Good day all!
On the blog today,
we have the top firemen of the 1978 season in the National League,
proudly displayed on a 1979 “expanded league leader” card:
We begin with hall
of Famer Rollie Fingers, who had himself a wonderful 1978 season for the
San Diego Padres, winning six games while leading the league with 37
saves, good for 43 “points”.
Fingers followed up a
fantastic 1977 season, his first with the Padres, with an even better
year in 1978, posting an ERA of 2.52 over 107.1 innings, appearing in 78
games and closing out 69, both high-marks
in the N.L.
Three years later,
back in the American League, he’d top both those seasons with the
Milwaukee Brewers, earning both the Cy Young and MVP Awards when he led
the league with 28 saves while posting a microscopic
1.04 ERA.
By the time he was
done in 1985, he put together what would be a Hall of Fame career that
spanned from 1968 to 1985, winning three championships, and finishing up
at the time with the all-time best 341 saves.
Behind Fingers with
39 points, the Pittsburgh Pirates great Kent Tekulve, who appeared in a
staggering 91 games, saving 31 while picking up eight wins, pitching to a
wonderful 2.33 ERA over 135.1 innings.
The previous year
was his breakout season, posting a record of 10-1 while saving seven
games for the Pirates, something he’d be doing for the next seven plus
seasons, helping them finally take it all home
with a championship in 1979 as part of the “We Are Family” team led by
the great Willie Stargell.
Incredibly, even in
1987 at the age of 40, he’d lead the league with 90 appearances while
with the Philadelphia Phillies, finally hanging them up after the 1989
season after one year with the Cincinnati Reds,
totaling 1050 games over his 16 year career, with 184 saves and a very
nice 2.85 ERA.
Tied for third with
35 points, Cincinnati Reds reliever Doug Bair and Chicago Cubs uber-star
Bruce Sutter, who both put in All-Star caliber campaigns for their
respective clubs.
For Bair, it was a
wonderful year that saw him win seven games while saving 28, posting an
excellent 1.97 ERA over 70 appearances and 100.1 innings of work.
The righty would put
in 15 years as a Major Leaguer, appearing in 584 games generally as a
middle-reliever as the game changed, using set-up men more and more in
the 1980s.
He would be part of
two World Champion teams, funny enough, one of those with the guy he
tied right here, Bruce Sutter, the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals, while two
seasons later he was part of the juggernaut Detroit
Tigers team.
For Sutter, what really needs to be said about perhaps the dominant relief pitcher of his era?
After an incredible
1977 season that saw him save 31 games while posting a 1.34 ERA over 62
games and 107.1 innings, he came back in 1978 with eight win and 27
saves for the Chicago Cubs, striking out 106
over 98.2 innings.
The following year,
he’d top all of that, winning the N.L. Cy Young Award by saving 37 games
while winning six, striking out 110 batters in 101.1 innings and
pitching to an ERA of 2.22, all this for a Cubs
team that finished under .500 with a record of 80-82.
The man
revolutionized the “closer” role, going on to lead the league in saves
five of the next six seasons, setting a (then) record of 45 saves in in
1984 as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, finishing
with 300 saves over his stellar career.
All of that eventually got him a Hall of Fame induction in 2006, and rightly so!
