Jerome Holtzman Dead at 82.

by Matthew on Jul 21, 2008 6:07 PM PDT

Who's Jerome Holtzman? Why he was the official historian for Major League Baseball and is most widely known as the the man who created the save statistic thus poisoning proper baseball strategy and making multi-multi-millionaires out of a select group of relievers who are lucky enough to be chosen at some point for ninth inning duty.

Not to disparage Holtzman, who by all accounts was a fine person who probably never imagined what the save would do to baseball, but man has that stat created massive inefficiencies in the baseball talent market.

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R.I.P., jerk.

Kidding. Mostly.

by Teej on Jul 21, 2008 6:28 PM PDT reply actions

Think we'll ever see a team say "Fuck the closer. We'll do what we want." and go with an old-school bullpen?

by Gomez on Jul 21, 2008 6:41 PM PDT reply actions

Did old school bullpens exist?

Most starters would pitch the entire game, running their pitch count up to 200+ pitches.

by Wilder. on Jul 21, 2008 6:54 PM PDT up reply actions

Not that old school

I’m thinking Goose Gossage and bullpens with 2-3 relief aces and maybe a couple other arms.

by Gomez on Jul 21, 2008 10:19 PM PDT up reply actions

Considering how up in arms

Fans get when there’s a guy blowing saves regularly? Doubt you’ll ever see anyone go without a defined closer.

Midnight Baseball - No Lights - Only in Alaska!

by MfaninAlaska on Jul 22, 2008 10:25 AM PDT up reply actions

But how often will a guy be blowing saves regularly if it's not just one guy closing games?

by Gomez on Jul 22, 2008 10:44 AM PDT up reply actions

All it will take

is one or two every couple weeks. Everytime I keep hearing about how the closer position is overrated I keep thinking back to when Guardado was the closer. Alot of discussion was about using your best reliever (JJ) in higher leverage positions and your worse reliever in the 9th when no one was one. Blew a couple games and the outrage ensued.

Its not right, but that’s the way it is, nothing gets people in an uproar quicker then losing a game you expect to win because you’re ahead in the 9th.

Midnight Baseball - No Lights - Only in Alaska!

by MfaninAlaska on Jul 22, 2008 10:58 AM PDT up reply actions

Did it happen that often back in the 70's?

by Gomez on Jul 22, 2008 11:12 AM PDT up reply actions

No, but its not easy to change fans perspectives.

you can try and go back, but because the can of worms has already been opened you just can’t go back. Just like you’ll never see a starting pitcher like Steve Carlton throw 30 complete games in a season, or average 244.7 ip for a season.

The game has changed and until someone can successfully pull off being a dominating team with a multiple closer setup then you’ll keep hearing about how it doesn’t work as soon as a few games are blown.

Midnight Baseball - No Lights - Only in Alaska!

by MfaninAlaska on Jul 22, 2008 11:25 AM PDT up reply actions