Closer (baseball)
Encyclopedia
In baseball
, a closing pitcher, more frequently referred to as a closer (abbreviated CL), is a relief pitcher
who specializes in closing out games, i.e., getting the final outs in a close game. Closers often appear when the score is close, and the role is often assigned to a team's best reliever. A small number of closers have won the Cy Young Award
. Dennis Eckersley
, Rollie Fingers
, Goose Gossage
, Bruce Sutter
and Hoyt Wilhelm
are closers who have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
(MLB) statistic since 1969. Closers are often the highest paid relievers on their teams. Over time, closers have become one-inning specialists typically brought in at the beginning of the ninth inning in save situations. The pressure of the last three outs of the game is often cited for the importance attributed to the ninth inning.
Mariano Rivera
holds the all-time MLB saves record with 603. Francisco Rodriguez holds the single-season mark for saves, having saved 62 games for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
in .
was the first pitcher to start the ninth inning in 20 percent of his career appearances. Clay Carroll
in 1972 was the first pitcher to make a third of his season's appearances in the beginning of the ninth inning, which would not be repeated until Rollie Fingers
in 1982. John Franco in 1987 was the first to be used over 50 percent of the time in the beginning of the ninth in a season. Lee Smith
in 1994 was the first to be used over 75 percent of the time in that situation. Using the save leader from each team in the league, the average closer made his appearances in the beginning of the ninth inning 10 percent of the time in the 1970s to almost of the time by 2004.
Tony La Russa
while with the Oakland A's is frequently named as the innovator of the position, making Dennis Eckersley
the first player to be used almost exclusively in ninth inning situations. La Russa explained that "[the Oakland A's would] be ahead a large number of games every week ... That's a lot of work for somebody throwing more than one inning ... Also, there was the added advantage of [Eckersley]not getting overexposed. We tried to get [him] to only face three or four batters an outing." La Russa noted that clubs that do not often win risk their closer being under-worked with this strategy.
Prior to this, a team's ace reliever was called a fireman, coming to the rescue to "put out the fire", baseball terminology for stopping an offensive rally with runners on base. The firemen came in whenever leads were in jeopardy, regardless of the inning and often pitching multiple innings. An example of this is that Goose Gossage had 17 games where he recorded at least 10 outs in his first season as a closer, including three games where he went seven innings. He pitched over 130 innings as a reliever in three different seasons. For their careers, Sutter and Gossage had more saves of at least two innings than saves where they pitched one inning or less. Fingers was the only pitcher who pitched at least three innings in more than 10 percent of his saves. The game evolved to where the best reliever was reserved for games where the team had a lead of three runs or less in the ninth inning.
writer Jim Caple
wrote that closers' saves in the ninth "merely conclude what is usually a foregone conclusion." Dave Smith
of Retrosheet
researched the seasons 1930–2003 and found that the winning percentage for teams who enter the ninth inning with a lead has remained virtually unchanged over the decades. One-run leads after eight innings have been won roughly 85 percent of the time, two-run leads 94 percent of the time, and three-run leads about 96 percent of the time. Baseball Prospectus
projects that teams could gain as much as four extra wins a year by focusing on bringing their ace into the game earlier in more critical situations with runners on base instead of holding them out to accumulate easier ninth inning saves. In The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball, Tom Tango
et al. wrote that there was more value to having the ace reliever enter in the eighth-inning with a one- or a two-run lead instead of the ninth with a three-run lead. "Managers feel the need to please their closers—and their closers' agents—by getting them cheap saves to pad their stats and their bank accounts," wrote Caple. Tango et al. projected that using a great reliever over an average one to start the ninth with a three-run lead resulted in a two percent increase in wins, versus four percent for a two-run lead or six percent for a one-run lead. Former Baltimore Orioles
manager Johnny Oates
once told Jerome Holtzman
, the inventor of the save statistic, that he created the ninth-inning pitcher by inventing the save. Holtzman disagreed, saying it was baseball managers who were responsible for not bringing in their top reliever when the game was on the line, in the seventh or eighth inning, which had been the practice in the past. He noted that managers' usage of closers can "abuse the pitching save ... to favor the closer."
