Mariano Rivera blows a kiss to the crowd to acknowledge cheers after recording his record-setting 602nd save on Sept. 19, 2011. (Photo: Kathy Kmonicek AP) TAMPA - There goes the greatest relief pitcher that ever lived. Mariano Rivera, who did not re-define the closer position so much as he put a dominant, inimitable stamp on it, announced Saturday he will retire after the 2013 season, his 19th with the New York Yankees. Rivera, 43, will pitch one more year after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in May 2012, in the midst of what many expected would be his final season. Determined to exit the game on his own terms, Rivera vowed a comeback for 2013, and upon arriving at spring training last month said he'd made a decision on his future beyond this year, but would not reveal it. Saturday morning at the Yankees' spring-training complex, surrounded by family members, club officials and a gaggle of Yankee teammates past and present, Rivera finally confirmed the game's worst-kept secret. "After this year, I will retire," Rivera said in front of a packed room that included all his teammates. "Retiring from the game that I love and have passion for and have for so many years. "It has been an honor to wear the pinstripe uniform...I will be retiring from the game I enjoyed." Later Saturday, Rivera was scheduled to appear in his first exhibition game this spring, another key progression as he ramps up toward his final season. When it concludes, so too will the career of a player who transcended the specialist tag often applied to relief pitchers. And in a sport that for time eternal has thrived on debate - Mantle or Mays? Gibson or Koufax? Cabrera or Trout? - there is virtually no dissent on the frequent occasions Rivera is mentioned as the greatest at his craft. For reasons both tangible and intangible. Rivera is baseball's all-time saves leader, with 608, and the closest active player on the list is Texas Rangers closer Joe Nathan, 37, who has 298. "I don't feel I'm the greatest of all time," Rivera said Saturday morning. "I want to be remembered as a player who was there for others, made others better." His 42 playoff saves - matching his uniform number - also are a record, and 23 came during the five postseasons that culminated in a Yankees World Series championship. What's more, he pitched more than one inning in 31 of those 42 saves, further enabling his Yankee managers to shorten a game. His other career statistics - such as a 2.21 ERA, a strikeout/walk ratio of 4.04/1 and 1,119 strikeouts - are certainly impressive. But the fact he allowed less than a baserunner per inning perhaps best illustrates his dominance. Rivera's cut fastball - often the only pitch he would throw to a batter - brought batters to their knees. If they didn't strike out, a weak ground ball would often result, perhaps accompanied by a shattered bat. The chances of a leadoff walk or a fluke hit that are the fuel for ninth-inning rallies - and the enemy of closers - simply were greatly diminished when Rivera pitched. "You can't imagine," says Yankees manager Joe Girardi, "how dominant he was." Dominant, but not infallible. For all Rivera's postsason success, three Yankee playoff runs were truncated after he could not nail down a save. The 1997 season , Rivera's first as a closer, ended in the Division Series, when Rivera gave up a home run to the Cleveland Indians' Sandy Alomar in the eighth inning of Game 4. The 2001 World Series famously ended when Rivera gave up two runs in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7, the game-winner coming on a Luis Gonzalez bloop hit over a drawn-in infield. And Rivera was complicit in the greatest collapse in postseason history, blowing two saves when the Boston Red Sox overcame a 3-0 deficit to win the final four games of the 2004 AL Championship Series. But great closers are defined by their ability to move on from failure. Rivera's placid demeanor and easy way made him well-suited to this task. The April following the Yankees' 2004 ALCS meltdown, Rivera blew two more saves to the Boston Red Sox in an opening-week series at Yankee Stadium. The following week, the Red Sox hosted the Yankees for their home opener at Fenway Park, and every other Yankee was booed during introductions. The Red Sox crowd, sensing a chance to mess with the regal reliever, derisively cheered when Rivera was introduced. He laughed, and doffed his cap. Later, he said, "I didn't know they loved me so much here. It was nice. I had to laugh." The Yankees would not win another World Series until 2009, when Rivera saved five of their 11 postseason wins. He has remained dominant into the twilight of his career, saving 44 games in 2011, when he was 41. Then came last year's torn knee ligament, suffered while shagging balls in batting practice. By then, Rivera had not yet specified whether 2012 was his final year. His 2013 season figures to be a victory lap, with tributes and gifts along the way. Hall of Fame slugger Ted Williams once said his lifetime goal was to have people say, "There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived." Rivera never made such a self-proclamation. Regardless of how his final year plays out, his body of work makes that case on his behalf. PHOTOS: Shots from Mariano Rivera's career 
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