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No Shortcuts to Cooperstown, NY

© Joseph J. Checkler

He comes in for one inning, but only if his team is less than four runs ahead. If there are two on and one out in the eighth, he usually hasn't begun his warmup stretches. He can even achieve the statistical pinnacle of his profession by retiring one batter, as long as the tying run is standing in the on-deck circle. But he sure can pile up those saves in a hurry. He's the closer, considered one of the key elements to a good baseball club. Should today's model closer be a hall of famer, though?

Steve Hirdt of the Elias Sports Bureau, the author of the modern save statistic, has often criticized himself for making it easier for closers to notch one in the "S" column. The three separate conditions for a save (pitching the last three innings of a game in which your team is ahead regardless of the score, pitching at least one full inning with a lead of three runs or less, and retiring at least one batter at the end of the game with the tying run in the on-deck circle), can be deceptively easy to meet. It has become a glamour stat more than anything else. If this guy is the designated stopper, than why is a second-rate reliever inheriting a bases-loaded jam in the seventh? And bring me the head of the manager who has the audacity to bring his best horse out of the pen in a tie game. This is the new mentality.

Of course, some of these guys are really good pitchers, and some managers don't always follow the new book. Mariano Rivera is an unbelievably skilled pitcher, and Joe Torre is not afraid to use him for four or five outs, on occasion. Jimy Williams, manager of the Red Sox, has been known to use his hard-throwing sinker-baller Derek Lowe for two full innings in many situations. But Goose Gossage had to pitch three, or sometimes more innings to get a save, because the manager was more concerned with winning a game than adding zeroes to his bullpen ace's future contract. Sure, current managers care about the game, but this new thinking has infected the game's fabric. Even the traditionalistic skippers are so conscious of Steve Hirdt's creation that they cater to it. This is a rare case where the clarification of a statistic has forever changed the face of baseball.

Are the beneficiaries of these new rules hall-worthy? Some are. Dennis Eckersely, with his years of above-average starting pitching tacked on, is deserving. But is Lee Smith? Sure he had a lot of saves, but he wasn't always terribly dominant. The fact is, Lee Smith is not among the best to ever take the mound. Regardless of his save numbers, he is not a hall of famer. He is one of many examples. Bruce Sutter, John Franco, Doug Jones, and others belong on the same list.

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