La Russa says it is important that relievers know their roles and the situations which they will be called into a game. He added, "Sure, games can get away from you in the seventh and eighth, but those last three outs in the ninth are the toughest. You want the guy who can handle that pressure. That, to me, is most important." Oakland general manager Billy Beane
said there would be too much media criticism if a pitcher other than the closer lost the game in the ninth. "Even if you know the odds, it's more comfortable being wrong when you go to the closer." Beane said the incremental increase gained by a closer in a three-run save situation "is worth it because losing is so painful in that situation."
class="wikitable">
Award
Closer
Team
Year
MVP
Dennis Eckersley
*
Oakland Athletics
(AL
)
Willie Hernández
*
Detroit Tigers
(AL)
Rollie Fingers
*
Milwaukee Brewers
(AL)
Jim Konstanty
Philadelphia Phillies
(NL)
WS MVP
Mariano Rivera
New York Yankees
John Wetteland
New York Yankees
Rollie Fingers
Oakland Athletics
ROY
Neftali Feliz
Texas Rangers
(AL)
Andrew Bailey
Oakland Athletics
(AL)
Huston Street
Oakland Athletics
(AL)
Kazuhiro Sasaki
Seattle Mariners
(AL)
Scott Williamson
Cincinnati Reds
(NL)
Gregg Olson
Baltimore Orioles
(AL)
Todd Worrell
St. Louis Cardinals
(NL)
Steve Howe
Los Angeles Dodgers
(NL)
Butch Metzger
San Diego Padres
(NL)
Joe Black
Los Angeles Dodgers
(NL)
LCS MVP
Mariano Rivera
New York Yankees
(AL
)
Rob Dibble
, Randy Myers
Cincinnati Reds
(NL
)
Dennis Eckersley
Oakland Athletics
(AL
)
* Also won league Cy Young Award in the same year
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, a closing pitcher, more frequently referred to as a closer (abbreviated CL), is a relief pitcher
Relief pitcher
A relief pitcher or reliever is a baseball or softball pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed due to injury, ineffectiveness, fatigue, ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as being substituted by a pinch hitter...
who specializes in closing out games, i.e., getting the final outs in a close game. Closers often appear when the score is close, and the role is often assigned to a team's best reliever. A small number of closers have won the Cy Young Award
Cy Young Award
The Cy Young Award is an honor given annually in baseball to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball , one each for the American League and National League . The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young, who died in 1955...
. Dennis Eckersley
Dennis Eckersley
Dennis Lee Eckersley , nicknamed "Eck", is a former American Major League Baseball pitcher. Eckersley had success as a starter, but gained his greatest fame as a closer, becoming the first of only two pitchers in Major League history to have both a 20-win season and a 50-save season in a career .He...
, Rollie Fingers
Rollie Fingers
Roland Glen Fingers is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. During his 18-year baseball career, he pitched for the Oakland Athletics , San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers . He became only the second reliever to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992...
, Goose Gossage
Goose Gossage
Richard Michael "Goose" Gossage is a former Major League Baseball right-handed relief pitcher. During a 22-year baseball career, he pitched from 1972-1994 for nine different teams, spending his best years with the New York Yankees and San Diego Padres. The nickname "Goose" is a play on his surname...
, Bruce Sutter
Bruce Sutter
Howard Bruce Sutter is a former Major League Baseball right-handed relief pitcher. He was arguably the first pitcher to make effective use of the splitter....
and Hoyt Wilhelm
Hoyt Wilhelm
James Hoyt Wilhelm was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985....
are closers who have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Usage
A closer is generally a team's best reliever and designated to pitch the last few outs of games when their team is leading by a margin of three runs or fewer. A closer's effectiveness has traditionally been measured by the save, an official Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
(MLB) statistic since 1969. Closers are often the highest paid relievers on their teams. Over time, closers have become one-inning specialists typically brought in at the beginning of the ninth inning in save situations. The pressure of the last three outs of the game is often cited for the importance attributed to the ninth inning.
Mariano Rivera
Mariano Rivera
Mariano Rivera is a Panamanian right-handed baseball pitcher who has played 17 years in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees. Nicknamed "Mo", Rivera has served as a relief pitcher for most of his career, and since 1997, he has been the Yankees' closer...
holds the all-time MLB saves record with 603. Francisco Rodriguez holds the single-season mark for saves, having saved 62 games for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are a professional baseball team based in Anaheim, California, United States. The Angels are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The "Angels" name originates from the city in which the team started, Los Angeles...
in .
