How Do You Spell Relief Part 2

Yesterday I wrote about my frustration regarding the way teams use their bullpens in 2009. I won't be redundant except to say I firmly believe teams lose games every year because of irrational use of relief pitchers. So how did we get to this point of insanity? Like any good student of history can tell you we can't know where we are going until we know where we've been. I took some time yesterday reviewing the saves leaders from 1900 to the present. I'm going to break it down into 5 eras. I'll talk about bullpen usage in that era and quote some numbers you might find interesting.

1900-1925-This is the era where starting pitchers were expected to finish what they started. If the starter did not go the distance there was a problem. There were a couple of reasons for this. 1.Rosters were much smaller-the typical team only carried less players than they do today 2.Since teams had less players the relievers were either starters who did not start that day or if the team was way behind they used the guys who were not good enough to start. There was no rotation like we know today.3.Also pitchers in the early 20th century as a rule were much better hitters than later. Most pitchers were as good hitters as the 2 or 3 bench players teams used. So for the above reason saves were relatively rare events. 4.The term pitch count was unheard of for another 80 years. How come I can't imagine John McGraw going out to Christy Mathewson and saying your pitch count is up to 120 its time to come out. Among the league leaders in saves during this era were HOFers Ed Walsh, 3 Finger Brown, Cy Young and Iron Joe McGinnity who led the league 3 times. I went through each decade and figured out the average amount of saves the league leader had.

1900-09 4.5 Frank Arellanes 8

1910-19 7.1 Chief Bender and Three Finger Brown 13 As a foot note when both of these pitchers saved 13 games they each won 21 the same season.


1925-1949-While starting pitchers were still expected to pitch complete games the idea of relieve pitchers was starting to take shape. HOF pitchers only led the league in saves twice after 1931. Carl Hubbell in 1934 with 8 and Dizzy Dean in 1936 with 11. A few interesting things jump out during that era 1.In the 12 year period between 1923-34 the Washington Senators had the league leader in saves 9 years. Firpo Mayberry 5x, Jack Russell 2x, Alan Russell 1x and Garland Braxton once. None of the above pitchers are household names. During this period the Senators only won one pennant in 1924 and were mediocre for the rest of the time. Also oddly enough over the 12 years they had 4 managers. I'd love to know who in the Senator organization had this idea. Also during this period we see the first Yankee relief star, Johnny Murphy.From 1938-42 Murphy led the AL in saves 4 out of 5 years. While he must have had more opportunities than any one else its telling the best team in baseball decided to devote someone full time to finish games. With that said his saves totals for those 4 years were 11,19,15 and 11. Hardly eye popping numbers today.

1920-29 8.0 Firpo Mayberry 22

1930-39 10.2 Johnny Murphy 19

1940-49 13.5 Joe Page 27

1950-1975-This is the era when we started to see every team see the value of having 1 or 2 relieve specialists. By the 60s these guys were very valued members of the team. Above you see Joe Page has 27 saves for the Yankeees in 1949 but I carefully chose 1950 to start this era because in 1950 Jim Konstanty of the Whiz Kids Phillies had the best year of any releiver in history up to that point. Konstanty won MVP for his work in the pennant winning year. He won 16 games, saved 22 and finished an amazing 62 games. His season must have revolutionized baseball. During this era some specialists especially in the NL started popping up like Al Brazie of the Cards, Clem Labine of the Dodgers, Roy Face of the Pirates and Phil Regan of the Cubs. All these guys led the NL in saves twice. What I found a bit odd is no pitcher during the 60s in the AL led the league in saves more than once. But as we reached the end of this era you needed over 30 saves to lead the league. As John Hiller had 38 for the Tigers in 1973 and Sparky Lyle had 35 in 1972 for the Yankees.

1950-59 17.8 Ellis Kinder 27

1960-69 25.5 Ron Perranowski 31

1970-79 30.6 John Hiller 38



1975-1990-To me this is the golden age of relievers. While guys did not rack up 50 save seasons they were used correctly. Remember the concept of fireman. Your best relieve pitcher comes in to "put out a fire" Think back to the 70s. The Yankees never waited until the 9th inning to put in Sparky Lyle. Goose Gossage did not become a 3 out pitchers until the 90s. It was nothing for guys like Lyle, Sutter, Gossage, McGraw,Fingers and Quizenberry to pitch 2 or 3 innings. That was the norm not the exception. These guys were used MUCH more effectively than today. Managers did not manage by who would be in the game in a save situation. They managed with 1 over laying thought which was how can I best win this game. And the theory that relief pitchers should not throw too many innings is proven false as many firemen from the 70s had very long careers. Some pitching into their 40s. For those of us older than 20 think back to your childhood can you imagine managers not using their best in a tie game. The thought would be absurd. Mike Marshall in LA used to come in at all points late in the game. And I can remember whoever was managing the Mets never waited until the 9th to bring in Tug McGraw.

1980-89 37.4 Dan Qizenberry and Dennis Eckersley 45




1990-Present-While I can't be certain I believe Tony LaRussa is to blame for the current state of relievers. I think he turned Dennis Eckersley from a fireman to a closer. And like most ideas that seem good at the time they tend to get perverted over time. Eckersley was successful as a closer. But he also would have been successful if he was used like the firemen of the 70s. Eck was just lights out. By the way oddly enough thought the 80s no AL pitcher lead the league in saves more than once. In part 3 I'll talk alot more about where we are now. But rest assured somewhere between 1989 and now things have gone horrible wrong. Save numbers are up. But logic, common sense and good baseball are down.


1990-89 44.0 Bobby Thigpen 57

2000-08 46.3 Francisco Rodriguez 62