Trevor Hoffman has been the San Diego Padres closer since 1993, coming over in the trade that sent Gary Sheffield to the Florida Marlins. Since then, Hoffman has accumulated 407 saves, giving the Padres the most reliable closer in the history of baseball. Hoffman's 89 percent save percentage is the best mark of any save specialist. Despite that phenomenal reliability, Hoffman and his 409 saves, third most of all-time, is not guaranteed a space in the Hall of Fame.
To date, only two pure closers have been elected into the Hall, Rollie Fingers and Hoyt Wilhelm. The only other closer in the Hall, Dennis Eckersley, started off his career as a starter and moved to the bullpen later in his career. Eck has 390 saves, 88 fewer than Lee Smith, baseball's save leader. Eckersley was elected to the Hall on his first ballot in 2004, receiving 83 percent of the votes, but Smith has never received more than 42 percent of the vote. Likewise, Rollie Fingers joined the Hall on his second ballot, while Rich "Goose" Gossage has only this year moved above getting more than 50 percent of the votes.
It's easy to see why a dominant closer like Eckersley made the Hall. He spent the first part of his career as a starter and won more than 150 games, one of those wins being a no-hitter. After that he became a prolific reliever, and the only pitcher to record 100 saves and 100 complete games. Smith, on the other hand, only started six games in his career. But why then is Smith on the outside and Rollie Fingers on the inside?
Smith has 137 more saves than Fingers, and interestingly, Fingers has a losing record. His lifetime record is 114-118, making him the second pitcher in the Hall of Fame with a losing record. Satchel Paige is the other. Two advantages come to mind when thinking about Rollie.
First, he had a much more extensive record in the playoffs. Smith only appeared in the playoffs twice, and both in losing efforts. Rollie, in comparison, had an extensive postseason record, and was a part of American League and World Series champion teams for both the Milwaukee Brewers and the Oakland Athletics.
Second, Rollie recorded his saves largely in the era when saves required more than one inning of work. Often times, his saves were three inning outings. Smith began his career during this era, but also finished when the save situation became simply pitching the last inning.
So if postseason success and pitching more than one inning for a save are necessary to push a closer into the Hall, why then is Goose still lingering on voter's ballots? The save numbers between Fingers and Gossage aren't that different. Goose also pitched during the two-to-three inning save era. In the postseason, Goose was a member of one World Series champion team, and played in two more. His experience looks remarkably similar to Rollie's. The only drawback about Goose is that in 1976, his only full year as a starter, his record was 9-17.
What's clear from looking at the careers of closers that made the Hall and those that are still waiting is that there isn't a set of criteria for closers yet. Voters still don't know what is good enough for entry and what isn't. Rollie Fingers' and Goose Gossage's careers were very similar, but apparently different enough to keep Goose out. This is an issue that will only grow with time. More closers will be retiring in the next few years and the question of one-inning save specialists like Hoffman and Mariano Rivera entering the Hall will become more pressing.
Hoffman, barring any injuries, will likely eclipse Smith's save record in the next few years. Hopefully, that will prompt voters to recognize just how impressive Smith's career was. Today's closers will have to hope so because for them to have a chance at entering Cooperstown, they will have to wait for players like Gossage and Smith to lead the way.
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