While Gabe Sinicropi of the Williamsport Crosscutters was emceeing the event, Rivera was fielded prepared questions from Sinicropi. The 13-time All-Star was asked an array of questions, but went in-depth in responses regarding being a Hall of Famer, the feeling and meaning of No. 42 in baseball and where he came from.

Rivera also told stories about how he grew up, what he did to make sure he played the game of baseball and how he plans to keep the game alive.

Major League Baseball is known as America’s pastime, but growing up in Panama City, baseball was something that Rivera could only dream of playing. Baseball was not something that he had easy access to. Rivera and his family would use nature and things around them to form the materials needed to play baseball.

“I had to make my own face mask,” Rivera explained. “We have a lot of trees, and we fish a lot, so we made our baseballs out of fishing nets and put some tape on it. For bats, we would climb a tree, find a branch, and that was it.”

RALPH WILSON/For The ExpressHall of Fame pitcher, Mariano Rivera signs memorabilia for fans at the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce, Grand Slam Breakfast at Bald Birds Brewery in Jersey Shore on Tuesday. Rivera was induced into the Hall of Fame in 2019 after a 19-year career with the New York Yankees and holds the MLB record of 652 saves.

With an incredible 19 seasons completed in the major leagues and four in minors, Rivera has encountered many different players and has stepped on the field to play a lot of games. But when he retired, he thanked people he did not interact with on a day-to-day basis. He went around and thanked all the staff members that worked at Yankee stadium for the time he played there. Rivera explained the importance of doing that upon leaving the game for good.

“The reason why I did that is because we always encounter the guys in the clubhouse and the guys on the field, but there is a lot more people that work around the stadium that we don’t see,” Rivera said. “For example, people that clean the bathroom or people that clean the clubhouse, people that clean all the seats when you watch the games, people that cook. They all deserved a thank you.”

In 2019, Rivera became the first unanimous selection to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association. One other pitcher who was named a Hall of Famer the same year as Rivera was Mike Mussina of the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees. Mussina retired in 2008 with 270 wins and was a local product from Montoursville.

“He’s a great competitor,” Rivera said of Mussina. “He was a great teammate who was just awesome. I told him, ‘You really are an amazing person.'”

Dating back to 1997, civil rights activist and Brooklyn Dodgers standout Jackie Robinson had his No. 42 retired across baseball. Although there were players still wearing the number at the time, some players were grandfathered into the rule. Rivera was asked a question about what the number meant to him and the significance of him wearing it.

RALPH WILSON/For The ExpressHall of Fame pitcher, Mariano Rivera signs memorabilia for fans at the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce, Grand Slam Breakfast at Bald Birds Brewery in Jersey Shore on Tuesday. Rivera was induced into the Hall of Fame in 2019 after a 19-year career with the New York Yankees and holds the MLB record of 652 saves.

“To me, it was another blessing,” stated Rivera. “At the time, they (the Yankees) brought me up, they gave me (number) 58. Then they sent me down (to the minor league). Then they brought me back up and they gave me (number) 42 and I didn’t know how I got 42. They said, ‘You know who No. 42 is right?’ and I said, ‘No who is that?’ and they said, ‘Jackie Robinson.’ I had no clue who Jackie Robinson was.”

Rivera added: “I figured out this guy must be something special because if they retired his number across all of baseball then he must be something special. To me, it was an honor and privilege to wear that number. I definitely chose the number, but I think the number chose me, I truly believe that.”

Once Rivera figured out the importance of the number to the sport of baseball and the meaning behind it, he figured out that 42 was not an ordinary number. He understood that he was one of the last ones carrying a legacy with that number and wanted to make Robinson proud. Equally significant, Rivera hoped to represent his hometown country just as well as representing the number 42.

“I wish I was alive to meet him and tell him, ‘Thank you for what you did for me.’ That’s how highly I wear that number with pride.”

Even though Rivera did not have all the resources and materials to play baseball as a kid, the five-time World Series pitcher did not let that stop him from making strides to become who he is today.

RALPH WILSON/For The ExpressHall of Fame pitcher, Mariano Rivera signs memorabilia for fans at the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce, Grand Slam Breakfast at Bald Birds Brewery in Jersey Shore on Tuesday. Rivera was induced into the Hall of Fame in 2019 after a 19-year career with the New York Yankees and holds the MLB record of 652 saves.

Not only does he want to make sure that kids have a better opportunity to play baseball, but he also wants them to learn about life. Rivera and his wife, Clara, started a foundation called The Mariano Rivera Foundation, to help kids have a way out and have a way to learn about life outside of baseball.

“A sport has limitation,” Rivera said. “You can be the best player in the world but if you get an injury, you can know the limitations. So that’s why we made the foundation. That’s why we’re building a learning center as well, so in case something happens. This is the desire to do something different with youngsters after school; they can come to a program where they can finish school while their models are working.”