Bill James On Three Out Specialists
My, how times have changed
Bill James On Three Out Specialists
Want to know how much the game has changed? Check out this quote from this summary of the 1980 Bill James Baseball Abstract:
When was the last time you saw somebody refer to closers as “3-out specialists?”
I wanted to take a closer look to see what James was talking about. Here’s what the 1979 Milwaukee Brewers relief pitchers looked like:
Of course, this division isn’t perfect. Jim Slaton, Bill Travers, and Moose Haas all had at least one relief appearance, and Paul Mitchell appears to have been given a few spot starts over the course of the season. And, as you can clearly see, Jerry Augustine and Reggie Cleveland had at least one start. But I think you get the idea.
James seems to have been criticizing the Bill Castro type pitchers: 39 games played, 44 1/3 innings pitched, and just about 3 outs per appearance. This is what Castro’s appearances in 1979 looked like:
It’s interesting to note that Castro only had 6 saves all season, despite numerous appearances in what we’d probably consider save situations today.
Also - that July 13 game is pretty interesting:
So much for 3 outs and done!
But James’ bigger point still holds. Were Bamberger’s teams characterized by this type of relief pitcher?
Bamberger managed the 1978 Brewers, with a relief staff that looked like this:
I guess you could say that Castro looks the same, but the rest of the bullpen strikes me as a normal 1970s bullpen. I’m not seeing a group of guys who only pitched one inning at a time.
As James mentions, Bamberger was pitching coach for the Orioles from 1968 through 1977. Let’s look at the relievers on the 1977 Orioles:
Again — I’m not really seeing Bill’s point. I guess we could make a few sarcastic remarks about Tippy Martinez “only” pitching 50 innings in 41 games — but even that is more than 3 outs and you’re done.
As you’ve probably guessed already, the further back we go the more ridiculous James’ claim is. Last of all, let’s look at the 1976 Orioles:
We all say silly things in the heat of the moment, and I can imagine that James was probably a bit testy as his self-imposed writing deadlines approached. However, in this particular instance, Bill James was flat out wrong.