All You Need is 14 Saves to be Among the Best Thousand Closers of All Time

    Some baseball fans like stats, too. That is part of the charm. Maybe nerdy, maybe not so cool, but sometimes we like to investigate the numbers that been generating since the late 1800s.

    In all the years of baseball, truncated a few times because of strikes or pandemic shutdowns, or perhaps even a major terrorist attack, baseball plays so many games with so many various athletes that it can be interesting to break down, to chop up, to put in a fish bowl and gawk at.

    The "save" is a statistic earned by pitchers when they come in the end of a game and close out the side while maintaining the lead for the win. So, a classic example is a pitcher who comes in the 9th inning with a one run lead, mows down the three batters he faces, and the crowd, assuming this is the home pitcher, goes wild. He would earn a "save" if this team is up 4-1, because the three batters represent those potential three runs. However, if it is 5-1, and he strikes out all the batters, or gets them out, perhaps he does not get the save. Right?

    I or someone will have to check if I am right.

    If, on the other hand, a guy or two gets on base, or if he pitches over two innings, accounting for 6 outs, or 4 or 5, say, then the potential run scorers would add up to a save if the distance of runs to catch up were 4, or 5, or 6. Closer wins are imperative for pitchers to earn a save. Even giving up late runs is okay if the pitcher finishes the deal getting the win, say, giving up five runs but still winning, 6-5 or 11-10.

    Capiche? Makes sense? It makes sense to me. 

    What I find incredible is that in the day and age of almost no pitcher pitching an entire complete game, by throwing all nine innings (or perhaps a weather-shortened game would qualify in 6-8 innings) for the win, there are still a large number of pitchers--closers as it were-- that do not have many saves yet are still in the top thousand of all time.

    14 is the threshold, the bar! That is amazing to me.

    Contrast that with the top thousand home run hitters of all time, and now that bar is 100.

    Numbers of saves by a great pitcher in a great year can rival a really good home run year. A superb closer on a very competitive team can get 50 saves. Hitting 50 home runs in a season is great by any major league baseball standard. Shohei Ohtani did it this year, plus he stole than many bases, and had one of the best seasons for any baseball player of all time. He is an elite pitcher, too. He is a starter, so he does not normally qualify for saves. A pitcher can be brought in to save, at times, but normally more extreme situations, like in the playoffs or the world series. And, those stats do not count towards career totals, which is what we are talking about.

    The top closers statistically of all time have numbers that remind me of the best numbers of home run hitters, like Bonds and Ruth and Rodriguez, or now Pujols.

    The top closing pitchers with career saves are:

    

1.	Mariano Rivera+ (19)	652	1283.2	R
2.	Trevor Hoffman+ (18)	601	1089.1	R
3.	Lee Smith+ (18)	478	1289.1	R
4.	Kenley Jansen (15, 36)	447	868.1	R
5.	Craig Kimbrel (15, 36)	440	809.2	R
6.	Francisco Rodríguez (16)	437	976.0	R
7.	John Franco (21)	424	1245.2	L
8.	Billy Wagner (16)	422	903.0	L
9.	Dennis Eckersley+ (24)	390	3285.2	R
10.	Joe Nathan (16)	377	923.1	R
11.	Jonathan Papelbon (12)	368	725.2	R
12.	Jeff Reardon (16)	367	1132.1	R
13.	Troy Percival (14)	358	708.2	R
14.	Randy Myers (14)	347	884.2	L
15.	Rollie Fingers+ (17)	341	1701.1	R
16.	Aroldis Chapman (15, 36)	335	760.0	L
17.	John Wetteland (12)

Go to the site to see the rest, like Wetteland, that I did not capture fully.

    I get it that many pitchers cannot throw as hard as they do for endless years. Many guys blow out their arms, wear out their elbows or shoulders, and cannot get those monster seasons. There are many closers on each team; guys need rest and cannot always pitch. And wins can prove difficult, too. 

    But, 14? Who are the guys at the end of the list? When did they play?

    986.Al Aber (6)14389.1L

 Steve Barber (15)141999.0L 

Jesse Barnes (13)142569.2R 

Frank Baumann (11)14797.1L 

Matt Belisle (15)14928.2R 

Warren Brusstar (9)14484.2R 

Bud Byerly (11)14491.2R 

Greg Cadaret (10)14724.1L 

Dave Campbell (2)14158.0R 

Miguel Castro (10, 29)14460.2R 

Bob Chipman (12)14880.2L 

Alex Claudio (10)14348.0L 

Wilbur Cooper (15)143480.0L

 Roosevelt Davis (20)141537.2R 

Art Ditmar (9)141268.0R 

Pete Donohue (12)142112.1R 

Justin Duchscherer (8)14454.2R 

Bob Duliba (7)14257.0R 

Arnold Earley (8)14381.1L 

Jamie Easterly (13)14611.1L 

Harry Eisenstat (8)14478.2L 

Roenis Elías (7)14395.2L 

Lucas Erceg (2, 29)14116.2R 

John Ericks (3)14162.0R 

Wes Gardner (8)14466.1R 

Joe Grzenda (8)14308.0L 

Larry Gura (16)142047.0L

 Mark Guthrie (15)14978.2L 

Bill Hands (11)141951.0R 

Dwayne Henry (11)14334.2R 

Oral Hildebrand (10)141430.2R

 Tom Hilgendorf (6)14313.2L 

Howie Judson (7)14615.0R 

Justin Lawrence (4, 29)14194.0R 

Jensen Lewis (4)14198.0R 

Javier López (14)14533.1L 

Sal Maglie (10)141723.0R 

Chris Martin (9, 38)14346.2R 

Mickey McDermott (12)141316.2L 

Sam McDowell (15)142492.1L 

George McQuillan (10)141576.1R

 Andy Messersmith (12)142230.1R 

Mike Myers (13)14541.2L 

Art Nehf (15)142707.2L

 Al Osuna (6)14192.2L 

George Pipgras (11)141488.1R

 Mel Queen (9)14389.2R 

Eppa Rixey+ (21)144494.2L 

Nap Rucker (10)142375.1L 

Ray Scarborough (10)141428.2R 

Charley Schanz (5)14626.2R 

Chuck Seelbach (4)14130.2R 

Jim Slaton (16)142683.2R 

Carson Smith (5)14102.0R 

Lil Stoner (9)141003.2R

 Lon Warneke (15)142782.1R 

Les Webber (6)14432.0R 

Harry Wright+ (7)14100.1R

    A few Hall of Famers in there. They had to be starters, we must surmise. Harry Wright, the last one listed with 14 saves. Maybe this season, 2025, the bar will rise with the present closers getting more saves. That is the way of states, especially in a day and age when closers and mid-relievers are coming in at all points of the game. Close games favor the closer, when it comes to these stats, and one dominant guy and team like Mariano Rivera or Lee Smith can mean a lot.

    Eric Gagne in Los Angelese was an interesting case, because he flamed so bright but then lost his predominance. Or Thigpen with the White Sox in the early 1990s. Or Eckersley, or a litany of others.

    Who are the most dominant closers of all time? Who have been the save masters, meisters of the close?

    Maybe nerd on that for a while.