CLOSED...1960 Topps $25 "expanding lot" auction...Day 7

[HercDriver]

Baseball is obviously a very statistical game, which makes it fun for most true fans to compare players to each other, or chances for a hit in a certain situation. And most statistics, we sort of already have a feel for, without even seeing them, like a guy's batting average against the shift, or something like that. But every once in awhile, you see some stat that is just too weird, like how can it even happen? If you look at the back of Roy Face's card here, you'll see his Won/Loss record for 1959 was 18-1. That's pretty remarkable as it is, but it was all in relief...he only pitched 93 innings! He also had 10 saves added to that. Oddly enough, he's been called baseball's first great closer, but if you think about it, he should be baseball's first great set-up man, or some other name for what he was. A closer today could never get 18 wins, because that meant he blew that many saves. I guess the Pirates went with the "best pitcher" mentality when bringing in a reliever, which is like playoff baseball today. Remarkably, he was 17-0 before taking his first loss. So for those of you who don't like closers, like myself, you can blame Roy Face in part for getting us to where we are today.