Reulbach used a high leg kick, a la Juan Marichal, to hide the delivery of the best curve ball of his generation. Initials. By the late '50s Pierce had come out on top, beating Ford more often than losing, and in '59 winning the game against Ford that put the White Sox ahead for good in the pennant race. Do you have a sports website? But he will face the same hurdles as Bonds, Clemens and Sosa thanks to multiple transgressions with performance-enhancing drugs that included over a year-long suspension from baseball from 2013-14. Over a five-year span, he led the league in saves twice, finished in the top six in Cy Young award voting four times, and turned in one of the most dominant seasons in baseball history in 1990: 0.61 ERA, 48 saves, 73 K to 4 BB in 73.1 IP. Larry Anderson (1975-1994) 699 games, 995.1 innings pitched, 3.15 ERA, 18.2 K%, 121 ERA+ Paul Assenmacher (1986-1999) 884 games, 855.2 innings pitched, 3.53 ERA, 22.0 K%, 118 ERA+ Luis Ayala (2003-2013) 534 games, 554.1 innings pitched, 3.34 ERA, 15.7 K%, 129 ERA+ Grant Balfour (2001-2015) Historically, pitchers like Red Ruffing, Red Faber, Ted Lyons, Eppa Rixey, and Burleigh Grimes are in the HOF mostly because of their win totals. Among the 65 pitchers with the longest careers, his 2.80 K/BB ranks fifth. Many more names came up on my lists than the 15 I will cover here. Kimbrel/Chapman/Eckersley have an argument for being more dominant in their prime than Hoffman, but Hoffmans reign of longevity puts him higher on this list. As faithful baseball fans, we depend on the Hall of Fame to show us who the truly great players are. The committee missed his team mate, Mordecai Brown, until after his death in 1948. 2B: Lou WhitakerJeff Kent famously hit the most homers of any second baseman, thus making his exclusion from the Hall somewhat strange. The pitchers on this list are every bit as skilled as their contemporaries already voted in. Al Lopez, the White Sox manager, refused to start Pierce in the 59 World Series. The 43 voters who ranked Tommy John, Jim Kaat, or Luis Tiant top overall gave Clemens an average ranking of 6.74, again ahead of only Ferrell and Reuschel. Joe Nathan and Jonathan Papelbon both went one-and-done after falling shy of 5% of the BBWAA vote in their 22 ballot debuts. There were numerous circumstances that held players careers back. Wilbur Cooper and Babe Adams have likewise been missed. Another contemporary who made the HOF is Lefty Gomez. His 1.000 WHIP is the lowest among qualified pitchers in the live ball era. Not retired by 2017. 5 Bret Saberhagen 4.6 2009 was his last on the HOF ballot. It looked at pitchers in the HOF with the weakest resumes. Relief Pitcher - Don McMahon (22.4 WAR) McMahon may be the best reliever most modern baseball fans have never heard mentioned. If Jack Chesbro can parlay winning 40 games into the HOF, then Will White should be an automatic selection. His ERA+, curve ball, postseason record and H/9 all speak of a pitcher who was one of the best of his era. It took the veterans committee some 90 years to find and induct Vic Willis. On a technical level, both Freehan and Munson (along with Gene Tenace, who nearly split his career evenly between catcher and first base) own the highest JAWS totals (Jay Jaffes system that combines career Wins Above Replacement with a players seven best seasons) among eligible backstops on the outside of Cooperstown looking in. Is there any validity here? Q1 Rank the following pitchers, ranging from 1 for most-deserving of Hall of Fame induction to 10 for least-deserving, [From a survey of 425 respondents, fielded via Qualtrics]. His initial surgery came after the 1974 season. Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database. He was the Sporting News Pitcher of the Year in 56 and 57, and narrowly missed the award in 53 and 55, finishing second. Data Provided By All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. One time, Wilhelm entered a tie game in the eighth inning and pitched through the 18th, allowing just two hits and no runs. Craig Kimbrels ranks among post-1900 pitchers with at least 500 innings pitched: Opponents batting average allowed: .158, H/9: 4.98 (1st), ERA+: 195, K/9: 14.61, opponents slugging percentage allowed: .257 (2nd). Relief Pitcher JAWS Leaders. measure a player's Hall of Fame worthiness. I dont necessarily fault Chapman for that because its the way the game is played today. (I cant imagine that happening todayleaving the potential ace of your staff in the minors for 50-plus decisions after he had shown his form had returned?). History doesnt remember Hoyt Wilhelm the way it should. Then again, you typically dont get to 112 blown saves without being a great closer. 