The Special People Club

Remember back in high school, when every senior class had to come up with their "theme" for the year? You know, like "Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road" or "3-2-1, Liftoff!" or some other lame-ass slogan cooked by those popularity contest winners on the student council?

Well, allow me to save the Baseball Hall of Fame some trouble, and propose a theme for the Class of 2004:

"The Special People Club."

No, Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley aren't retarded. I'm talking about specialization. Eckersley is entering the Hall of Fame not because of his 197-171 record as a starter, but for his 390 saves from 1987-'97. In his first 12 years in the league, he pitched roughly 2,492 innings; in his final 11, he pitched around 790. Clearly, those 790 innings with 390 saves got him a plaque. Poor Don Sutton (5,282.3 innings pitched), Gaylord Perry (5,350.3) and Nolan Ryan (5,386.0) ... all they really needed to do was pitch two good innings every other game to make the Hall.

Molitor is the first true designated hitter to make the Hall of Fame. Eddie Murray only served four years as primary DH. Dave Winfield also only had four years of heavy DH service. George Brett and Reggie Jackson both DH'ed for three good years.

Not only was Molitor primarily a designated hitter for eight years (and 1,174 games over his career), but it could be successfully argued that without DH years in 1993 (.332, World Series MVP), 1994 (.341), and 1996 (.341), Molitor's got as much of a chance at the Hall as Dale Sveum does.

So the question is how do you compare position players and career starting pitchers, with glamorous stats, against players that excelled in more specialized roles?

The Pro Football Hall of Fame has dealt with specialization since its first class in 1963, which featured both superstars like Jim Thorpe and Red Grange as well as unglamorous grunts like Mel Hein and Pete Henry.

Canton has to annually weigh offensive lineman and defensive backs with touchdown kings and yardage hogs.

Now, Cooperstown appears ready to weigh Gaylord with Gossage, and the Babe with the Baines.

(Let me stop here for a moment to say that the rest of this column goes against everything I believe the Baseball Hall of Fame should be. Let me be clear: I am the Cooperstown Nazi. I take the top five or six players of each generation, and that's it. "Are you number seven? NO PLAQUE FOR YOU!" My Hall of Fame is reserved for legends; everyone else can buy a ticket, just like me and Steve Jeltz. We continue...)

Putting relief pitchers in the Hall of Fame means that Cooperstown is establishing a different (and forever changing) set of statistical standards by which to measure them. Eckersley cleared the unofficial standard of 300 saves, but so have 15 other players, from Lee Smith (478) to Doug Jones (303). Eck currently ranks third on the career saves list, behind Smith and John Franco.

Perhaps voters were impressed with his 3.50 career ERA. But then wouldn't they also be impressed with Smith (3.03), Franco (2.74), and Jeff Reardon (3.16)?

Eckersley will be in the Hall of Fame not because of his numbers, but because of his intangibles. He's pitched in three World Series, and won one of them. He's captured a MVP award and a Cy Young Award, both in the same year (1992). But most of all, he, without question, was the best at his specialization for six years (1988-1993).

Statistics for closers can often be deceiving (an earned run or two can make havoc with an ERA) or subjective (the standard for saves changes about as often as the strikezone does). But being the best at what you do ... no stat can trump that argument.

Which brings us to the argument of this little dissertation, one that has about five years to be fleshed out:

Jesse Orosco belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Stop laughing.

No, seriously, stop laughing.

SHUT THE $@#$ UP, CHUCKLE-HEAD, AND READ THE REST OF THE #@#$ COLUMN!!!

(And yes, just like "Spider-Man," "Chuckle-Head" is hyphenated because it is the head that is chuckling.)

(God, I hate my student loans...)

Jesse Orosco belongs in Cooperstown because he has the numbers --when examined in context – as well as the intangibles; and for the simple fact that he is the best at what he did in the history of baseball.

Orosco, of course, is mostly known for holding the Major League records for games pitched (1,252) and relief appearances (1,248), and for being older than Jessica Tandy's great-grandmother.

But put those numbers in the context of his specialization (relief pitcher), and you realize the enormity of his achievement. Only eight pitchers have appeared in over 1,000 games in their careers: Orosco, Eckersley (HOF), Hoyt Wilhelm (HOF), Dan Plesac, Kent Tekulve, John Franco, Lee Smith, and Goose Gossage. After them, the closest active player is Mike Stanton, who had 885 appearances entering the season. The youngest player on the active games-pitched list is Paul Quantrill (34), and he entered the season over 500 games away from Orosco.

