The Unique Hall of Fame Career of Dennis Eckersley

There’s not one pitcher with a plaque in Cooperstown that had a career quite like that of Dennis Eckersley. He had a solid but not especially spectacular run as a starting pitcher for his first 12 seasons and then an often brilliant career as a bullpen specialist for the final 12.

It’s the combined value of those two careers that made Eck a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2004.

In the ever-changing evolution of the use of bullpens in Major League Baseball, Eckersley was a prototype, one of the first closer’s to be used almost exclusively in the 9th inning only. The trend of mostly 9th-inning-only closers continues to this day, even as bullpen usage is quickly evolving.

Eckersley was one of a kind. He had a lot of “firsts”:

• First and only pitcher to win 175 games and save 350 games
• With a smaller standard, first and only pitcher to win 125 games and save 250 games
• First pitcher to make at least two All-Star teams as starting pitcher and two as a reliever
• First pitcher to finish in the top 5 of Cy Young Award voting as both starter and reliever
• First pitcher to win 20 or more games in a season and save 40 or more games in a season
• First relief pitcher with four seasons of 45 or more saves

Cooperstown Cred: Dennis Eckersley (1975-1998, with 5 different teams)

• Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004 (with 83.2% of the vote)
• Career: 197-171, 3.50 ERA, 390 Saves
• Career: 116 ERA+, 62.6 WAR (Wins Above Replacement)
• 1992 A.L. MVP and Cy Young Award winner: 7-1, 51 saves, 1.91 ERA
• 6-time All-Star
• 6 times in top 7 of Cy Young Award voting
• Member of 1989 World Champion Oakland A’s
• 1977: pitched 22.1 consecutive innings of no-hit ball (2nd longest streak at the time to Cy Young)

(cover photo: Alchetron)

Portions of this piece were originally published in August, 2017 in The History of Relief Pitching Part Three

Cleveland Indians (1975-77)

Dennis Eckersley, an Oakland native, made his major league debut with the Cleveland Indians in 1975 at the tender age of 20. He started his career as he finished it, in the bullpen, but he wouldn’t stay there for long.

After 10 scoreless appearances over 14.1 innings, manager Frank Robinson installed Eck into the starting rotation. All but seven of his appearances through the end of the ’86 campaign would be made as a starter.

The Indians of the late ’70’s were not a contending club but Eckersley was the best of their starting pitchers from ’75 to ’77. The young right-hander with the high leg kick (emulating his boyhood idol Juan Marichal) and long hair pitched a no-hitter and made his first All-Star team in ’77.

There was one notable statistical blemish on Eck’s ’77 season; he gave up 31 home runs, which was the third most in the American League. According to his bio on SABR (the Society of American Baseball Research), the Indians were concerned about his penchant for giving up the long ball, that he had a hard time holding runners on base, and that he struggled against left-handed hitters.

In addition, the Tribe’s brass feared that his side-winding delivery would ultimately result in arm troubles.

It was true that, in Eck’s first three years, he struggled against lefty hitters, who hit .270 off him. But against right-handed batters, he was lights out, holding them to a collective .172 batting average.

Anyway, just before the 1978 season, Eckersley was traded to the Boston Red Sox for a package featuring pitcher Rick Wise and catcher Bo Diaz.

Boston Red Sox (1978-1984)

The change from a 2nd-division club to a contender suited Eckersley. He was the ace starter the Red Sox hoped he would be, winning 20 games while posting a 2.99 ERA, with 9 of his 20 wins coming after a Red Sox loss.

The ’78 BoSox famously blew a 10-game lead to the New York Yankees and Eck played his part, giving up 7 runs in 3.2 innings in the third game of the Yankees 4-game September sweep at Fenway Park, known as the Boston Massacre.

Still, Eck also did his part in helping the Sox finish strong to force the famous one-game playoff, winning his final four starts with three complete games and a 0.80 ERA.

Eckersley had another solid campaign in 1979, going 17-10 with a 2.99 ERA but developed a sore arm which, along with back and shoulder injuries, would turn him into an average starting pitcher for his final four seasons in Beantown. From 1980-83, Eck went 43-48 with a 4.43 ERA (ballpark adjusted 96 ERA+).

After another mediocre start to the 1984 season, Eckersley was traded to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Bill Buckner, who of course would play a rather prominent role in Red Sox history.

Chicago Cubs (1984-1986)

Again, Dennis Eckersley initially thrived with his new team.  Eckersley went 10-8 with a 3.03 ERA in 24 starts with the ’84 Cubs, helping them to their first playoff appearance since 1945.

Alas, Eck’s lone October start did not go well. With the Cubs up 2 games to none and a chance to advance to the World Series, Eck got bombed by the San Diego Padres in Game 3, giving up 5 runs in 5.1 innings. The Cubs, of course, would go on to lose the NLCS in 5 games to the Padres.

