Rivera's last curtain call at historic homecoming

Major League Baseball and the New York Yankees returned to Panama for the first time in 67 years on Saturday, offering one final farewell to Mariano Rivera and bringing the career of the game's greatest closer full circle.

Back where it all began, Rivera, who retired at the end of last season with a record 652 career saves, threw a ceremonial pitch to launch a two-day tribute for the man fans know simply as "Mo".

Appearing from the outfield darkness on Saturday, Rivera walked to the mound as he had done 952 times as baseball's most feared closer, with Metallica's anthemic Enter Sandman thumping over the loudspeakers and the capacity crowd rising as one.