This record of durability and consistency is the relief pitcher's version of Ripken's 2,632; and it could be as unbreakable.

The rest of his statistics are solid: an ERA of 3.16, an 87-80 record with 144 saves -- most of them coming when Orosco spent five years as a closer in the mid-1980s.

After going from the New York Mets to the Dodgers in 1988, Orosco's days as a closer were over. He spent the next 15 (!) seasons as a setup man or middle reliever. There's no real statistical measure of his achievements, as the "hold" category only began officially in 1999. And really, who cares about holds? Tell someone you're the holds leader, and they think you're a Greco-Roman wrestler.

The bottom line is that Orosco is the best to ever fill that pitching role, both by the numbers and the fact that he lasted so damn long.

(Truth be told, there are going to be few players to ever fill that role again. Pitching has become such a joke, that the guys in the middle are the fourth and fifth starters, and the guys who should be setting up are more likely now the closers.)

Think of Orosco's "contemporaries" who have come and gone during his time as a middle reliever. Guys like Paul Assenmacher (1986-99), Mike Jackson (1986-2002), Rick Honeycutt (1977-1997), and his old Mets bullpen-mate Roger McDowell (1985-96). Orosco pitched well enough to keep finding work long after each of them was on the scrap heap.

Of course, his left arm may have had something to do with that, as a few more employers used him in "lefty vs. lefty" matchups. In that regard, Plesac (1986-2003) may have been his closest competition for top set-up man in baseball after his last year as a legitimate closer (24 saves in 1990 with the Brewers). If that's the case, Orosco blows him away in wins (87-65), ERA (3.16 to 3.64), innings pitched (1295.0- 1072.0) and, of course, games pitched.

So Orosco, within the context of his specialization as a middle reliever, has the best numbers perhaps in the history of the game. But what about those intangibles? That extra little something that elevates a player from the crowd and into the Hall?

Well, he was third in the Cy Young voting in 1983. And he is a two-time all-star selection. But, of course, the most lasting image of Orosco came on the sport's grandest stage: the World Series.

We're talking about the guy who threw the final strike to the final batter in the final game of the '86 Series. We're talking about the guy who threw his hat into the air and pounded the dirt in celebration. We're talking about the guy who had the postseason moment that year, had it not been for Bill Buckner's gimpy wickets in Game 6.

(By the way, in the NLCS against Houston, Orosco set a record for most wins (3) by a pitcher in a championship series.)

If we're going to start playing around with the standards for enshrinement -- like letting in players who appear for an inning or two a game, or players too brittle to succeed on the field and who need the DH to juice their numbers -- why not consider a middle reliever for the Baseball Hall of Fame? Especially when you consider he:

Holds two nearly unbreakable records.

Has a World Series ring.

Pitched through four decades, until he was 46-years-old. (Going for the Nolan Ryan/Carlton Fisk AARP appreciation vote here.)

And was, without question, the best player at his "position" during his career.

So please consider Jesse Orosco on your ballots in 2009.

Because after all, if Bill Mazeroski can get in ...

Random Thoughts

Lance Armstrong is closing in on his record sixth Tour de France cycling championship.

In a related story, noted sports columnist Greg Wyshynski tumbled off his stationary exercise bike after eight minutes in a pathetic heap, and then spent the next half-an-hour trying to climb into a box of warm Krispy Kremes ...

Shaq quote of the week: "I think Miami is the best fit for me. They have young, energetic, hungry guys."

Uh, yeah ... whatever fuels your diesel, big guy ...

Okay, Shaq quote of the week, Part Deux: "If you take pictures of me walking naked on the beach, don't sell them to the [National] Enquirer unless I get 15 percent."

Suddenly, "Kazaam 2" is no longer Shaq's most frightening future film project ...

Andre 3000 of OutKast has been named sexiest male vegetarian by PETA, beating out John Cleese, Prince, and Weird Al Yankovic for the honor. Had Yankovic won the title, the consolation prize for the other three finalists would have been a legally viable excuse for assisted suicide ...

And finally, if a new labor agreement is not in place by Sept. 16, the NHL will lay off more than half of the 300 employees in its New York, New Jersey, Montreal, and Toronto offices.

Great ... just what the sport needs: a few more bitter ex-fans ...

Greg Wyshynski is also a weekly columnist for SportsFan Magazine. His columns appear every Saturday on Sports Central. You can e-mail Greg at [email protected].