Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer, and Todd Helton are Elected to the Hall of Fame

This evening, Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer, and Todd Helton were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. The 385 voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) elected Beltre with 95.1% of the vote, Helton with 79.7%, and Mauer with 76.1% in an election that requires […]

The Hall of Fame Case for Bill White

Sometimes it just feels right. Bill White, now 89 years old, is a current candidate to earn a plaque in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. White is one of eight candidates on the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee ballot (non-players) for the Hall’s Class of 2024. This ballot, which […]

Big Day for the Detroit Tigers: Jack Morris and Alan Trammell are in the Hall of Fame

For the first time since 2001, the Hall of Fame Eras Committee (previously known as the Veterans Committee) has inducted a new living member into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Not only did this committee (known as the Modern Baseball Committee) finally elect a living ex-player, they elected […]

The History of Relief Pitching Part Seven: The Cooperstown Closer Debate

In the seventh and final part of this series on the history of relief pitching, we’ll provide food for thought on both sides of the following Hall of Fame arguments? What’s the appropriate number of relief pitchers for the Hall compared to the number of starting pitchers and position players with plaques in Cooperstown? Which […]

The History of Relief Pitching Part Six: Comparing Closers Across Eras

Comparing baseball players from different eras is always an endeavor that requires we acknowledge that, in the history of the sport, some periods of time favored hitters, others favored pitchers. We also know that ballparks are different. You can put the best pitcher in baseball on the Colorado Rockies and he’s going to struggle to […]

The History of Relief Pitching Part Five: the Famous Firemen of October

(Photos: New York Times (Rivera) & Sports Illustrated (Fingers)) It’s a theme throughout this seven-part series, the importance of having a quality relief ace in post-season baseball. There is no role in which a player has the “hero or goat” possibilities more often in October than in the role of a closer. A position player […]

The History of Relief Pitching Part Four: 1988-Present

1988-Present Day: The Era of the One-Inning Closer   In this “History of Relief Pitching” series, we’ve talked a lot about the “Save,” a statistic first made official in 1969 but applied retroactively by Baseball Reference to every pitcher in history. During the glory years of relief pitching (the 1970’s and most of the ’80’s), bullpen […]

The History of Relief Pitching Part Three: 1969-1987

In Part Three of this history of relief pitching series, we’re going to delve into the golden age of relievers, when closers were multi-inning specialists. We’ll discuss the careers of Hall of Famers Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage and Bruce Sutter. Although Dennis Eckersley also pitched in this era, his main claim to the Hall started […]

The History of Relief Pitching Part Two: 1946-1968

(Photo: Chicago Tribune) 1946-1968: The Emergence of the Bullpen Specialist In Part One of our seven-part series on the history of relief pitching, we chronicled how a significant percentage of the relief appearances in Major League Baseball were made by starting pitchers, coming out of the bullpen in between their starts. In the first 75 […]