Why Can't I Buy Maalox in a Drum?

by Dan Taylor

When John Smoltz became a high profile member of Atlanta's bullpen last year, some folks looked on skeptically. Sure, he'd relieved well in spots, but Smoltzie was a Cy Young winner, great starter, and hot commodity. Why the pen?

Good question. Historically speaking, while the norm is to pluck a Whitey Ford or Wes Ferrell out of relief and thrust him into a starting role, the number of prime pitchers going the other way may almost be counted on the fingers of one ear. To understand this phenomenon fully, we must study bullpen evolution.

In baseball's growing years pitchers were seen as any other position player; they were to perform at their spot come hell or high water, were only relieved in emergencies or blowouts, and then often switched with another player in the field. Mound distance didn't expand to 60 feet, 6 inches until 1893, balls were much less lively, and throwing a dirty or lopsided one out of a game seldom happened. Moreover, since hurlers weren't tied to a pitching rubber they could deliver after a several step start (like cricket). With those advantages it wasn't uncommon for a 19th century Gus Weyhing to complete 53 of a season's 55 starts; not to do so would've cast aspersions on his manhood (Jim Brosnan bemoaned this nonfinishing stigma in 'The Long Season' in 1959!).

Therefore, relief pitching was a major league entry position like any other bench sub job. Small rosters meant the few non starters kept were youngsters on the way up, oldsters going down, or the sore armed being given a few final chances before sale or release. In manpower crunches they were used at other positions. Because pens were populated by fellows seen as lacking starting equipment yet too good to let go, they were utilized as little as possible. Even in the 'modern' year of '49, legendary Joe McCarthy revealed that's how he viewed his bullpen (cost him a pennant too). As one can see, this outlook died hard. Rather than destroying it with one blow, it had to be chipped away by degrees.

The first noted pinch pitcher was the Giants' Otis 'Doc' Crandall in the late oughts and early teens, but in those days 65 per cent of games were finished by starter. 5 to 7 saves or a half dozen relief wins was oohed and aahed, and hurlers wore fireman's coat on 15 - 25 appearances a year. Fred "Firpo" Marberry of the twenties' Senators helped manager Bucky Harris (you'll see his name again) to two World Series, as did Cy Moore (sinker) with Miller Huggins' Yankees, but like Crandall they were basically spot starters who relieved in between times they themselves found the gameball in their shoe.

Curiously, the man most responsible for managers questioning relief's status quo was a pitcher turned outfielder. After Babe Ruth's 54 homers in 1920 triggered tremendous attendance increases, owners reasoned fans preferred long ball to pre-1920's 'one run and a cloud of dust'. To inject more punch, they made three changes decreasing starter game longevity: more clean balls, outlawed ball altering and gradually increased liveliness of balls. Since large run explosions were likely at any point in a contest even the most cro-magnon manager saw the urgency of developing a more specialized bullpen. It seems hardly coincidental the next pitcher to lift relief's stature started his career during the twentieth century's most offensive year.

In 1930 Joe Heving became one of the first (with Jumbo Brown) to base a lengthy major league tenure almost solely on relief work. Through 1945 he led his league in relief wins 3 times and losses twice (though never in saves). His profile would fit a '50's long man, but the important career stats are his games (430) and starts (40). More celebrated contemporaries Johnny 'Grandma' Murphy (on hotel elevators Lefty Gomez joked of leaving at the 7th floor while Murphy rode to 9) of the Yanks, Hilton Smith(who bailed Satchel Page out far more often than Murphy helped Gomez) and Brooklyn's Hugh Casey didn't relieve to Heving's extent until later in the decade (Casey in 1941).

Casey was the initial proven starter (15-10, 25s-15cg, 2.93 in '39: numbers not unlike some of Smoltz's) to turn pen specialist. Leo Durocher was blessed with Whit Wyatt, Kirby Higbe, Curt Davis, Fat Freddie Fitzimmons, and Larry French, and quickly realized the value of subbing a quality fresh arm like Casey's in late innings. Hughie's control and hummer showed up well (51-21 , 55 saves) but he and HOF member Durocher (with HOF'er Bill McKechnie and Joe Beggs in Cincinnati and Heving in the AL) were very much in the minority. It took another Hall of Fame manager to apply ice pick to baseball's Ice Aged relief concept in the late 40's.

