Are Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera Hall of Fame Worthy?
hand, recent Hall of Fame inductees like Bruce Sutter and Goose Gossage might suggest the Hall of Fame voters are beginning to give more respect for closers than they did before. On the other hand, Lee Smith, the former career saves leader has never garnered more than 47.3% of the Hall of Fame vote. From the outset, one would think that Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera are shoo-ins for the Hall of Fame. After all, they currently rank 1 and 2 in career saves and are the only closers to ever have more than 500 career saves. However, very few modern day closers have entered the Hall of Fame. So there is very little history to determine what is Hall of Fame worthy for a modern day closer. Closers like Rollie Fingers, Bruce Sutter, and Goose Gossage were long relief closers. It was not uncommon for them to throw more than 80 innings a year in relief, sometimes throwing more than 100 innings in a year. In fact, Rollie Fingers pitched over 100 innings in a year an amazing 11 times. In contra
