(AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera picked up his 602nd save in a 6-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles Monday afternoon, making him the all-time saves leader.
While the future Hall-of-Famer turned 41 years old this year, he is not showing any signs of slowing down. Hell, when it’s all said and done, Rivera may have over 700 saves!
So now comes the obvious question, is Rivera the greatest close of all time? The answer: of-friggin-course!
I mean, it’s kind of an insult to even ask that question in the first place. Take a look at the table below and see for yourselves…
| 1. | Mariano Rivera | 602 | |
| 2. | Trevor Hoffman | 601 | |
| 3. | Lee Smith | 478 | |
| 4. | John Franco | 424 | |
| 5. | Billy Wagner | 422 | |
| 6. | Dennis Eckersley | 390 | |
| 7. | Jeff Reardon | 367 | |
| 8. | Troy Percival | 358 | |
| 9. | Randy Myers | 347 | |
| 10. | Rollie Fingers+ | 341 | |
| 11. | John Wetteland | 330 | |
| 12. | Roberto Hernandez | 326 | |
| 13. | Francisco Cordero | 323 | |
| 14. | Jose Mesa | 321 | |
| 15. | Todd Jones | 319 | |
| 16. | Rick Aguilera | 318 | |
| 17. | Robb Nen | 314 | |
| 18. | Tom Henke | 311 | |
| 19. | Rich Gossage+ | 310 | |
| 20. | Jeff Montgomery | 304 |
*Only Rivera and Cordero are active.
Categories: baseball, sports story
I agree that Rivera is great but just going by saves only does a disservice to the old school relievers. Guys like Gossage would show up in the 7th inning and finish the game. They were also called on to pitch when the team was losing or other non save situations. It wasn’t until the late 80’s that closers were used exclusively in 9th inning save situations.
Guys like Goose, Lyle and Fingers would come in with runners on base and the game in serious jeopardy. In Rivera’s last ten appearances, he has come in to pitch the ninth with a lead and no one on base. Not to take anything away from him; closers are just used differently now and the save is much easier to get today.
Yes, Rivera may be the best, but I don’t think anyone considers Hoffman the 2nd greatest closer of all time. Certainly, John Franco isn’t fourth.
Relief pitchers like Gossage were called “firemen” back in the day because they put out potential fires that were men in scoring position with no outs with the game on the line…
It should also be noted that Rivera pitched for the most successful team of the last 15 years. If he were pitching for the Pirates or Expos/Nationals, his saves would be cut in half.