Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime

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#16- Relief Pitching

 

Unless you are approaching 70 years of age, your baseball

viewings have probably taken for granted that all those relief

pitchers of 2016 were always a part of baseball. But maybe

you’ve chanced across some statistics which made you wonder why

the records for complete games were all set a long time ago by

names you’ve never heard. Believe it or not, the value of a

relief pitcher is essentially a very modern concept, by baseball

standards.

Obviously prior to 1950 every starter did not finish the

game. However the people who came in to wrap things up were not

the essential specialists of today. The “bullpen” acquired its

name as a result of its residents; old bulls. Many were pitchers

past their primes who would be called in when the game was lost

and the starter was too embarrassed or drunk to finish. That has

more truth in it than most would like to admit. But there were

also a number of other possibilities;

1) The aforementioned “mop up” men were there to save the

starter’s arm for the next game; rather than have him wear it

further down in a lost cause.

2) A young, prospective starter is sometimes tested in a lost

game.

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3) The reliever is someone able to warm up quickly if the

starter is injured, ejected, or pinch hit for.

4) The reliever could be an ace starter who might finish up an

important game down the stretch.

 

Almost all pitchers did make some relief appearances, but

with the exceptions of situations 3 and 4, not much was expected

of them. Prior to 1950 there were only 29 seasons in which a

pitcher appeared in relief 50 or more times. Contrast that with

the specialist 2000’s in which it is a common event for 125

relief pitchers to appear in 50 or more games in each season.

Before, anyone put in a non-lost-game, relief role was primarily

a starter temporarily out of character.

The first clear exception was Firpo Marberry. He was one

who seemed to have been blessed with an arm capable of throwing

virtually every day, posted one of the lowest ERA’s of his big

hitting time, and was used as a starter one day and a reliever

the next. Over his career he started 33% of the time and

relieved 67%. He was the first pitcher to relieve more than 50

times in a season and the first to record 20 saves; though that

statistic did not yet exist during his 1923-36 career. Relief

pitching was seen as a lesser position and Firpo was put in an

odd place as he had no competitors one could compare him with.

His record as a starter was an enviable 94-52.

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The beginnings of recognized relief value waited for Joe

Page. Page was brought to the big leagues by the New York

Yankees in 1944, after having spent four years in their farm

system. He began his career as a starter. That is until 1947

when the innovative NY Yankees converted a good starter with arm

difficulties to almost exclusive relief status.

In his rookie season he started 16 games, relieved in

three, and made the All-Star team. The next season, Page

suffered a shoulder injury, started nine, and relieved in

eleven, ending with a 2.82 ERA. Again in 1946 Page split his

time. In 1947 Page spent the season in the bullpen, appeared in

56 games while starting only two; and was once again an All-

Star. 1948 and 1949 were similar. He acquired the nickname of

“Fireman,” now synonymous with reliever or closer.

Page won the first Babe Ruth Award for his performance in

the 1949 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers, winning game

three; after having finished third in the American League Most

Valuable Player voting. With increasing arm trouble, in 1950,

Page was sent back to the minors and was released in 1951. His

arm may have given out in 1950, but his performance changed the

game forever.

His mantle was taken up for one season by Jim Konstanty of

the 1950 pennant winning, “Whiz Kids,” Philadelphia Phillies. In

a somewhat revolutionary gesture, Jim was granted the MVP that

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year. He did not duplicate his performance. Nor did the Phillies

until 1980.

Batters used to openly say that they could count on getting

one at bat per game against a tired pitcher. With the gradual

increased use of relief pitchers this became less and less true.

When computer aided statistical analysis became available it was

noted that a pitcher’s performance severely deteriorated after

100 pitches and the bullpen gates were replaced with revolving

doors. Pitchers still doing well were yanked at 100.

As teams increasingly recognized the value of relief

pitchers more and more were added to the roster. While at one

time there was only one “Fireman” in the entire league, now each

team has a minimum of five. Typically, one is a lefty who

usually comes in to try to get out one particularly dangerous

lefty hitter. Second, third, and fourth are the “set up men” who

might pitch the seventh and eighth innings. And third is the

ace; the “closer,” the one to shut things down in the ninth.

The “Save” statistic which applies only to the closer was

first used in 1969. Its definition has changed a few times, and

it is still regarded by some as a measurement which needs

improvement. The relief pitcher became considered so essential

that teams added more and more of them. The term “Hold” was

defined for the “set up men” in 1986, though it is not

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considered an “official” baseball statistic; whatever that

means. At any rate, a typical game now goes something like this;

1) The “starter” pitches 6 innings.

2) The “sat up man” or “men” pitch 2.

3) The closer pitches the last 1.