History
The concept of the closing pitcher, a player specifically designated to pitch no earlier than the eighth and generally not until the ninth inning, did not exist in the modern sense prior to the 1980s with the role of the closing pitcher evolving over the course of the 1980s and 1990s. Bruce SutterBruce Sutter
Howard Bruce Sutter is a former Major League Baseball right-handed relief pitcher. He was arguably the first pitcher to make effective use of the splitter....
was the first pitcher to start the ninth inning in 20 percent of his career appearances. Clay Carroll
Clay Carroll
Clay Palmer Carroll is a former relief pitcher in Major League Baseball with a 15-year career from 1964 to 1978. He pitched for the Milwaukee Braves & Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, St...
in 1972 was the first pitcher to make a third of his season's appearances in the beginning of the ninth inning, which would not be repeated until Rollie Fingers
Rollie Fingers
Roland Glen Fingers is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. During his 18-year baseball career, he pitched for the Oakland Athletics , San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers . He became only the second reliever to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992...
in 1982. John Franco in 1987 was the first to be used over 50 percent of the time in the beginning of the ninth in a season. Lee Smith
Lee Smith (baseball)
Lee Arthur Smith is an American right-handed former baseball pitcher who played 18 years in Major League Baseball for eight teams. Pitching primarily for the Chicago Cubs, with whom he spent his first eight seasons, Lee served mostly as a relief pitcher during his career...
in 1994 was the first to be used over 75 percent of the time in that situation. Using the save leader from each team in the league, the average closer made his appearances in the beginning of the ninth inning 10 percent of the time in the 1970s to almost of the time by 2004.
Tony La Russa
Tony La Russa
Anthony "Tony" La Russa, Jr. is a former Major League Baseball manager and infielder, best known for his tenures as manager of the Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics, and St. Louis Cardinals...
while with the Oakland A's is frequently named as the innovator of the position, making Dennis Eckersley
Dennis Eckersley
Dennis Lee Eckersley , nicknamed "Eck", is a former American Major League Baseball pitcher. Eckersley had success as a starter, but gained his greatest fame as a closer, becoming the first of only two pitchers in Major League history to have both a 20-win season and a 50-save season in a career .He...
the first player to be used almost exclusively in ninth inning situations. La Russa explained that "[the Oakland A's would] be ahead a large number of games every week ... That's a lot of work for somebody throwing more than one inning ... Also, there was the added advantage of [Eckersley]not getting overexposed. We tried to get [him] to only face three or four batters an outing." La Russa noted that clubs that do not often win risk their closer being under-worked with this strategy.
Prior to this, a team's ace reliever was called a fireman, coming to the rescue to "put out the fire", baseball terminology for stopping an offensive rally with runners on base. The firemen came in whenever leads were in jeopardy, regardless of the inning and often pitching multiple innings. An example of this is that Goose Gossage had 17 games where he recorded at least 10 outs in his first season as a closer, including three games where he went seven innings. He pitched over 130 innings as a reliever in three different seasons. For their careers, Sutter and Gossage had more saves of at least two innings than saves where they pitched one inning or less. Fingers was the only pitcher who pitched at least three innings in more than 10 percent of his saves. The game evolved to where the best reliever was reserved for games where the team had a lead of three runs or less in the ninth inning.
Strategy
ESPN.comESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...
writer Jim Caple
Jim Caple
Jim Caple is a columnist and senior writer for ESPN.com. He has worked previously with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and St. Paul Pioneer Press.Caple attended R.A...
wrote that closers' saves in the ninth "merely conclude what is usually a foregone conclusion." Dave Smith
David Smith (baseball historian)
David W. Smith is a baseball researcher and historian. He is best known as the founder of Retrosheet, an organization whose mission is to collect, digitized, and distribute play-by-play accounts from every game in Major League Baseball history...
of Retrosheet
Retrosheet
Retrosheet is a non-profit organization whose website features major league baseball box scores and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest from 1871–1872, 1874, 1911 NL, and 1918–2010...
researched the seasons 1930–2003 and found that the winning percentage for teams who enter the ninth inning with a lead has remained virtually unchanged over the decades. One-run leads after eight innings have been won roughly 85 percent of the time, two-run leads 94 percent of the time, and three-run leads about 96 percent of the time. Baseball Prospectus
Baseball Prospectus
Baseball Prospectus is an organization that publishes a website, BaseballProspectus.com, devoted to the sabermetric analysis of baseball. BP has a staff of regular columnists and provides advanced statistics as well player and team performance projections on the site...
projects that teams could gain as much as four extra wins a year by focusing on bringing their ace into the game earlier in more critical situations with runners on base instead of holding them out to accumulate easier ninth inning saves. In The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball, Tom Tango
Tom Tango
Tom Tango and "TangoTiger" are aliases used online by a well-respected expert in baseball sabermetrics and ice hockey statistical analysis. He runs the Tango on Baseball sabermetrics website and is also a contributor to ESPN's baseball blog TMI .In 2006, Tango's book The Book: Playing the...
