Relief pitcher Bruce Sutter's election to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America last week can be viewed in two very different lights. His enshrinement as the only pitcher ever chosen for Cooperstown without ever starting a major-league game may signal that a substantial majority of the scribes have finally discarded a long-standing prejudice against bullpen artists. But it also throws gasoline onto what has been a simmering debate about the relative HOF worthiness of relief pitchers.

If the former view is correct, then Cooperstown’s door might yet open for Goose Gossage and Lee Smith, two closers who have thus far been swimming upstream against the current of anti-reliever voting prejudice. In turn, that might facilitate future elections of late-inning studs like Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman (although my own opinion is that, due especially to his post-season heroics, Rivera is by now a virtual lock for election, regardless, as arguably the very best closer in history).

Beyond that, although very doubtful, Sutter’s election may even slightly enhance the prospects of several earlier closers whose HOF fates are now or soon will be relegated to the impotent Veterans Committee, notably Firpo Marberry, Elroy Face, Mike Marshall, Sparky Lyle and Dan Quisenberry. But whether or not the election of relievers becomes any easier as result of Sutter’s anointment, it’s a cinch that each new closer enshrined from here on out will rekindle argument over whether or not relief pitchers merit Hall of Fame election.

The argument against closers in Cooperstown rests upon the view that, relative to starting pitchers and (especially) position players, relief pitchers do not perform in a sufficient or comparatively significant number of innings over their careers to merit their enshrinement. The viewpoint is an extension of a similar argument, in which starting pitchers – who play just once every five days – are deemed by many as unworthy of Most Valuable Player honors, a perspective that has increasingly dominated MVP voting for most of the period since the Cy Young Award was initiated in 1956.

There is no denying the fact that relievers, especially closers, pitch far fewer innings than starters, and play way less than the regulars at other positions, both on a seasonal basis and over the course of their careers. The lists below give the MLB leaders for saves, games won and on-base percentage in 2005. The rounded total of innings pitched is also given for both sets of hurlers. Innings played by the position players was not available, so their numbers involve an estimate based on the (no doubt conservative) premise that each man averaged at least six innings per game played.

The choice of OBP leaders for this comparison was entirely arbitrary, intended only to assure that the people on the list played about as often as possible. Below each group is the average number of innings per man.

Closers	SV	Inn	Starters	GW	Inn	Position	OBP	Inn
C. Cordero	47	74	D. Willis	22	236	T. Helton	.445	864
F. Rodriguez	45	67	C. Carpenter	21	242	J. Giambi	.440	834
B. Wickman	45	62	B. Colon	21	223	A. Pujols	.430	966
T. Hoffman	43	58	R. Oswalt	20	242	B. Giles	.423	948
J. Nathan	43	70	J. Garland	18	221	A. Rodriguez	.421	972
M. Rivera	43	78	C. Capuano	18	219	D. Lee	.418	948
Averages		68			231			922

If you project the innings numbers above over the course of a 20-year career, the closers will average about 1,360 innings per man, the starters 4,620 and the position players 18,440 (probably more). Those numbers are also borne out by a comparison of innings played by various Hall of Famers. The four relievers now in Cooperstown (Sutter, Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers and Dennis Eckersley) combined to hurl 9,283 innings in 3,746 games, for averages of 2,071 innings apiece and 2.5 innings per game – numbers that are greatly padded by the innings totals in Eckersley’s 361 career starts (at least 1,800 innings on their own).

In comparison, the four Hall of Fame starters with the most career innings (Cy Young, Pud Galvin, Walter Johnson and Phil Niekro) combined for 24,617 innings in 3,269 games, for averages of 6,154 innings per career and 7.5 per game. The career average for all 56 starting pitchers elected to the Hall to date is 4,052 innings, almost twice the Eckersley-enhanced mean for the four Cooperstown relievers. Using the same conservative estimate applied above, the four Hall of Fame position players with the most career games (Carl Yastrzemski, Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb and Stan Musial) played in a total of 12,667 contests for an estimated 76,002 innings, or about 19,000 innings per career (again, no doubt more).

Clearly, Sutter’s total of 1,042 career innings pitched pales in comparison to the innings played by Yaz (around 19,848) and even Cy Young (7,356). The same must inevitably be true of every other man among the best-qualified relievers hoping for a plaque in Cooperstown. To date, 37 men who can fairly be identified as career relief specialists have received votes for the Hall. Among them, only four – Eckersley, Wilhelm, Marberry and Lindy McDaniel – topped 2,000 innings pitched in their careers; and Morrie Martin, a well-traveled, but seldom-used 1950s reliever who got two inexplicable votes in 1966, appeared in only 605 frames, lowest among the group.

The overall average for all 37 is 1,316 innings, 2,736 less than and not even one-third of the career IP average among HOF starters.

