The World Series typically ends in our era with a catcher rushing out to embrace a "closer" who has just throttled the opponent's ninth inning last gasp. And that closer, who probably threw the least number of pitches for his team, was probably a serious contender for the Series Most Valuable Player award.
It wasn't always this way. For most of the first half of the last century, successful pitchers generally threw twenty or more complete games each season. When they couldn't finish what they started, they were usually relieved by by someone too young or too old to be entrusted with a whole game. Former starters like Firpo Marberry of the Washington Senators in the 1920's and Johnny Murphy of the New York Yankees in the 30's did achieve distinction as relievers, but they were exceptions.
While Murphy may have been the first to be referred to as a "fireman", it was a Yankee relief pitcher of the late 1940's, Joe Page, who made the term popular. Page turned in two brilliant seasons as the Yanks won pennants and World Series in 1947 and 1949 and stimulated the interest of other clubs in acquiring a specialist in picking up the pieces for shaky starters. The Cleveland Indians of the 50's made the next evolutionary advance with a righty-lefty duo of Ray Narleski and Don Mossi to snuff out enemy rallies.
The growing importance of relief pitchers was finally recognized in 1969 with a new statistic. A pitcher who successfully held on to a lead of three runs or less would be credited with a "save." And it was Rollie Fingers of the three-peat Oakland A's world champions of the 70's who became the exemplar of the new category, often being introduced for only the last inning or two to "close out" a victory. Fingers was eventually both a season and World Series MVP.
Dennis Eckersley came to the A's in the late 80's clearly worn out from a long career as a starting pitcher. Manager Tony LaRussa calculated that he still had enough to overpower batters if he was used most sparingly. And thus Eckersley became the paragon of the "closer," the man who typically came in to get the last three outs. He, too, would be considered important enough to win MVP honors. By the mid-90's, every contending team had to have this type of specialist, leading to the staffing of bullpens with "set-up" men of both right and left hands.
With the revived interest in baseball, fans were treated to the sight, it seemed for a while annually, of the Yankees's Mariano Rivera facing down opposing Red Sox or National League sluggers to nail down a league or world championship. And last year, with a different face and a different uniform, it was Adam Wainwright of the St. Louis Cardinals striding to the mound for the last three outs and earning the now familiar catcher's embrace as the last Detroit Tiger bit the dust.
We're a long way from that 1920 afternoon when Leon Cadore and Joe Oeschger pitched the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves to a 26-inning 1-1 tie. Yes, they each pitched 26 innings. Tune in next October--or November--to see who starts and finishes the last game of the season.
