Yankees pay tribute to Kobe Bryant

Watching @kobebryant's last game with the crew. #MambaDay pic.twitter.com/bDlmtXKJ0A

— Alex Rodriguez (@AROD) April 14, 2016

Like every great legend before him, Kobe Bryant went out on his own terms and in his own way. His legacy will live on forever and in his final game for the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe wrote his own script. We have seen this fairy tale ending before. Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter hit a walk-off single in his final game at Yankee Stadium. More recently we saw Peyton Manning win a Super Bowl in what turned out to be his final game of his NFL career. Now we can add Bryant to that list as he went out and scored 60 points along with the game-winning shot en route to a Lakers win. It was magical, inspiring, and just pure amazing how a 37-year-old beaten and battered basketball player can go out like that. But it is Kobe Bryant we are talking about so did you really expect anything else? Jeter paid his respects to Bryant along with so many other athletes via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram posts. But many current Yankees paid their respects as well. After their disappointing 7-2 loss to the Blue Jays earlier in the night, their attention turned to Bryant. Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran and Starlin Castro went out to dinner to watch #24 say goodbye as seen above.  Dellin Betances also did not want to miss the final game and paid his respect to the future hall of famer.

A video posted by Dellin Betances (@dbetances68) on Apr 13, 2016 at 10:07pm PDT

Top prospect Aaron Judge also got into the action and was in awe of what transpired.

What a game! #MambaDay — Aaron Judge (@TheJudge44) April 14, 2016

James Kaprielian went on a rampage on Twitter, drooling over Kobe's performance.

That is greatness right there — James Kaprielian (@JamesKaprielian) April 14, 2016

I'm absolutely fascinated right now — James Kaprielian (@JamesKaprielian) April 14, 2016

Mambaaaaaaa!!!!??? — James Kaprielian (@JamesKaprielian) April 14, 2016

Many other Yankee minor leaguers also paid their respects to the Laker legend and were just as fascinated, shocked and amazed as the rest of us were. When all is said and done, Bryant will go down as one of the fiercest competitors and players the NBA has ever seen. There was no better way for the curtain to close on his career. Mamba out!