Beyond the Hall of Fame worthiness of relievers’ credentials, these innings-pitched comparisons also raise a question as to whether giving votes to closers denies more appropriate support to starting pitchers who, although they may not be 300-game winners, are far better-qualified for Cooperstown on the basis of time played. For example, in 13 years on the HOF ballot, Sutter received a total of 2,767 votes, more than those of a host of contemporary starting pitchers who were on the ballot during that period, including but not limited to Tommy John (288 wins, but only 1,432 votes to date), Bert Blyleven (287 and 1,297), Jim Kaat (283 and 1,594), Jack Morris (254 and 941), Dennis Martinez (245 and 16), Frank Tanana (240 and no votes at all) and Luis Tiant (229 and 918).

Among that group, the career innings totals range from Blyleven’s 4,970 to Tiant’s 3,486, and the seven men averaged 4,244 IP apiece, almost 2,000 more than the average for relievers with HOF votes.

Having presented all that data for the sake of argument, let me state unequivocally that I don’t for an instant agree with either of the premises the anti-pitcher viewpoints are based upon. With regard to starters and the MVP, there is simply no doubt that there are seasons when a pitcher truly deserves the honor, the most obvious in fairly recent memory being 1968 when Bob Gibson and Denny McLain won their separate league awards in the final season of a decade dominated by pitching.

In the current offensive context, it may well be that it requires an extraordinary season for any pitcher to justifiably deserve MVP honors, but when that happens I simply do not believe hurlers should be excluded from the honor purely on the argument that they only play every fifth day, or that they have their own, separate award for excellence (The Cy Young trophy). After all, it takes nine – not eight – men to fill out a lineup card (okay, 10 in the AL), and the trophy says Most Valuable “Player,” not Most Valuable “Batter” or “Fielder.” Until they redefine it as such, pitchers have every right to win the award and should be given equal consideration.

As for relievers and Cooperstown, it’s my own view that the gradual evolution of bullpen usage represents the most significant change in baseball strategy since Babe Ruth legitimized the home run. As a result, and in effect, the “closer” has become a 10th position in the lineup (or, an 11th, if – again – you credit the designated hitter for some reason). Commensurate with that evolution, various pitchers have been turned into career relief specialists, usually by the decisions of managers that were beyond their personal control.

So, unlike the days before World War II when bullpen pitchers were by and large failed starters, the limited innings the very best relievers pitch is in most cases now a tacit, if inversely proportioned recognition of their special, perhaps superior skills. Beyond that, relief pitching, especially closing, takes a special temperament that is unique relative to any “nine-inning” position, and a hence a type of psychological skill (albeit unmeasurable) all its own. To me, those factors justify Hall of Fame recognition for the best-qualified relievers, despite their limited playing time, in the same manner that Cooperstown has honored one-dimensional home-run savants like Harmon Killebrew and Ralph Kiner, plus weak-hitting fielding wizards like Ozzie Smith, Rabbit Maranville and Ray Schalk.

Approached another way, Cooperstown has chosen to honor several starters with relatively short careers and innings-pitched totals that were very low compared to the average HOF hurler. The four Hall of Fame pitchers with the fewest career innings are Dizzy Dean (1,967), Sandy Koufax (2,324), Addie Joss (2,327) and Lefty Gomez (2,503), whose career IP average is 2,213 as a group – less than 200 innings more than the average among the four HOF closers.

Subjectively, for the five or six years he was great, Koufax was clearly the best pitcher I’ve ever seen. But, relative to the consistency and longevity of Cy Young, the portion of Sandy’s career that got him into Cooperstown doesn’t amount to spit. All the same, I have no problem with Koufax being in the Hall, and doubt that many of you out there do either. In all of that light, I don’t see anything unjust about rewarding the very best relief pitchers with a spot in the Hall.

Also, and like every other decision involving Hall of Fame merit, the issue is really a matter of purely subjective evaluation regarding the relative importance of a relief pitcher’s time on the field. There is no doubt that, in many – perhaps most – games, the starting pitcher’s performance is determinative of the outcome, whether he throws a “quality start” or gets shellacked and lasts only two innings. But, by definition of the position as currently employed by major-league skippers, a “closer” sees action only when the outcome of the game is considered up for grabs and a “clutch” performance is required.

Beyond all that I would also argue that, despite Sutter’s election, relief pitchers are currently under-represented in baseball’s shrine. There is little doubt that Marberry, whose career spanned 1923-36, was the first reliever of real historical significance. Some would cite the Dead-ball era’s Doc Crandall (1908-18) instead. But Crandall only relieved in 168 games out of 302 career appearances, whereas Marberry came in from the pen on 365 occasions out of 551 games pitched. With 101 career saves, Firpo was also the first hurler to pass the century mark in that statistic, although – because the “save” was not defined until 1960 and didn’t become an official stat until 1969 – Marberry’s have all been assigned retroactively (Crandall had just 25).