 

Below are some decade to decade pitching statistics which

swing more wildly than home run production in the years of the

Babe.

 

Decade Relievers per Team Complete

with 50 or more Game % innings pitched

1893-99 0.00 83.8 1900-09 0.00 79.0 1910-19 0.00 56.8 1920-29 0.02 49.6 1930-39 0.03 44.6 1940-49 0.14 42.6 1950-59 0.41 33.5 1960-69 1.18 25.2 1970-79 1.27 25.3 1980-89 1.81 15.6 1990-99 2.71 7.4 2000-09 3.59 3.1 2010-14 3.77 2.4

 

The numbers bear out what has been obvious to the long term

fan. Though he may not have been aware of the precise numbers,

the current usage of relievers is nine times that of the 1950’s;

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which was itself three times more than the 1940’s. Starters have

consistently become less and less finishers.

Can’t a hitter get a break once a game? Not anymore. A good

athlete will adapt to most any situation. Quasi-legal

pharmaceuticals have been sought to cure ills in the rest of

America. Why not its great pastime?

Below is a listing of various awards won by relievers. You

will note that excepting Jim Konstanty in 1950, the first

reliever to win any award was in 1974; though the “modern game”

was already well into its senior citizen years. Of special note

there was a time when a reliever would really not be considered

for the Cy Young Award; and it was almost anathema to call one

the Most Valuable Player.

 

Relievers who have won the Rookie of the Year award;

Year League Player Team

1976 National Butch Metzger San Diego Padres

1980 National Steve Howe Los Angeles Dodgers

1986 National Todd Worrell St. Louis Cardinals

1989 American Gregg Olson Baltimore Orioles

1999 National Scott Williamson Cincinnati Reds

2000 American Kazuhiro Sasaki Seattle Mariners

2005 American Huston Street Oakland Athletics

2009 American Andrew Bailey Oakland Athletics

2010 American Neftalí Feliz Texas Rangers

2011 National Craig Kimbrel Atlanta Braves

 

Relievers who have won the Cy Young award;

Year League Player Team

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1974 National Mike Marshall Los Angeles Dodgers

1977 American Sparky Lyle New York Yankees

1979 National Bruce Sutter Chicago Cubs

1981 American Rollie Fingers Milwaukee Brewers

1984 American Willie Hernández Detroit Tigers

1987 National Steve Bedrosian Philadelphia Phillies

1992 American Dennis Eckersley Oakland Athletics

2003 National Éric Gagné Los Angeles Dodgers

 

Relievers who have won the Most Valuable Player award;

Year League Player Team

1950 National Jim Konstanty Philadelphia Phillies

1981 American Rollie Fingers Milwaukee Brewers

1984 American Willie Hernández Detroit Tigers

1992 American Dennis Eckersley Oakland Athletics

 

The definitive commentary about relievers is yet to be

written, as this aspect of the game has been drastically

changing since the middle of the twentieth century, and is

continuing to do so. Statistics and measurements are more

difficult to come by than in any other baseball area. If you’ve

been watching the game for a while, it has to be clear that the

trend is heavily toward more pitchers, who are used less time

each per game.

This is yet to be seen, but if current trends continue

baseball fans may soon be witnessing the biggest change in the

game since Babe Ruth invented the home run.

To date, the studies have been done with small samplings as

at this time some of the pertinent information has not yet been

standardly or easily available, and is quite time consuming to

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construct. Initial indications seem to make logical sense, in

that the numbers confirm what we have been seeing. There are

more relief pitchers in each game. Starters consistently go

shorter distances. There have been more frequent outings for

relievers, and better performances are calculated for pitchers

used briefly; even prior to the accepted 100 pitch line of

demarcation. The suggestion is to use all pitchers for shorter,

more frequent outings. Relievers tend to optimize performance,

and one of the purposes of starters is to put up a lot of

innings. The latter was always the case.

At this point the starter role is underperforming, yet

still traditional. Some starters cannot make frequent outings,

because their arms require four days of rest even after pitching

two innings. So, that would mean that too many pitchers would be

required on a staff.

But, what is “too many?”

Baseball teams have generally had a 25 man roster, and

generally a 40 man one when all players under contract are taken

into consideration. Astute management can juggle their rosters

in a host of ways. That was said as a prelude to the following

chart. I took the New York Yankees list of how many played for

them in various years, and how many of those were pitchers. It’s

telling with an aberration in 1939.

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Year Number of Pitchers Percentage

Players

1910 31 10 32% 1939 28 12 43% 1966 36 14 39% 1994 36 17 47% 2015 55 30 55%

I don’t think anyone should have any more questions about

why many young people have turned to pitching.