et al. wrote that there was more value to having the ace reliever enter in the eighth-inning with a one- or a two-run lead instead of the ninth with a three-run lead. "Managers feel the need to please their closers—and their closers' agents—by getting them cheap saves to pad their stats and their bank accounts," wrote Caple. Tango et al. projected that using a great reliever over an average one to start the ninth with a three-run lead resulted in a two percent increase in wins, versus four percent for a two-run lead or six percent for a one-run lead. Former Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
manager Johnny Oates
Johnny Oates
Johnny Lane Oates was an American professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees from 1970 to 1981...
once told Jerome Holtzman
Jerome Holtzman
Jerome Holtzman was an American sportswriter known for his writings on baseball who served as the official historian for Major League Baseball from 1999 until his death.-Newspaper career:...
, the inventor of the save statistic, that he created the ninth-inning pitcher by inventing the save. Holtzman disagreed, saying it was baseball managers who were responsible for not bringing in their top reliever when the game was on the line, in the seventh or eighth inning, which had been the practice in the past. He noted that managers' usage of closers can "abuse the pitching save ... to favor the closer."
La Russa says it is important that relievers know their roles and the situations which they will be called into a game. He added, "Sure, games can get away from you in the seventh and eighth, but those last three outs in the ninth are the toughest. You want the guy who can handle that pressure. That, to me, is most important." Oakland general manager Billy Beane
Billy Beane
William Lamar "Billy" Beane III is a former Major League Baseball player and the current general manager and minority owner of the Oakland Athletics...
said there would be too much media criticism if a pitcher other than the closer lost the game in the ninth. "Even if you know the odds, it's more comfortable being wrong when you go to the closer." Beane said the incremental increase gained by a closer in a three-run save situation "is worth it because losing is so painful in that situation."
Major League Baseball
| class="wikitable"> | Award | Closer | Team | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hall of Fame | Goose Gossage Goose Gossage Richard Michael "Goose" Gossage is a former Major League Baseball right-handed relief pitcher. During a 22-year baseball career, he pitched from 1972-1994 for nine different teams, spending his best years with the New York Yankees and San Diego Padres. The nickname "Goose" is a play on his surname... |
New York Yankees New York Yankees The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division... |
|
| Bruce Sutter Bruce Sutter Howard Bruce Sutter is a former Major League Baseball right-handed relief pitcher. He was arguably the first pitcher to make effective use of the splitter.... |
St. Louis Cardinals St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to... |
||
| Dennis Eckersley Dennis Eckersley Dennis Lee Eckersley , nicknamed "Eck", is a former American Major League Baseball pitcher. Eckersley had success as a starter, but gained his greatest fame as a closer, becoming the first of only two pitchers in Major League history to have both a 20-win season and a 50-save season in a career .He... |
Oakland Athletics Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum.... |
||
| Rollie Fingers Rollie Fingers Roland Glen Fingers is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. During his 18-year baseball career, he pitched for the Oakland Athletics , San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers . He became only the second reliever to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992... |
Oakland Athletics Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum.... |
||
| Hoyt Wilhelm Hoyt Wilhelm James Hoyt Wilhelm was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985.... |
New York Giants San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division.... |
||
| Cy Young Cy Young Award The Cy Young Award is an honor given annually in baseball to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball , one each for the American League and National League . The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young, who died in 1955... |
Éric Gagné Éric Gagné Éric Serge Gagné is a former Major League Baseball pitcher.Signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a free agent in 1995, Gagné began his career as a starting pitcher... |
Los Angeles Dodgers Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming... |
(NL National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional... ) |
| Dennis Eckersley Dennis Eckersley Dennis Lee Eckersley , nicknamed "Eck", is a former American Major League Baseball pitcher. Eckersley had success as a starter, but gained his greatest fame as a closer, becoming the first of only two pitchers in Major League history to have both a 20-win season and a 50-save season in a career .He... |
Oakland Athletics Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum.... |
(AL American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major... ) |
|
| Mark Davis | San Diego Padres San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball team based in San Diego, California. They play in the National League Western Division. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the National League Pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both times... |
(NL) | |
| Steve Bedrosian Steve Bedrosian Stephen Wayne Bedrosian, is an American former baseball player. Nicknamed "Bedrock", he played from 1981 to 1995 with the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants and Minnesota Twins... |
Philadelphia Phillies Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League... |
(NL) | |
