I watched the tribute to New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera on TV this afternoon. 

Baseball fans know that when Rivera enters a game he is accompanied by Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”.

However, today Metallica was on hand at Yankee Stadium to play their signature song live as Rivera entered the field. 

When I saw this, I immediately contacted a colleague of mine who is a huge Metallica fan of this spectacle much to his delight.

Following their performance, Metallica presented Rivera with a speaker bearing Rivera’s number 42 while members of the visiting San Francisco Giants presented Rivera with a custom made guitar on behalf Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett. 

It was a beautiful tribute. But it didn’t have a storybook ending. Although Rivera pitched an inning and two thirds of scoreless ball, the Yankees lost to the Giants 2-1.