Ten Things About Mariano Rivera's 602 Saves

I'll make this short.

With a save in Monday's 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera is now the all-time saves leader with 602.

Here are ten things about Rivera's 602 saves.

110
Since Mariano Rivera inherited the New York Yankees closer’s job prior to the 1997 season, there have been 110 saves tallied by other members of the bullpen.  Now, while that sounds like a lot, consider this…Rivera has 597 by comparison.

89.32%

Of the number of Major League records that Mariano Rivera holds…this is one of the more impressive.  Say what you want about the value of saves, but dude has closed out close to 90% of all the save opportunities he’s had.

68

In Mariano Rivera’s time as a member of the Yankees, he’s closed out a number of games for a number of different pitchers.  The pitcher that he’s been paired up with the most on the win/save ledger…Andy Pettitte.  Of Pettitte’s 203 wins in pinstripes, Rivera saved 68 of them.

60

Trivia time!  Two of Mariano Rivera’s record 602 saves have been one pitch saves.  The most pitches he’s thrown to get the save came August 23, 1996 when he threw 60.

51

In May 2010, mariano Rivera tied Eric Gagne for the most consecutive saves at home with 51.  Sure, it isn’t a Major League record, but given the Bombers play in, arguably, the toughest division in baseball…51 straight at The Stadium is impressive.

42

Sure, sure, 602 career saves is great and all…but how many did Mariano Rivera have in the postseason?  Answer.  42…with 11 of them coming in the World Series.

25
We all know Mariano Rivera enters Yankees Stadium to “Enter Sandman”, right?  Sure, that’s been documented plenty.  But did you know that the album the track comes from (“Metallica” by Metallica) is the 25th best-selling album of all-time in America?

12
Due to injury, Mariano Rivera saved a career-worst 28 saves in 2002.  But picking up the slack was Steve Karsay.  Karsay, incidentally, recorded his only saves as a member of the Yankees during the time Rivera was on the shelf.

4
Let’s break this down.  Mariano Rivera now has a record 602 regular season saves, 42 postseason saves and, four All-Star Game saves.  Anyone who says “saves don’t matter” haven’t watched the 648 games that have been watched with Rivera left standing on the mound.

1

And speaking of the “saves don’t matter” crowd…here’s some fuel for their fire.  21 times Mariano Rivera came in to secure the victory by only facing one batter.

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Mariano Saves Number 600

Baseball sure does like its round numbers doesn't it?

On the same night that Boston's Tim Wakefield became the 108th pitcher to win 200 games and Tampa Bay's Johnny Damon became just the ninth member of the 200/400 (home runs/steals) club comes this...New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera is now only the second pitcher to reach 600 saves.

"It's a great number," Rivera told reporters following the game. "I'm not a guy who looks for things like that."

The master of the cutter joined fellow future Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman after closing out the Bombers 3-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners Tuesday night

"I don't know if we'll ever see it again. That's how much of an accomplishment this is that he and Trevor Hoffman have done. Simply remarkable," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "This is a guy who I believe is the best closer that's ever been in the game and I've had the fortune of catching him, coaching him and managing him and it's a treat."

Up next for Rivera is Hoffman's all-time record of 601 saves.  After that, when he reaches 602...the saves record will be his for, probably, ever.

But hey, let's not talk just about 600 saves...what else has Rivera done to secure his spot in Cooperstown?

• 12-time All-Star (1997, 1999-2002, 2004-2006 and 2008-2011)
• Five-time World Series champion (1996, 1998-2000 and 2009)
• 1999 World Series MVP Award
• 2003 AL Championship Series MVP Award
• All-time leader in postseason saves with 42
• All-time leader in games finished
• One of two pitchers to record at least 40 saves in eight separate seasons
• One of two pitchers to record at least 50 saves in two separate seasons

I'm going to stop now, because something tells me this post could go on for a while otherwise.

  

Everybody Hates Saves

Good friend of The Hall of Very Good (and originator of The Topps Traded 1975 Project), David Jordan hit Cooperstown last month and had a "quick conversation" with Goose Gossage.

Apparently the Hall of Famer is everywhere and, well, here's Jordan's story.

As someone who has immersed himself in Induction Weekend Culture two of the last three years, I believe I have a sense of the different levels of involvement certain Hall-of-Famer players employ.

