Yankees Pitcher Gets A Pre-Game Performance From Metallica

Metallica on Sunday made a surprise appearance at Yankee Stadium as part of a pregame ceremony for the New York Yankees' legendary relief pitcher Mariano Rivera , who's retiring at the end of the season.

For most of his career, Rivera has used Metallica's "Enter Sandman" as his theme music when he's entered a game. So it was only fitting that the band was on hand Sunday to perform the song live for Rivera. Frontman James Hetfield said, "This is for you, Mariano," before launching into the first verse.

The group also presented to Rivera an autographed amp with his No. 42 uniform number displayed on it.

The previous night, Metallica staged a concert at New York's Apollo Theater.