Baseball Hall of Fame: Relief Pitcher
Best—Randy Myers, 13.6 fWAR, 38th among relief pitchers
Randy Myers was a starting pitcher for most of his time in the minor leagues but was moved to the bullpen in 1986 because the Mets had a solid big league rotation that Myers was not going to crack. He only pitched in 10 games with the 1986 team that won the World Series but would become the team’s primary closer within a couple of years. In 1988, he saved 26 games and had a 1.72 ERA.
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Before the 1990 season, Myers was traded by the Mets to the Reds for John Franco (with other players also involved). He teamed with Norm Charlton and Rob Dibble to form Cincy’s shutdown bullpen that was known as “The Nasty Boys.” The bullpen was an essential factor in the Reds division title and postseason success. They beat the Pirates in the NLCS and swept the A’s in the World Series.
After the 1992 season, Myers signed with the Cubs as a free agent and saved 53 games in his first season in Chicago, which set the NL record at the time (since broken by John Smoltz and Eric Gagne, both with 55). He later pitched for the Orioles, Blue Jays, and Padres. He finished his career with 347 saves, which is 12th on the all-time list.
Others—Bill Campbell (46th), Jesse Orosco (50th), Armando Benitez (84th), Steve Bedrosian (138th), Al Hrabosky (155th), Mark Davis (157th)
No pitcher has pitched more games in the Major Leagues than Jesse Orosco. He was most well known for his time with the New York Mets, which included two all-star seasons and a World Series championship, but he also pitched for eight other teams in his 24-year career. Pitching the most games in baseball history is a nice thing to hang your hat on, but it’s not necessarily worthy of a Baseball Hall of Fame vote.
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The least accomplished Baseball Hall of Fame one-vote guy in the last 30 years is Mark Davis. Heading into the 1988 season, Davis had been in the big leagues for eight seasons and had a 4.29 ERA in 284 games. He suddenly blossomed into an all-star in 1988 and 1989. He saved 72 games with a 1.93 ERA across those two seasons. Then he went back to being bad again, finishing out his career with a 5.37 ERA over his final six seasons.