At the end of the 20th century, only two relief pitchers are in the
Hall Of Fame. Hoyt Wilhelm is one, Rollie Fingers the other. Fingers threw
sidearm and wore a famous handlebar moustache; he pitched for 17 years, and
saved 341 games, which for a while was a record. He began his career with
Oakland, and was a key pitcher on the Athletics teams that won three straight
World Series. When Fingers was in his prime, the concept of a "closer" was
still unrefined; Rollie would often finish games after entering in the
seventh or eight inning, and annually threw more than 100 innings out of
the bullpen.
Fingers
probably deserved the award, but choosing the best of the rest is no easy task. Steve
McCatty was second in the vote, and Jack Morris was third, and they seem like
good choices. Among relievers, Goose Gossage was also very good. It was a pretty good vote (although four pitchers did receive
"half" votes. Who the hell needs to give out half-votes? Just pick someone,
for crying out loud).
Actually, I think I will move Larry Gura ahead
of Morris. Gura had a very good year, and his team made the playoffs, despite
having a losing record. I guess the Royals had a great start, then a stinko
second half (or maybe it was the other way around). Gura was a fine pitcher
for several years, though he didn't get much respect in the award voting. In 1978,
Gura got one vote; he also got one vote in 1980, and one more this year. They
were the only three votes he ever got; I guess some Kansas City writer
kept filling him out at the bottom of his ballot, huh?
Dave Righetti also had a terrific year, and won the Rookie of the Year
Award. Righetti might deserve to rank higher as well, but he didn't pitch as
often as the others. Rags continued to pitch well for the next two years,
then the Yankees decided to make him their closer. He would go on to be
one of the best relievers in the league, and for a short time held the single-season record for saves.
