Quote:
Originally Posted by jayshum
I'm not sure why you would compare IP for a reliever to IP for a starter.
Fingers pitched back when closers (if they were called that back then) were used for multiple innings and didn't only come in when it was a save situation. He pitched in 944 games (907 in relief) and finished 709 of them and had 341 saves. He also pitched 1701 innings so close to 2 innings per appearance.
For comparison, Mariano Rivera pitched in 1115 games (1105 in relief) and finished 952, but he only had 1283 innings so rarely pitched more than 1 inning during an appearance.
Trevor Hoffman pitched in 1035 games (all in relief) and only had 1089 innings.
I don't think you can really compare how relievers were used back in the 70s and 80s with the relievers who pitched when the modern closer role was established.
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I don't see why a couple IP every other day is better than an 8 inning start every 4th or 5th day.
Here's a comparison between Fingers and a guy not even close to being a HOFer - Mel Stottlemyer:
Wins/Losses: Rollie (114-118) Mel (164-139)
Innings Pitched: Rollie (1701.1), Mel (2661.1)
ERA: Rollie (2.90), Mel (2.97)
Rollie was pitching in his prime on 3 World Series champions.
Mel was on the Yankees 1964 WS team and as a rookie started 3 of the WS games. Otherwise, he was on the Yankees during their dismal Horace Clarke era.
I have never subscribed to the notion the 9th inning is so much more difficult/important than the 3rd or 4th inning. So, to me, saves don't matter much. If we credit Rollie for throwing a clean 9th, we should give Mel the same credit for all the clean innings he threw.
Both were quality pitchers and valuable to their teams. Just saying, Mel gave 50% more quality innings.