952 games finished ranks first all-time. In over 130 of his 390 starts for the team, they scored two or fewer runs. Lolich had a splendid career with the Detroit Tigers from 6375. Some defensive statistics Copyright Sports Info Solutions, 2010-2023. That year, facing Ty Cobb and the Tigers in the postseason, the Pirates manager went on a hunch and started Adams in game one of the series. Win Expectancy, Run Expectancy, and Leverage Index calculations provided by Tom Tango of InsideTheBook.com, and co-author of The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. He has the requisite 200 wins, over 40 shutouts, and his 2,832 Ks are still third among left-handed pitchers all-time. Robinson went on to win the triple crown in '66 and the MVP award for the American League. Then with the Pirates down three games to one, he entered Game Five with the score tied in the 5th inning, and shut down the Orioles for the rest of the game, securing himself, and the Pirates, the win. Most Unique Players by Age by Similarity Scores, Most Games without a World Series Appearance, Most Games without a Postseason Appearance, Highest Career and Single-Season Salaries, Scores from any date in Major League history, Minor, Foreign, College, & Black Baseball, Frequently Asked Questions about MLB and Baseball, Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREE. Bridges continued pitching in the Pacific Coast Leaguewinning the ERA title in 47. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. Adams was perhaps the most extreme control pitcher in the history of the game. Or write about sports? Honorable mentions: Lofton, Jones, Jim Edmonds, Dale Murphy, Jim Wynn, RF: Shoeless Joe JacksonOn the day that Ted Williams famously played both legs of a doubleheader against the A's and clinched his .400 season in 1941, opposing manager Connie Mack said, I wish I had a Williams. Pitching multiple innings per relief appearance was Wilhelms trademark. Being a relief pitcher often means you take an unconventional route. Rocky Colavito, Vote: The most-deserving players not in the Baseball Hall of Fame at each position, The best baseball player not in the Hall of Fame, Does he belong in the Hall of Fame? He led the league in wins in 36 with 23, but also led the league in strikeouts and games started twice. With that backdrop in mind, let's proceed with our tenth-best relief pitcher of all time: 10. If he does not pick up that . Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen is the 12th pitcher to amass 1,000 career strikeouts in relief, and just the third pitcher with 1,000 relief strikeouts all with one team, joining Hall of Fame closers . His K/BB ratio of 2.01 is historically strong. 8 Chuck Finley 3.7 He represented the Tigers in three World Series against the Cardinals, Cubs and Reds in 34, 35 and 40. What did it take to be ignored by the HOF voters and veterans committee? The reserve clause was so restrictive in his era that once you signed with a team, unless they traded or sold you, you belonged to them. The Baseball Writers Association of America has elected the newest Hall of Famer, with third baseman Scott Rolen officially getting the call on Tuesday and joining Fred McGriff -- previously elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee -- in the Class of 2023. 6 Tim Hudson 3.8 Tommy John is perhaps guilty of hanging on longer than the normal impact of his career allowed. Wilhelm became the first true reliever to be elected to the Hall of Fame when he was honored in 1985. Dennis Eckersley, 1987-1998 (as reliever), Stats (as reliever): 390 saves, 2.85 ERA, 0.999 WHIP, 6.29 K:BB, 136 ERA+, Accolades (as reliever): 4 All-Star appearances, 1 Cy Young award, 1 MVP award, 1 World Series ring, 1 ALCS MVP award, 2x Rolaids Relief award, Baseball Hall of Fame. Movies. The strikeout record was being broken. Follow Cody Swartz on Twitter (@cbswartz5). In fact, from 1905 through 1909 his H/9 never reached 7.0. This is a truly dominant statistic for this era. I will be presenting the results here of the survey over the next week or so, going position by position. Comparing across eras isnt easy, as the role of a relief pitcher has changed drastically over the years. Stats: 310 saves, 3.01 ERA, 1.232 WHIP, 2.05 K:BB, 126 ERA+, Accolades: 9 All-Star appearances, 1 World Series ring, Baseball Hall of Fame. CF: Carlos BeltrnThis was Kenny Lofton's spot before Beltrn reached Hall eligibility on the 2023 ballot, receiving a respectable 46.5% of the vote in his debut. Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. Awards. The top few on the list have a body of work and cases for the HOF so compelling, one wonders how they got missed. Tony Mullane was an Irish born major league player known for pitching with both handssometimes in the same game. 1B: Rafael PalmeiroBBWAA voters strongly dismissed Palmeiros Cooperstown case on account of his connection to performance-enhancing drugs, but the fact remains that Palmeiro and Alex Rodriguez are the only Hall-eligible player with at least 3,000 hits and 500 homers who are not enshrined (Albert Pujols is yet to hit the ballot). I found some interesting threads that could be followed up. But Trevor Hoffman may have the most unique path, going from a failed minor league shortstop to one of the all-time great closers. His 2.52 career ERA was the lowest by a pitcher with at least 2,000 innings pitched since Walter Johnson. LF: Barry BondsThis doesnt require much explanation; Bonds is the greatest player many of us have seen in our lifetimes, and he had accrued surefire Hall credentials before his alleged PED use clouded the picture. 7 Andy Pettitte 3.7 Voters have three years of his eligibility left to get it right. That said, here are some names I wanted to put in but didnt have space for this time: Verlander, Johan Santana, Dave Stieb, Andy Pettitte, Orel Hershiser, and Dwight Gooden. All of the numbers agree with this statement as he ranks first . Tommy John has more wins than any of these pitchers. SwartzSports | The Philadelphia Eagles Blog, SwartzSports | The Philadelphia Eagles Blog, Ranking Greatest Relief Pitchers Ever, Part II (#11-50), Power Ranking MLB's Greatest Relief Pitchers Ever, Part II (#11-50), SwartzSports 50 Predictions for the 2022 NFL Season, 2022 SwartzSports First Round Mock Draft (with trades), Ranking the 50 Best Players Not in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Assigning Grades to Key Members of the 2021 Philadelphia Eagles: Part I (Offense), Handing Out Major Awards for 2021 NFL Season, Power Ranking All 235 Major League Players in the Baseball Hall of Fame (Part V: #50-1), Power Ranking All 235 Major League Players in the Baseball Hall of Fame (Part III: #150-101), Power Ranking All 235 Major League Players in the Baseball Hall of Fame (Part II: #200-151), Power Ranking All 235 Major League Players in the Baseball Hall of Fame (Part I: #235-201), Power Ranking All 235 Major League Players in the Baseball Hall of Fame (Part IV: #100-51), Ranking the 10 Greatest Relief Pitchers in Baseball History. Wagner had three of them, and they came in three consecutive years (1997, 1998, and 1999). And John is at 2.6, not much better. Stats: 346 saves, 2.08 ERA, 0.945 WHIP, 4.14 K:BB, 195 ERA+, Accolades: 7 All-Star appearances, 1 Rookie of the Year award, 1 World Series ring. Go Orange. Honorable mention: Curt Schilling, Tim Lincecum, Luis Tiant, Dave Stieb, Kevin Brown, David Cone, Orel Hershiser, Roy Oswalt, Eddie Cicotte. Note that only Cooper teamed up with Babe Adams, another pitcher on this list, to make quite a pitching combination for the Pirates of this era. He led the league in shutouts in '36 and games started in '37. In order to be considered for this honor, a pitcher must be eligible for the HOF. Fingers won a league MVP, a Cy Young award, played an integral part in baseballs only non-New York Yankees three-peat ever, and even won World Series MVP once. DH: Hal McRaeOnly six players have logged at least 7,500 career plate appearances while playing at least half their games at designated hitter. Important: This chart does not include side-by-side comparisons for Hall of Fame pitchers who spent their entire career in the Negro Leagues (Baseball Almanac does not have the data from the Negro League).Those truly elite twirlers are: Ray Brown, Andy Cooper, Leon Day, Martin Dihigo, Bill Foster, Jose Mendez, Bullet Rogan, Hilton Smith and Joe Williams. In '68 his career took off. Rivera trails only Trevor Hoffman in all-time saves and has perhaps the most dominant one-pitch arsenal this side of Phil Niekro. Babe Adams had brief looks at the major leagues in 06 with the St. Louis Cardinals and 07 for the Pirates. If thats the case, Kimbrel probably wont move down these rankings at all but he also wont move any higher. Relief Pitcher: Billy Wagner. McCormick was a pitcher of high quality who won 265 games. He broke in going 123 with an exceptional 1.11 ERA on a staff that included Vic Willis at the end of his career. Some historians have labeled the shorter career effect as the Smokey Joe Wood effect, referring to HOF pitchers whose career lengths were shorter