"Welcome to the Hall's of Relief", IV

The 1950s

When last we left the reliever, he had just survived a stultifying few decades. There were a few standouts and the role had continued to evolve somewhat, but on the whole relievers were used basically the same way in 1945 as they had in 1925. But halcyon days were approaching, and the second half of the 1940s presented some harbingers of the glory ahead for relievers.

In 1946 an important barrier was passed. That year the average ballgame saw each team use at least two pitchers. The percentage of games completed by the starting pitcher gradually fell to around 40%. Relief pitching was now very much a part of the basic strategy of the game. It was becoming a more clearly defined role, not just a chore performed by one's best pitchers on their off days.

Pure relievers had started to occupy the bullpen along with swingmen, who started and relieved. The pure relievers still on the whole did not occupy the highest rungs of the bullpen ladder. The top position still fell to the part-time starter, but the differences were lessening. The pure reliever no longer had an average ERA over 5.00. The specialists were beginning to evolve. The best pitchers evolved back into pure starters. The best reliever could now be a pure reliever or a swingman. The stigma was removed from the pure reliever label.

A few men from the late '40s excelled and they tended to be pure (or near pure) relievers. Joe Page started his career as a swingman, but when his workload was shifted more to the bullpen in his second year (11 relief attempts in 20 games pitched), his ERA dropped almost 1.75 runs. The Yankees, thinking that the young pitcher was now ready to become a bigger part of the staff, worked him in his third year as more of a starter (17 starts in 31 games). Page's ERA climbed 75 points, not bad but not great, just how the Yankees had played in that era.

In 1947, Page's fourth year, Bucky Harris took over the reigns of the team, and installed Page in the bullpen. Page won 14 games, save 17 others, and had a 2.48 ERA (42% better than the adjusted league average), and he did it almost exclusively out of the bullpen (2 starts in 56 games). The Yankees won the World Series, and Page brought respectability to the pure reliever's role, finishing fourth in the AL MVP race. After a subpar year in '48 for Page and the Yankees, in 1949 Page exceeded his level of two years before: 13 wins, 27 saves, 2.59 ERA (55% better than average), 60 appearances, all in relief, and third place in the AL MVP. The Yankees, now managed by Casey Stengel, again won the Series. Page was ineffective in 1950 though he continued to relieve for the world champion Yankees. His peak was extremely short, another trait for relievers, he always gave up a ton of walks, and when hits started to follow he was out of the game in a year.

There were other relievers who had similar careers in the late 1940s and early 1950s, though none seemed to get the notoriety that Page did. The first was probably Hugh Casey who became basically a pure reliever for the Dodgers by 1942. He had been a fairly successful swingman, failed one year, and was moved permanently to the pen. He too had a short peak that was very good if not great, that is, the three years bookending the war: 1942, '46, and '47 (he missed the war years). He collected 36 saves and 27 wins, made 142 appearances (only 3 of which were starts), and had an ERA under 2.00 one year and slightly above another year. That was basically his career however.

Others of note were "Fireman" Johnny Murphy (the man from whom Page wrested the "closer" job and who held the career saves "record"-107-from 1947 to 1961), Al Benton (a swingman until late in his career), Ace Adams (only 7 starts in 302 appearances in an incredibly short career), Harry Gumbert (another swingman converted to closer late in his career), Tom Ferrick (pure reliever and journeyman), and Gordon Maltzberger (4 years, all as a reliever).

In the 1950s, the star reliever arrived. Page and his notoriety were probably the biggest impetus behind this change, even though his career ended as it was really getting underway. In 1950 the Phils' Jim Konstanty won the NL MVP award with some very good numbers 16 wins, 22 saves, and a 2.66 ERA (52% better than the adjusted league average) in 74 games, all in relief. It wasn't the best year by a reliever in the decade (Kinder's 1953 season comes to mind), but he won the award, the lowly Phils won the pennant, and it was a sort of clarion call for all teams to get pure relievers. Unfortunately, it was also basically his career, except for a splash with the Yankees five years later.

Ellis Kinder and Clem Labine were probably the best relievers of the decade. Kinder didn't make it to the majors until he was in his thirties and didn't become a real reliever until 35, but he collected 87 saves in the next 6 years for the Red Sox. Brooklyn's Labine slowly evolved into the team's reliever. He never had more than three good years in a row but in toto was a reliable reliever.

Hoyt Wilhelm, Elroy Face, and Lindy McDaniel all pitched in this era and pitched pretty well, but they really didn't come into his own until the '60s. There were others, but none really stood out and most were only effective for a very short time.