You have guys like George Brett,  Carl Yastrzemski, Ernie Banks, Steve Carlton, Cal Ripken and Sandy Koufax, who show up for the ceremonies but aren’t interacting much with the fans on Main Street.

Then there’s the Jim Rice, Dave Winfield and Robin Yount types.  They provide extremely limited time windows to sign autographs and then that’s it, they’re gone.  Some players like Willie McCovey, Stan Musial and Nolan Ryan (even before his heart scare), who, most likely because of age-related ailments, rarely even attend.

And then there’s Goose.

He was everywhere and, quite possibly, the most visible athlete during the weekend. He was always ready with a smile for a fan or a quick conversation.  I would say Goose, Gaylord Perry and Fergie Jenkins, were the most ubiquitous around town during my time there.

Before getting to my conversation with Goose...the trip made me think a lot about saves.

Apparently you’re not one of the cool kids if you still measure closer effectiveness by saves or hitters by Runs Batted In.  Sure, there are finer barometers for performance assessment, but baseball is a game of tradition, and such a low-stakes controversy like this, there’s really no need for you to be throwing around the 96 you got on the fifth grade Language Arts final.

There’s quite a bit of chatter going on regarding the prospects of Trevor Hoffman being elected to the Hall of Fame now that he’s retired. Again, I would love to hear more thoughts on this, but I don’t know if I see it. 

Mariano Rivera should be passing him on the all-time saves list by the end of the season since he’s only nine away from him now.

Incidentally, is ANYONE talking about this? With all the pomp and circumstance surrounding Jeter’s 3000th hit, there has been nary a word in the media regarding the run-up to Rivera eclipsing Hoffman.

Here’s the top ten closers in history by saves:

1. Trevor Hoffman – 601
2. Mariano Rivera – 592
3. Lee Smith – 478
4. John Franco – 424
5. Billy Wagner – 422
6. Dennis Eckersley – 390 (which is amazing when you realize he spent half his career as a starter)
7. Jeff Reardon – 367
8. Troy Percival – 358
9. Randy Myers – 347
10. Rollie Fingers – 341

That’s all well and good. Now, let’s glance at the Top Ten relievers measuring PWAR...or “Pitcher Wins Above Replacement".

1. Mariano Rivera – 55
2. Goose Gossage – 36.8
3. Hoyt Wilhelm – 33.2
4. Trevor Hoffman – 30.8
5. Lee Smith – 30.3
6. Billy Wagner – 29.7
7. John Franco – 25.8
8. Bruce Sutter – 25
9. Kent Tekulve – 24.9
10. Rollie Fingers – 24.4

Conclusions and questions:

• Mariano Rivera is the greatest closer in the history of the game. And it’s not even close.
• Kent Tekulve may be the most forgotten great closer in the Baseball Conversation today.
• Did Billy Wagner throw away a shot at the Hall of Fame by retiring two to three years too early? Outside of saves...his numbers are better than Hoffman’s.
• Is a closer’s WAR baseline for inclusion into the Hall 30 wins above replacement now? Is it 35?
• Now you know why Rich Gossage is a Hall of Famer.

Although he is mostly known today for his time with the Yankees, Goose said he still has a good amount of people ask him about his years on the South Side of Chicago.

I mentioned to him how I always found it odd that both he and Terry Forster were shifted to the bullpen for the 1976 season.

Listen to what this ballclub did.  Okay, trading Stan Bahnsen for Chet Lemon and Dave Hamilton in mid-season...that I can deal with. But then you trade Jim Kaat, a 20-game winner, to the Phillies during the winter meetings.

Now you’re left with Wilbur Wood, who was beginning his decline, Jesse Jefferson and Claude Osteen, who wouldn’t even make it out of spring training the following season.

So what did the ChiSox do with their American League Fireman of the Year?

“Yeah, the ballclub called me in the offseason,” Goose told me, “And told me I was going to the rotation. I’d do anything to help the ballclub so I was fine with it.”

This ’76 squad had Gossage in the rotation and a young Pete Vuckovich in the bullpen...whom they left unprotected, by the way, in the expansion draft the following winter.

Incredible.

So, what do you think?  Who is the greatest closer of all-time and why?  Also...do saves even matter anymore?