After a respectable ’85 campaign, Eck developed tendinitis in his shoulder and had a miserable ’86 season, posting a 4.57 ERA ERA in 201 innings.

Shortly before the 1987 season, Dennis Eckersley’s professional career changed forever when he was traded to the Oakland A’s for three minor leaguers, none of whom ever appeared in the major leagues.

Oakland A’s (1987-1995): Career Course Correction

In Oakland, Manager Tony La Russa decided to put Dennis Eckersley into the bullpen, a move that would ultimately revitalize the right-hander’s career and unltimately put him into the Hall of Fame.

Eck’s first season as a reliever went well; he posted a 3.03 ERA in 115.2 innings, saving 16 games along the way. His years as a 9th inning only closer were still a year away; in 7 of his 16 saves, he pitched 2 innings or more.

From 1988-1992, Eckersley was simply the best relief pitcher in baseball. He averaged 44 saves per season, all while sporting a 1.90 ERA and a WHIP of 0.792. The statistic WHIP (walks + hits per inning) is one that became known to baseball fans primarily through rotisserie (fantasy) baseball. A WHIP of 0.792 is ridiculously great.

Despite his brilliance in Oakland, Eckersley will be forever remembered most for that one night in 1988 in which his previous problems with the long ball returned.

He had saved all four games of the A’s four-game sweep of the Red Sox in the ALCS but, in Game 1 of the World Series in Los Angeles, served up the most epic home run in the history of the sport, the game-winning swat by the Dodgers’ hobbled star, Kirk Gibson. Eck still does not believe what he just saw.

Eckersley and the A’s rebounded nicely from the disappointment of the ’88 World Series by repeating as A.L. West champions in 1989. Eck pitched less than in ’88 but had some stats that (at the time) were amazingly good. Besides a 1.56 ERA, his WHIP was 0.607, a result of walking just 3 batters in 57.2 innings.

The A’s blitzed through the ’89 playoffs, defeating the Toronto Blue Jays in 5 games in the ALCS while sweeping the San Francisco Giants in the earthquake-delayed Fall Classic.

For the first and only time in his career, Eckersley was on the mound to celebrate a World Series title at the conclusion of the 4th game.

Although it was in 1992 that Eck won the MVP and Cy Young Award, his best season was in 1990. He saved 48 games while posting a 0.61 ERA over 73.1 innings. In the meantime, he walked just four batters (four) in those 73.1 innings and yielded just two home runs.

Eckersley’s MVP/Cy Young campaign (1992) was awarded because he combined a 7-1 record with 51 saves and a 1.91 ERA.

As he got older, Eckersley’s greatness did start to fade. In his last three years in Oakland (1993-95), Eck still saved 84 games but did it with a mediocre 4.40 ERA.

After the 1995 season, La Russa decided to move to the National League and was named the new manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. A few months later, the Cards traded for La Russa’s 9th inning security blanket.

Final Three Years (St. Louis 1996-1997 & Boston 1998)

In Dennis Eckersley’s last three seasons (1996-97 in St. Louis and back in Boston in 1998), he saved an additional 67 games while posting a 3.89 ERA.

In his first season in St. Louis (1996), Eckersley was fairly mediocre for the first several months but finished strong, posting a 2.08 ERA in his final 24 appearances.

Back in the post-season for the first time since 1992, Eck rediscovered his vintage form. He saved all three games in the Cards’ sweep of the San Diego Padres in the NLDS.

In the NLCS, against the Atlanta Braves, he earned a win and a save in 3 appearances as St. Louis took a 3-1 series lead. The Braves, however, would win the last three games of the series (Eckersley didn’t pitch) to win the pennant.

Eckersley pitched his final season (at the age of 43) in Boston. His final game was on October 3rd, 1998, one day before his 44th birthday. It was Game 3 of the ALDS and, in one inning of work, he gave up a solo home run to Manny Ramirez.

Five years later, Eck appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot and easily gained election into Cooperstown with 83% of the vote.

The Four Phases of Dennis Eckersley’s Career

As we’ve seen, Eckersley’s career can be divided into four phases: the young stud starting pitcher phase, the struggling starting pitcher phase, the lights-out closer phase and the aging relief pitcher phase.

WP Table Builder

I’m generally not inclined to talk about WAR (Wins Above Replacement) when discussing relief pitchers because it’s a counting stat that does not properly take into account the high leverage situations a closer encounters on a nearly daily basis.

However, in the case of Eckersley, it’s really interesting. He is most well known for (and mostly in the Hall of Fame because of) his role as a relief pitcher but his primary value (according to WAR) was as a starter.

