There’s no one quite like Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. That’s why Bill Littlefield hopes his season-ending knee injury on Thursday won’t prove to be career-ending.

A former New York Yankee is selling the cap of a former New York Yankee. The former is David Wells. The latter is Babe Ruth. Bill Littlefield considers the highly unusual auction item.

Mariano Rivera has finally earned his spot at the top of the all-time saves list, closing out his his 602nd game on Monday night. Bill Littlefield weighs in on whether the big Mo should now be considered the most accomplished Yankee of them all.

For Jane Leavy, Mickey Mantle was a childhood hero. For young Bill Littlefield, Mantle was the second-best centerfielder in New York. Bill speaks to Leavy about her new biography of the Mick, The Last Boy, and shares his own memories of the troubled superstar.

This week on Only A Game, will Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid’s decision to start Michael Vick at quarterback pay off? Plus, we figure out how Buck Showalter turned around the last-place Baltimore Orioles, and Jon Wertheim discusses changing attitudes to mental illness in sports.

George Steinbrenner was never a fan of modesty. So maybe it’s no surprise that his monument towers over all the others in Yankee Stadium. But Doug Tribou says that while The Boss may get the biggest plaque, it’s the great players like Ruth, Dimaggio, Mantle and Gehrig that resonate with fans as the most important figures in Yankee history.

This week on Only A Game, Lance Armstrong may not be wearing his customary yellow jersey at this year’s Tour de France, but the race has still provided plenty of fireworks (and even some flying fists). Plus, Greg Echlin reports on Marion Jones’ comeback not on the track, but on the basketball court. Also, author Dave Zirin speaks about how George Steinbrenner changed the business of sports ownership, and Bill talks to Esquire writer Chris Jones about the man who figured out “The Price is Right.”

George Steinbrenner, the owner who bought a declining New York Yankees team and turned them into perennial World Series favorites, passed on Tuesday morning. Steinbrenner was loved by many and hated by even more in his lifetime, but Bill says “The Boss” will be remembered as a man who simply loved to win.

Despite the Boston Globe’s celebration of this week as the fifth anniversary of the victory of the Red Sox in the World Series of 2004, the headline news is that in New York, the Yankees will host the Philadelphia Phillies for the first two games of the 2009 World Series. Wednesday, mere hours before the Series began, Bill wrote about why we will watch the World Series.

As the Yankees settle into their new stadium, nearby schools have lamented the loss of their old sports digs. This week on Only A Game, broken promises over replacement parks on the site of old Yankee stadium. Also, a cricket tour of Eastern Europe.