| Willie Hernández Willie Hernández Guillermo "Willie" Hernández Villanueva is a former relief pitcher for the Chicago Cubs , Philadelphia Phillies , and the Detroit Tigers . He threw and batted left-handed.-Career:... |
Detroit Tigers Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant... |
(AL) | |
| Rollie Fingers Rollie Fingers Roland Glen Fingers is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. During his 18-year baseball career, he pitched for the Oakland Athletics , San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers . He became only the second reliever to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992... |
Milwaukee Brewers Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League... |
(AL) | |
| Bruce Sutter Bruce Sutter Howard Bruce Sutter is a former Major League Baseball right-handed relief pitcher. He was arguably the first pitcher to make effective use of the splitter.... |
Chicago Cubs Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National... |
(NL) | |
| Sparky Lyle Sparky Lyle Albert Walter "Sparky" Lyle is an American former left-handed relief pitcher who spent sixteen seasons in Major League Baseball . He was a closer from 1969 to 1977, first for the Boston Red Sox and then the New York Yankees. A three-time All-Star, he won the American League Cy Young Award in 1977... |
New York Yankees New York Yankees The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division... |
(AL) | |
| Mike Marshall | Los Angeles Dodgers Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming... |
(NL) |
MLB Most Valuable Player Award
The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award is an annual Major League Baseball award, given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers Association of America...
Dennis Eckersley
Dennis Lee Eckersley , nicknamed "Eck", is a former American Major League Baseball pitcher. Eckersley had success as a starter, but gained his greatest fame as a closer, becoming the first of only two pitchers in Major League history to have both a 20-win season and a 50-save season in a career .He...
*
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
)
Willie Hernández
Guillermo "Willie" Hernández Villanueva is a former relief pitcher for the Chicago Cubs , Philadelphia Phillies , and the Detroit Tigers . He threw and batted left-handed.-Career:...
*
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
Rollie Fingers
Roland Glen Fingers is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. During his 18-year baseball career, he pitched for the Oakland Athletics , San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers . He became only the second reliever to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992...
*
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
Jim Konstanty
Casimir James "Jim" Konstanty was an American relief pitcher in Major League Baseball and National League Most Valuable Player of 1950. He played for the Cincinnati Reds , Boston Braves , Philadelphia Phillies , New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals...
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
World Series MVP Award
The World Series Most Valuable Player Award is given to the player deemed to have the most impact on his team's performance in the World Series, which is the final round of the Major League Baseball postseason...
Mariano Rivera
Mariano Rivera is a Panamanian right-handed baseball pitcher who has played 17 years in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees. Nicknamed "Mo", Rivera has served as a relief pitcher for most of his career, and since 1997, he has been the Yankees' closer...
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
John Wetteland
John Karl Wetteland is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who specialized as a closer. During a 12-year career , he pitched for four different teams: the Los Angeles Dodgers, Montreal Expos, New York Yankees, and Texas Rangers.-Playing career:Wetteland was signed by the Dodgers as their second...
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
Rollie Fingers
Roland Glen Fingers is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. During his 18-year baseball career, he pitched for the Oakland Athletics , San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers . He became only the second reliever to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992...
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
MLB Rookie of the Year Award
In Major League Baseball, the Rookie of the Year Award is annually given to one player from each league as voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America . The award was established in 1940 by the Chicago chapter of the BBWAA, which selected an annual winner from 1940 through 1946...
Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...
Andrew Bailey (baseball)
Andrew Scott Bailey is an American baseball relief pitcher for the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball. He is a native of Voorhees Township, New Jersey.-Baseball career:...
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
Huston Street
Huston Lowell Street is an American baseball relief pitcher for the Colorado Rockies. His father is former University of Texas quarterback James Street, and his brother Juston Street is currently a pitcher for the minor league Vancouver Canadians....
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
Kazuhiro Sasaki
Kazuhiro "Daimajin" Sasaki is a former Nippon Professional Baseball and Major League Baseball right-handed relief pitcher. He played his entire NPB career with the Yokohama Taiyo Whales / Yokohama BayStars...
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are a professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. Enfranchised in , the Mariners are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Safeco Field has been the Mariners' home ballpark since July...
Scott Williamson
Scott Ryan Williamson is a right-handed relief pitcher in the Florida Marlins organization. He has played for the Cincinnati Reds , Boston Red Sox , Chicago Cubs , San Diego Padres , and the Baltimore Orioles...
