Baseball; All Time Best Relief Pitchers
Photo by Pixabay
As promised, let’s analyse the baseball heroes of our age. Who deserves the label GREAT? I begin with a rather obscure category- RELIEF PITCHERS. Why? Simple, I saw Mariano Rivera on a spring training report the other day and wonderful memories were triggered. Closers are the last players we see in a game so I decided to go in reverse order and begin our player reviews with them.
Relief pitchers are a rather recent phenomenon. People raised in earlier eras would not even recognise this category. It was not until the 1970s relief pitcher was recognised as an actual job definition. Until then, starting pitchers were the alpha males- pitching over 300 innings a season and striving to pitch a complete game every time on the mound. Four man rotations were common. Finishing a game that you started was a universally recognised measure of excellence. Relievers were of inferior stock, exiled to the bullpen because they didn’t have the talent or mettle to succeed as starters. However, challenging conventional wisdom is a special human talent and eventually brilliant minds intervened and assembling a high quality bullpen became a core element of a team’s success. A “quality” start became a starter finishing six innings and giving up three runs or less. “Long” relievers came into vogue, “setup” men took the 8th inning and “closers” became responsible for nailing down the final three outs in the ninth inning. The relief hurler profile evolved gradually and original closers often pitched multiple innings on consecutive days. Now, one inning outings are the norm and favourable matchups (lefty pitcher-lefty hitter- rightie-rightie) drive late game managerial strategy and decision making. Differences remain between the skill sets of starters and relief pitchers. A starter faces the same hitters multiple times and needs to get 15-18-21outs. Starters hope to last for 90-100 pitches and usually possess a 3-4 pitch repertoire. They need to fight through jams and remain steady. Relievers, particularly closers, only face hitters once, operate in high stress situations and can succeed with only 1 or 2 pitches as long as one of them is a guaranteed “out” pitch. Many receivers have only one outstanding pitch and throw it again and again. They like to work quickly. Starters can afford to give up some runs, but closers have almost no margin for error. Relievers are frequently groomed for the role from the beginning of their careers- they aren’t just failed starters. Statistical barometers of pitching excellence have been redefined. Starters now aim for 200 innings over 30 starts. “Holds” for setup men and “saves” for closers are now key statistics in the baseball performance hierarchy. Salary bumps and significant increases in compensation have followed and great closers now make premium dollars. Analysts frequently opine that the depth and strength of a team’s bullpen is the best indices of a team’s success in the regular season and playoffs. Closers get commercials!
My “Best Relief Pitchers” list follows. It is “closer” driven. My criteria is the number of saves, percentage of success in saves situations, long term survival in the role (no 1-2 year wonders) and mastering the opposition in critical post season moments. As with other of my sports related lists, I must have seen the player perform in person or on television. No pre 1961 players. Frankly, this eligibility limitation not an issue when it comes to the relief pitching category. Here are the BEST!
1) Mariano Rivera.
2) Denis Eckersley.
3) Rich Gossage.
4) Trevor Hoffman.
5) Rollie Fingers.
6) Bruce Sutter.
7) Billy Wagner.
8) Hoyt Wilhelm.
9) Lee Smith.
10) John Smoltz.
HONORABLE MENTION: Sparky Lyle, Tug McGraw, John Franco, Joe Nathan, Dan Quisenberry.
