Of course it was his 500th save overall, and his 18th of this year. At the time of the save, he was 71 behind Trevor Hoffman who had 571 saves. As of this writing, Mariano has 502, while Trevor has 572.
The next closest in saves is Billy Wagner with 385, and Troy Percival with 358.
So each player with their age, and a bit more:
| Saves | Age (Birth) | MLB Debut | SV % | |
| Trevor Hoffman | 572 | 41 (13 October 1967) | 6 April 1993 | .9346 |
| Mariano Rivera | 502 | 39 (29 November 1969) | 23 May 1995 | .9211 |
| Billy Wagner | 385 | 37 (25 July 1971) | 13 September 1995 | .8912 |
| Troy Percival | 358 | 39 (9 August 1969) | 26 April 1995 | .8972 |
The save situation itself was not interesting, but the fact it was an interleague game made it interesting.
Johnny Damon lined out to right to make the second out. Jeter was up next. In the dugout, Rivera was shown with a batting helmet on, then he had it off. Francisco Cervelli was then on the on deck circle, apparently trying to bluff the Mets, to get them to pitch to Jeter. Mariano was due up after Jeter for sure, as they were not going to take him out for a pinch hitter. They (Francisco Rodriguez) pitched one called strike, before pitching two balls, and then intentionally walking Jeter. Mariano earned his first career RBI, driving in Melky Cabrera with a base on balls. He took one good hack, fouling a 2-2 pitch. The next two pitches were balls for the walk.