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
Gregg Olson
Greggory Olson is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher who played with the Baltimore Orioles , Atlanta Braves , Cleveland Indians , Kansas City Royals , Detroit Tigers , Houston Astros , Minnesota Twins , Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers...
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
Todd Worrell
Todd Roland Worrell is a retired Major League Baseball relief pitcher who played for the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers from to ....
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
Butch Metzger
Clarence Edward "Butch" Metzger is a former Major League Baseball player. Metzger was a relief pitcher, specifically a closer...
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball team based in San Diego, California. They play in the National League Western Division. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the National League Pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both times...
Joe Black
Joseph Black was an American right-handed pitcher in Negro League and Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Redlegs, and Washington Senators who became the first black pitcher to win a World Series game, in 1952. Black died of prostate cancer at age 78.A native of Plainfield,...
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
League Championship Series
The League Championship Series is the official name for a round of postseason play in Major League Baseball which has been conducted since 1969...
Mariano Rivera
Mariano Rivera is a Panamanian right-handed baseball pitcher who has played 17 years in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees. Nicknamed "Mo", Rivera has served as a relief pitcher for most of his career, and since 1997, he has been the Yankees' closer...
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
)
Rob Dibble
Robert Keith Dibble is a former Major League Baseball pitcher and television analyst.-Personal life:Dibble is a graduate of Southington High School in Southington, Connecticut...
, Randy Myers
Randy Myers
Randall Kirk Myers is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. During a 14-year baseball career, he pitched from 1985-1998 for the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, and Toronto Blue Jays.-Career:Myers first began his major league career with...
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
)
Dennis Eckersley
Dennis Lee Eckersley , nicknamed "Eck", is a former American Major League Baseball pitcher. Eckersley had success as a starter, but gained his greatest fame as a closer, becoming the first of only two pitchers in Major League history to have both a 20-win season and a 50-save season in a career .He...
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
)
Nippon Professional Baseball
| class="wikitable"> | |||
| Award | Closer | Team | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meikyukai Meikyukai is one of the two Japanese baseball halls of fame . The Meikyukai is a company ltd. for public benefit.It was founded on July 24, 1978, to honor players born during the Shōwa period... |
Kazuhiro Sasaki Kazuhiro Sasaki Kazuhiro "Daimajin" Sasaki is a former Nippon Professional Baseball and Major League Baseball right-handed relief pitcher. He played his entire NPB career with the Yokohama Taiyo Whales / Yokohama BayStars... |
Whales/BayStars Yokohama BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Home field is the Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The clubhouse is located near the stadium.... |
|
| Shingo Takatsu Shingo Takatsu Shingo Takatsu is a professional baseball pitcher for the Sinon Bulls of the Chinese Professional Baseball League. He had a short stint with the Chicago White Sox where he was the closer for two seasons until struggles closing games ultimately led to his demotion to the minors... |
Swallows | ||
| Hitoki Iwase Hitoki Iwase Hitoki Iwase is a Japanese professional baseball player from Nishio, Aichi, Japan. He is a closing pitcher.... |
Dragons Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chubu region of Japan. The team is in the Central League. They won the 2007 Japan Series and 2007 Asia Series.-History:... |
||
| MVP | Kazuhiro Sasaki | BayStars | (Central Central League The or is one the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consists of six teams from around the country,The Central League... ) |
| Genji Kaku Genji Kaku Genji Kaku , is a Japanese former professional baseball player from Taitung, Taiwan. His family comes from the Taiwanese aborigines... |
Dragons Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chubu region of Japan. The team is in the Central League. They won the 2007 Japan Series and 2007 Asia Series.-History:... |
(Central) | |
| Yutaka Enatsu Yutaka Enatsu is a former Japanese pitcher regarded as one of best Japanese pitchers of all-time. In , he recorded 401 strikeouts, which is still the world record. He recorded 9 consecutive strikeouts in one of the All-Star games, and 15 consecutive strikeouts in three of the All-Star games between and 1971.... |
Fighters Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Sapporo, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at the Sapporo Dome. The Fighters also host a select number of regional home games in cities across Hokkaidō,... |
(Pacific Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series... ) |
|
| Yutaka Enatsu | Carp Hiroshima Toyo Carp The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Central League. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda founder Jujiro Matsuda. Mazda is the largest single shareholder , which is less than the portion owned by the Matsuda family . Because of that,... |
(Central) |