than required for HOF inclusion, but whose careers made a significant impact and thus we're inducted. After tying the Dodgers for the pennant, it was determined they would play a three game playoff to determine the pennant. All-Star Games. All images are property the copyright holder and are displayed here for informational purposes only. 11) Lon Warneke (1930-1945) (192-121; 3.18 ERA; ERA+ 119; 30 SHO; 2782 IP/ 2726 H/ H/9 8.8; 1140 K/ 739 BB/ 1.54 ratio; 1.245 WHIP). Theres no debate on who the greatest relief pitcher is of all-time. One of the top relievers of the decade, Lyle was acquired from the Red Sox in March 1972 and recorded a 2.41 ERA (148 ERA+) in New York, tallying 141 saves and finishing 348 games. In addition, I cross-referenced all non-HOF pitchers by length of career, beginning with 2,800 IP, and made lists from each range of IP: 2,800-3,000, 3,000-3,500, 3,500-4,500, and 4,500-plus. Certainly he can be given credit for his time in the service, as he would have easily made 200 wins without giving up the season and a half to the war, plus the recovery time. That said, after 425 responses, voting has officially wrapped for this poll. His post season work began in 77 with the Dodgers, after his return from surgery. Relief LHP: Billy WagnerAmong all Live Ball Era pitchers with at least 750 innings, Wagner is the very best in strikeouts per nine innings (11.9) and WHIP (0.998) while also ranking behind only Mariano Rivera in ERA+ (187) and owning the sixth-highest save total in history (422). The players on those teams were the players the sportswriters saw most. (The Tigers ownership and coaching staff were not shy of making mistakes in evaluating personnel. Baseball Hall of Fame , MLB MVP's , MLB Cy Young Award , MLB Rookie of the Year , Rawlings Gold Gloves , 2023 HOF results , 2024 Hall of Fame ballot , . When you compare Chapman to all-time relievers, his relatively low numbers of innings pale in comparison to others. The only question now is whether enough voters will eventually warm to Beltrn's case, given his ties to the 2017 Astros sign-stealing scandal. The Pirates went on to win the game. Stats: 601 saves, 2.87 ERA, 1.058 WHIP, 3.69 K:BB, 141 ERA+, Accolades: 7 All-Star appearances, Baseball Hall of Fame. One pitched in New York, one pitched in the Midwest. Wilhelm passed away on Aug. 23, 2002. But he was so good at his craft. He was the best pitcher in the NL during his era. Hoyt Wilhelm saved 228 games and won 143 more during 21 seasons in the big leagues. 10) Mickey Lolich (1963-1979) (217-191; 3.44 ERA; ERA+ 105; 41 SHO; 3,638 IP/ 3,366 H/ 8.3 H/9; 2,832 K/ 1,099 BB/ 2.58 K/BB ratio; 1.227 WHIP). In Cleveland he won 25 or more games four times, and 40 games twice. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. They have been treated very differently by baseball writers voting for the HOF. When he finished playing nearly two decades later, Wilhelm held the major league record for games pitched (1,070), relief wins (124), and saves (228). Pappas deserves recognition for his accomplishments, even if it is just to clear his name from the fall out of a trade for which he was never responsible. Bruce Sutter Career Stats (1976 - 1988) - Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta G IP W SV ERA FIP WHIP K/9 BB/9 FG War BR WAR 661 1,042 68 300 2.83 2.94 1.14 7.4 2.7 19.2 24.0 Even if you dont like him (hand raised here), Jonathan Papelbon was Hall of Fame worthy dominant for his career. Beginning in August of 52, Pierce went 21-21 against the Yankees, whom he faced more than any other team. Fingers helped revolutionize the closer position, setting a trend later followed by Rivera and John Smoltz in becoming a failed starter-turned-closer. He was the first pitcher who spent the majority of his career as a reliever to be elected to the Hall of Fame. What if Bucky Walters had started his career in Cincinnati rather than struggling in Philadelphia? He was the second great Latin pitcher, following Juan Marichal. And interestingly enough, hes probably more known for his handlebar mustache than what he did on the field. and the most games started75. Four of them (Harold Baines, Edgar Martinez, David Ortiz and Frank Thomas) are already in the Hall following Big Papis election in 2022, while Nelson Cruz remains active. He pitched his no-hitter in '77, as well as leading the league that year in WHIP. The pitchers of note among them areCharles Buffington, David Cone, Paul Derringer, Orel Hershiser, Larry Jackson, Jim Kaat, Carl Mays, Dave Stieb, Hippo Vaughn, and Doc White. 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