Despite a handful of good bullpen artists in between (notably Joe Page, Joe Black and 1950 NL MVP Jim Konstanty), only Ellis Kinder (1946-57) with 102 saves accrued as many as 100 prior to a generation of relievers whose careers began in the mid 1950s or 1960s. Some among that latter group were Elroy Face (1953-69, 193 saves), Lindy McDaniel (1955-75, 172), Don McMahon (1954-73, 153), Jim Brewer (1960-75, 132), Ron Perranoski (1963-73, 179), Dave Giusti (1962-77, 145), Clay Carroll (1964-78, 143), John Hiller (1965-80, 125), Tug McGraw (1965-84, 180), Mike Marshall (1967-81, 188) and Sparky Lyle (1967-82, 238) – with Lyle the first man to accrue 200 saves or more.

Given that evolution, relief pitching didn’t really come into vogue until the late 1950s. But that still means it’s been a vital element in baseball for at least a half century. Given the Hall of Fame elections of 56 starting pitchers for the 125-year period 1876-2001 (an average of about 4.5 to represent each decade), I believe that representational equity implies that relievers merit an average of least a couple of Hall of Famers for each of the five decades since the position became tactically and strategically integral to the game. In that light the four bullpen artists chosen for Cooperstown to date arguably amount to current under-representation for the craft by four to six selections.

If I had the authority to unilaterally reverse that apparent injustice and enshrine up to a half-dozen relievers who are now or previously have been on the Hall of Fame ballot, I would personally anoint five, basing my selections on a combination of career timing in the evolution of the craft, historical significance within their relative era, and overall skill/achievement. In order of relative merit, my picks would include Gossage, Quisenberry, Marberry, Face and Smith, with Marshall and Lyle just missing the cut.

But you should (and no doubt will) reach your own conclusions about whether or not relievers merit Cooperstown induction, and which ones do or don’t belong. To facilitate your decisions, the list below includes every identifiable career reliever who has received Cooperstown votes to date, with the four already chosen for the Hall separated from those who have thus far failed election. The data columns include the last year each man was on the HOF ballot (LYOB), the number of times each man received votes (TWV), the total of all votes each man received (VTot), the highest (Hi%) and average (Avg%) support percentage earned by each candidate, the number of innings each pitched (IP), plus his career total of games won (W) and saves (SV). The men are listed chronologically, based on their last year on the ballot and/or last year with votes.

PITCHER	LYOB	TWV	VTot	Hi%	Avg%	IP	W	SV
Hoyt Wilhelm	1985	8	1873	83.6	59.0	2254	143	227
Rollie Fingers	1992	2	640	81.2	73.4	1701	114	341
Dennis Eckersley	2004	1	421	83.2	83.2	3286	197	390
Bruce Sutter	2006	13	2767	76.9	43.0	1042	68	300
Hub Pruett	1953	5	5	0.7	0.5	745	29	13
Firpo Marberry	1962	5	11	1.9	1.0	2067	148	101
Ellis Kinder	1964	1	3	1.5	1.5	1480	102	102
Marv Grissom	1966	1	2	0.7	0.7	810	47	58
Morrie Martin	1966	1	2	0.7	0.7	605	38	15
Ron Perranoski	1979	1	6	1.4	1.4	1175	79	179
Don McMahon	1980	1	1	0.3	0.3	1310	90	153
Lindy McDaniel	1982	2	4	0.7	0.5	2139	141	172
Jim Brewer	1982	1	2	0.5	0.5	1041	69	132
Dave Giusti	1983	1	1	0.3	0.3	1717	100	145
Clay Carroll	1984	1	1	0.2	0.2	1353	96	143
John Hiller	1986	1	13	2.6	2.6	1040	87	125
Mike Marshall	1987	1	6	1.5	1.5	1387	97	188
Al Hrabosky	1988	1	1	0.2	0.2	7227	64	97
Elroy Face	1990	15	671	18.9	10.9	1375	104	193
Tug McGraw	1990	1	6	1.4	1.4	1515	96	180
Sparky Lyle	1991	4	121	13.1	6.9	1390	99	238
Bill Campbell	1993	1	1	0.2	0.2	1229	83	128
Kent Tekulve	1995	1	6	1.3	1.3	1437	94	184
Willie Hernandez	1995	1	2	0.4	0.4	1045	70	147
Dan Quisenberry	1996	1	18	3.8	3.8	1043	56	244
Jeff Reardon	2000	1	24	4.8	4.8	1132	73	367
Tom Henke	2001	1	6	1.2	1.2	790	41	311
Dave Righetti	2001	1	2	0.4	0.4	1404	82	252
Steve Bedrosian	2001	1	1	0.2	0.2	1191	76	184
Mark Davis	2003	1	1	0.2	0.2	1145	51	96
Randy Myers	2004	1	1	0.1	0.1	885	44	347
Jeff Montgomery	2005	1	2	0.4	0.4	869	46	304
Goose Gossage	2006	7	1633	64.6	46.2	1809	124	310
Lee Smith	2006	4	829	45.0	40.7	1289	71	478
John Wetteland	2006	1	4	0.8	0.8	765	48	330
Rick Aguilera	2006	1	3	0.6	0.6	1291	86	318
Doug Jones	2006	1	2	0.4	0.4	1128	69	303