Sims. He added that Rivera was being evaluated at a hospital.
Here is the audio of Clemens’ remarks from the WFAN broadcast, via Talkin’ Yanks on X.
Roger Clemens said that Mariano Rivera is at the hospital because he thinks he popped his achilles during the Old-Timers’ Game pic.twitter.com/VzCNWSgdK5
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) August 9, 2025
“It was a fun day until we just heard about Mariano. Mariano hurt his Achilles,” Clemens said. “I don’t know what was going on. We all thought it was a hamstring, but I think it’s a little worse than that. I think he’s at the hospital now.”
Clemens then joked that he wanted Waldman and Sims to help change the name of “Old-Timers Game” to “Alumni Game” because he and his fellow teammates weren’t that old. Rivera is 55 years old, while Clemens is 63. The Yankees had not held an Old-Timers Game since 2019, according to The Athletic.
A Yankees spokesperson confirmed that Rivera did indeed hurt his Achilles and was examined by trainers. But the severity of the injury was not revealed, via the New York Daily News’ Gary Phillips.
A #Yankees spokesperson confirmed that Mariano Rivera hurt his Achilles during the Old-Timers’Day game, as Roger Clemens told Suzyn Waldman. Severity unclear.
Rivera met with trainers, but the team didn’t have any info beyond that.
— Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) August 9, 2025
Rivera hit a single off former teammate Andy Pettitte during the exhibition and appeared fine after running to first base. However, he appeared to sustain the injury while playing center field in the bottom of the inning. While Willie Randolph was batting, Rivera took a step in shallow center and then crumpled to the ground, The Athletic reported.
This wasn’t the first time Rivera hurt himself while playing the outfield. In 2013, he tore his ACL while shagging fly balls during batting practice in Kansas City and missed the remaining six months of the season.
Here’s something we never thought we’d say: Mariano Rivera has a hit against Andy Pettitte at Old Timers Day! 😆
(via @Yankees)pic.twitter.com/4I5rGSBwnE
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 9, 2025
During his 19 seasons, Rivera became MLB’s all-time saves leader with 652. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.
Prior to Saturday’s Old-Timers/Alumni Game at Yankee Stadium, played before the Yankees faced the Houston Astros, it appeared that Rivera would make news by telling reporters that he planned to speak with current closer Devin Williams and offer advice regarding his recent struggles.
Rivera did not reveal what exactly he planned to say to Williams, but indicated that it was important for relievers — especially closers — to forget about a bad outing as quickly as possible and maintain confidence.
“Forget about it,” Rivera said, via the New York Post. “You can’t do nothing about it. What’s done is done. Move on and be confident. You have to be confident in yourself. If you’re not confident in yourself, why are you playing the sport?”
Williams allowed three runs in the Yankees’ 5-3 defeat to the Astros on Friday, serving up a two-run homer to Taylor Trammell in the 10th inning. In his past five appearances, Williams has given up eight runs in 4 2/3 innings. He has allowed 28 earned runs this season, more than he gave up during the past three seasons combined.
However, because of the Achilles injury, Rivera was not able to speak to Williams, who did not pitch in Saturday’s 5-4 win over the Astros. David Bednar pitched the final 1 2/3 innings to get the win.
