Mariano Rivera gets sand sculpture from Rays that looks nothing like him

When it comes to gifts, sometimes it’s the thought that counts. The Tampa Bay Rays will definitely be heeding that motto after their effort to honor New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera totally flopped.

The Rays presented the sand sculpture seen above to Rivera on Friday ahead of the three-game series between the teams, which will likely mark Rivera’s last time playing at Tropicana Field. The sand sculpture was a play on Rivera’s “Enter Sandman” entrance song for home games at Yankee Stadium. Marc Topkins of The Tampa Bay Times says the sculpture required eight tons of sand and took two days to make.

Rivera is set to retire after the season and has been receiving retirement gifts from teams upon visiting their stadiums. The Los Angeles Dodgers gave him a specially engraved fishing rod; the San Diego Padres gave him a beach cruiser bike; and the best gift of all was a chair made of broken bats from the Minnesota Twins.

The sand sculpture may resemble Rivera as much as the chocolate statue resembled Nick Saban, but at least they got the New York City skyline looking nice.

Maybe they should have just stuck with the gift Joe Maddon and the Rays coaches sent Mo:

Sending this over to Mariano from the coaching staff: To eres el mejor! pic.twitter.com/sufy8dGST6

— Joe Maddon (@RaysJoeMaddon) August 23, 2013

Photo: Twitter/Yankees PR
H/T Jimmy Traina