Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer of all-time and the first player ever to be unanimously elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018, wore this size 46 Russell Athletic button-down New York Yankees jersey during the 1999 season. Like many of his seasons, 1999 was a dominant one for the native of Panama. Rivera led the American League in saves with 45 in 1999, all while posting a miniscule 1.83 ERA.

This offered jersey features “NEW YORK” sewn across the chest in navy and white tackle twill and was worn by Rivera during the 1999 regular season. Rivera’s number “42”, the last player in MLB to wear that number, is sewn on the back of the jersey in the same navy and white tackle twill combination. The sleeves have a knit elastic sleeve-end trim with a navy/white/navy pattern. The left sleeve has a black armband and the number “5” which was worn by the ballclub following the deaths of Jim “Catfish” Hunter and Joe DiMaggio. DiMaggio’s number was worn the entire season, while the armband was added following Hunter’s passing on September 9th. The right sleeve has a “1999 World Series” patch.

The Russell Athletic size 46 tag, along with a white team tag that reads “RIVERA 99” are sewn on the bottom front left tail. This jersey displays consistent wear of being worn by a pitcher and has some dirt stains on the back below the numbers. There are consistent levels of thread pulls, loose threads, sweat stains and wash wear and no alterations were made. This jersey comes with a LOA from Sports Investors Authentication (190320D1), who have authenticated this jersey to the 1999 regular season and stated in their LOA that “photo research did not show evidence of Rivera wearing this jersey in the 1999 World Series…it is not at all uncommon for the team to sewn postseason patches on a regular season jersey in the case that a spare jersey is needed during the postseason for emergency use.”

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