• His WAR from 1975-86 (as a starter) was 45.8
• His WAR from 1987-1998 (as a reliever) was 16.9

Here are a couple of nuggets that will surprise you:

• Eckersley’s 45.8 WAR from 1975-86 is 4th best among all MLB pitchers (behind Hall of Famers Phil Niekro, Bert Blyleven and Tom Seaver)
• Eckersley’s 12.5 WAR from 1988-92 (his five best as a closer) is only 3rd among relief pitchers (behind two Royals, Steve Farr and Jeff Montgomery)

How in the world is Eckersley (with his 1.90 ERA) rated behind Montgomery (2.39 ERA) and Farr (2.42 ERA) despite an ERA half a run better than both? The answer is that the metrics that make up WAR elevate Farr and Montgomery for doing well on a Royals team that played poor defense and Eck is “punished” by having a good defensive team behind him.

Eck also benefited from pitching in Oakland but his ERA+ (198) takes that into account and it was significantly better than the others (167 for Montgomery, 164 for Farr).

By the way, Eckersley himself frequently talks about what a benefit it was to pitch in Oakland with its spacious foul territory. As a broadcaster today for the Red Sox, he often makes note of the nearly non-existent foul territory in Fenway Park compared to what he enjoyed in his glory years in Oakland.

Anyway, if you polled the 421 baseball writers who cast a Hall of Fame ballot for Eckersley and asked them if they were voting for him to the Hall of Fame because of what he did as a starter, a reliever or both, you would certainly get many saying “both” but I would hazard to guess that a significant number would say “reliever.” So it’s ironic that WAR says that his career value was dramatically higher as a starting pitcher.

Take a look at this another way. Let’s pretend for a minute that Eckersley only pitched 12 years (all as a relief pitcher).  Look at how Eck’s numbers stack up against others if you focus solely on his final 12 years, and compare him to other relievers who piled up over 300 saves but did it in less than 1,000 innings.

Remember that Eck saved 3 games in Cleveland early on in his career; the total below (of 387 saves) shows only his 12 years when he was used exclusively as reliever. 

WP Table Builder

I think it’s pretty clear that, as good as he was, Dennis Eckersley’s career as a relief pitcher wasn’t itself good enough to merit a Hall of Fame plaque and, in totality, was not quite as spectacular as we remember it.

Eck’s total numbers as a relief pitcher don’t look a whole lot different than those compiled by the others on this list. Particularly interesting are the numbers of Tom Henke, because he was a contemporary and because pitched the identical number of innings as Eckersley did in his 12 years as a reliever.

Henke had far fewer saves (because his managers didn’t give him the opportunities that La Russa did for Eck) but performed at a higher level overall. On the list of these seven relief pitchers, Eckersley’s ERA is 2nd to last and his park-adjusted ERA is worst.

Final Thoughts

Of course, the dissertation above is interesting and thought provoking but I now apologize for the rabbit hole I’ve taken you down. Dennis Eckersley did something that none of the other relievers on these lists did. He did have that first career as a starter and a was very good one. The chart above shows Tom Henke’s entire career. Henke didn’t win 151 games as a starter, he didn’t throw a no-hitter, and he didn’t start an All-Star Game.

There is nobody in baseball history who had a career quite like Dennis Eckersley (half as a starter, half as a closer). There’s an interesting section on every player’s Baseball Reference page called “Similarity Scores” (see the Glossary for details on how it’s calculated). Anyway, if two players had completely identical statistics, their Similarity Score would be 1,000. Every little difference reduces Player A’s Similarity Score as it relates to Player B.

As an example, on the page for Rich “Goose” Gossage, the #1 “most similar” pitcher is Rollie Fingers; the Similarity Score is 918.5. This isn’t surprising; both were failed starters turned long-time closers and both are in the Hall of Fame.

For Eckersley, the “most similar” pitcher is Lindy McDaniel with the Similarity Score of 722.8. If the “most similar” player has a score as low as 722.8, that’s the system’s way of telling us that the player was truly unique.

Incidentally, Hall of Famer John Smoltz (213 wins, 154 saves) doesn’t make Eckersley’s Top 10 although he’s the best Cooperstown-inducted fit in terms of combining excellence as a starter and closer.

Anyway, when you add up the totality of his accomplishments over 24 seasons on the mound, Dennis Eckersley richly deserves his place in Cooperstown. When he was inducted into the Hall, Eckersley’s 390 career saves were third most all time (behind Lee Smith and John Franco). Considering that he did all of that in his 30’s and 40’s, that in itself is an impressive feat.

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Dennis Eckersley Links:

• SABR Bio (by Joseph Wancho)
• Hall of Fame Page
• Dennis Eckersley’s Hall of Fame Speech