Bucky Harris gets short shrift in pen development, but struck a liberating blow a second time with Joe Page in '47, whose rising fastball was especially tough in Yankee Stadium's shadowy late innings. Licking his chops, Bucky figured Joe might finish other people's games, since he couldn't finish his own. When the idea worked, as it did in '47 and '49, Joe upped season save and appearance bars (14-8, 17 saves, 2.48, 55 g: 13-8, 27 saves, 60 g) and the Yanks won two world titles. When it didn't in '48 (7-8, 4.26), Harris lost his job to Casey Stengel.

Since successful strategies are always copied, the Phils inserted Jim Konstanty (fancy footwork and speed changing) in the same role in '49. In 1950 he got into 74 games and was first relief man to win an M V P, but game 4 of series sowed the seeds of an innovative Stengel idea. Reynolds came on in the 9th in relief of Ford and blew the Phils away, and in the off season Case offered Allie Reynolds good money to become his bullpen ace, contingent on finding another starter. Stengel's proposal was unique because unlike other reliefers (and like Smoltzie) 'Superchief' was one of baseball's top starters. His fastball and curve were close to Feller's, and it's a safe bet no other period manager would be willing to commit such proven talent to his pen. That Tommy Byrne became Brownie bound (over Stengel's protests) in no way diminishes the radicality of the concept.

1952 was an N L watershed pen year: Brooklyn rode to a pennant on the back of Joe Black (slider), the Cards dug up Eddie Yuhas, and while they each had only one good year, the real catch was made by the arch rival Giants. Leo Durocher began signaling for James Hoyt Wilhelm and the rest is in Macmillian's Baseball Encyclopedia. Hoyt's knuckler gave him a 15-3 record in '52,and (beyond a year starting for Baltimore's Paul Richards in 1958) Hoyt was by reputation the game's premier short guy till the late 60's. When he ended at the advanced age of 49 in 1972, Hoyt had wiped out Cy Young's appearance record and held another for relief wins.

By then and with few exceptions, a successful short man's profile was set: someone with one exceedingly good out pitch (either terrific fastball or freak delivery), good control, burglar's guts, and lion's heart. Most clubs had somebody loosely fitting this description, and the very good teams had one throwing each way. Middlemen ceased to be 'long' and worked 2 to three innings at most, giving way to 'situation guys' (used against a lineup stacked with 3 or 4 guys in a row hitting from the same side, then yanked after one inning) or a 'set up man' who pitched till the late innings when managers brought in their ace - a Face, McDaniel, Perranoski, Sutter, Gossage, Smith, Fingers, Thigpen or later version.

To a man managers appear hard pressed to see that on certain staffs a good starter is much more valuable in the pen. That man, though, is Bobby Cox , and Atlanta's determining factor was its large hoard of superior arms. For Smoltz, there was the chance of extending his longevity and earning power beyond what he might expect starting. Potential win/win for everyone made it an excellent idea.

Rebel Without a Brain

Smoltz may do well 5 to 7 more years, but don't count on his sanity staying intact. For one thing, a reliever's job is clouded in uncertainty. Some weeks he might pitch once or twice; others, 5 or 6 times. Warming up in situations in which a starter suddenly rights himself also takes its toll, and dwelling on the high attrition rate doesn't help one's digestion, either. For every Wilhelm there are many more Dick Hydes, Dick Radatzs and Stan the Man Unusuals who sour after a year or two and search want ads in 2 or 3 more, plus the 5-10 guys in the high minors of each organization praying for the big club's short ace to screw up. One more teensy detail - when dividing a 4 million dollar salary by 65 appearances, it comes to about 60, 000 per, or around 2 thou a pitch. Lot of money riding on 2 innings of work, isn't it?

For whichever of the above, many of the species displayed abnormal behavior patterns. More traditional were Casey (a boozer who committed suicide), Page (chaser), Ellis Kinder (both), and Ryne Duren (alcoholic who once tried to open the door of an airborne plane). Others found more varied means of expression. Sparky Lyle sat naked on cakes. Bill Caudill ate bugs. Greg Minton's contract had a clause prohibiting bullfighting. Hank Aguirre stole an airplane. Tug McGraw once had cops lock him up for his own good. Moe Drabowsky placed orders during games for take out Chinese. In Singapore.

Whether or not short relief drives Smoltz into a padded cell, one thing's certain: we wouldn't have his job for ten gazillion bucks.

Unless someone asked.