Cleveland Indians: 5 times Tribe owned members of 2019 HOF class

1. Alomar takes Mo deep, changes outcome of ’97 ALDS

Talk about a career year, Sandy Alomar Jr. was a beast during the 1997 season, a year in which the Tribe came within two outs of winning the World Series.

The Tribe wouldn’t have been able to claim their second pennant in three years if it hadn’t been for Alomar, who followed up his heroics in the All-Star game that season by taking Mariano Rivera deep during Game 4 of the ALDS.

Rivera was in his first full-season of closing, having replaced John Wetteland as New York’s top back-end reliever.

Rivera had 43 saves that season and the Yanks were the defending champions, so the atmosphere around Jacobs Field was bleak when manager Joe Torre called on No. 42 to attempt a five-out save with New York leading 2-1 in the bottom of the 8th.

Almomar put his cape on, again, and drove a 2-0, two-out Rivera offering over the right field wall to tie the game at 2-2.

Omar Vizquel drove in the winning the running later in the ninth and the Indians bounced the Yankees in Game 5.

Rivera later talked about how his failure pushed him to be better, via the NY Daily News.

"“Let me tell you something, if you think that ’97 was bad, I tell you, for me it was the stone where I stepped to push forward,” Rivera said. “It helped me to become better. If that wouldn’t (have) happened, God only knows where I will end up.”"

Sandy and the Indians quieted Rivera that night, but it looks like they created a monster that dominated ninth innings up until his retirement at the end of the 2013 season.

Rivera ended his career with 652 saves and is baseball’s all-time leader in the statistical category.