Before the Fifties no man had made 300 relief appearances in a decade. Five men did it in the 1950s. Before 1950 very few men tallied 50 saves. Eight did it in the Fifties. The reliever role was now established, but teams were still not ready to devote their best pitchers to it.

The other roles evolved accordingly as well. The ace starter being used as a closer finally died in the 1950s. The last man to be used in this way with regularity was probably Allie Reynolds, who saved 35 games in 70 relief appearances in the decade. A few others still did it as well: Robin Roberts, Warren Spahn, Billy Pierce, and Bob Lemon (all with at least 15 saves in the decade), to name a few. There were also swingman still, like Lew Burdette, but the lion's share of the reliever duties was falling to men who were more and more pure relievers and less and less part-time starters. The stars were the purer relievers.

In the 1960s teams would start to test the boundaries of this new pure reliever role. They still had much to discover. Though on the surface many things seemed relatively unchanged (most pitcher were still technically swingmen, there were very few pure starters, etc.) at the end of the Fifties, the changes that were put in motion in that decade are still the ones that the game is dealing with today.

Here are the leaders in relief appearances and saves for the decade:

FirstName	LastName	RA	Saves	GP
Hoyt	Wilhelm	395	58	432
Clem	Labine	375	82	412
Jim	Konstanty	321	65	344
Ellis	Kinder	309	96	346
Turk	Lown	309	51	358
Roy	Face	297	51	324
Marv	Grissom	278	58	325
Gerry	Staley	265	41	430
Frank	Smith	264	44	271
Tom	Gorman	256	42	289
Ernie	Johnson	254	19	273
Bob	Miller	250	16	337
Johnny	Klippstein	248	29	400
Al	Brazle	240	55	266
Harry	Dorish	237	42	268
George	Zuverink	234	40	265
Tom	Morgan	226	43	287
Ray	Narleski	214	58	266
Morrie	Martin	202	15	240
Paul	LaPalme	202	14	253
Hersh	Freeman	201	37	204
  
FirstName	LastName	RA	Saves	GP
Ellis	Kinder	309	96	346
Clem	Labine	375	82	412
Jim	Konstanty	321	65	344
Hoyt	Wilhelm	395	58	432
Marv	Grissom	278	58	325
Ray	Narleski	214	58	266
Al	Brazle	240	55	266
Turk	Lown	309	51	358
Roy	Face	297	51	324
Frank	Smith	264	44	271
Tom	Morgan	226	43	287
Tom	Gorman	256	42	289
Harry	Dorish	237	42	268
Gerry	Staley	265	41	430
Johnny	Sain	120	41	218
George	Zuverink	234	40	265
Jim	Hughes	171	39	172
Hersh	Freeman	201	37	204
Ryne	Duren	93	35	100
Allie	Reynolds	70	35	187
Don	Mossi	192	32	258
Bob	Grim	152	32	212
Don	McMahon	130	32	130
Ike	Delock	175	31	247
Don	Elston	161	31	176

Here are the totals per role for the decade. Note the gradual increase in the pure reliever and decrease in swingman in the second half of the decade. Also, note that the pure reliever's ERA is more in line with the other two roles by the end of the decade (and that his strikeouts-per-nine-innings doubles):

Year   GP   GS  SV  CG    CG%   RA   P/G  #P SP   SP% RP    RP% SP/RP Swing%
1950 5246 2476 289 998 40.31% 2770 2.119 231  9 3.90% 57 24.68%  165  71.43%
1951 5332 2478 276 938 37.85% 2854 2.152 220 10 4.55% 46 20.91%  164  74.55%
1952 5259 2478 306 949 38.30% 2781 2.122 236 13 5.51% 49 20.76%  174  73.73%
1953 5592 2480 347 864 34.84% 3112 2.255 218 12 5.50% 41 18.81%  165  75.69%
1954 5589 2472 350 840 33.98% 3117 2.261 225 10 4.44% 50 22.22%  165  73.33%
1955 5944 2468 356 748 30.31% 3476 2.408 258  7 2.71% 74 28.68%  177  68.60%
1956 5932 2478 367 758 30.59% 3454 2.394 241 15 6.22% 55 22.82%  171  70.95%
1957 6013 2470 391 710 28.74% 3543 2.434 249 11 4.42% 71 28.51%  167  67.07%
1958 6025 2470 404 743 30.08% 3555 2.439 250 14 5.60% 72 28.80%  164  65.60%
1959 5908 2476 379 742 29.97% 3432 2.386 243 10 4.12% 77 31.69%  156  64.20%

Year