With the selection of Rich Gossage as the newest pitching member to the Baseball Hall of Fame, it begs the question, what makes him better than the closers that have come before him? Does he deserve this honor? Put aside the three-toed sloth-like approach toward the voting process of the baseball writers association. Let’s deal only with the merit of the credentials of Rich Gossage versus other relievers. How does he compare with Hoyt Wilhelm, Dennis Eckersley, and Rollie Fingers? How does he compare with those that are currently playing, such as Mariano Rivera, John Franco and Trevor Hoffman? Did he deserve this honor before Bruce Sutter? I developed a formula for hitters that has been published in the book For Argument’s Sake. Below is the formula for comparing pitchers across eras and against their contemporaries. This should help make it more apparent the selection of Gossage. For the purpose of comparison, a reliever is defined by averaging less than 3.5 innings pitched per game. The following are the top 33 relievers, from 1876 to the present day. While delving into the important facet of pure dominance in their era of playing and their longevity as an effective pitcher, I also examined the contributions of each pitcher by their effectiveness as a champion and teammate. Next to each reliever, I included the formula based on 14 statistical measures represented by the PH-Factor as well as the era in which each pitcher played.

Names that are listed in bold are currently in the Hall of Fame. The names that are italicized are those which the writers, or the Veterans’ Committee, should look at for reconsideration, as their numbers are gaudy enough to deserve a second look. Here is the formula that was applied to relievers and starters alike to compare pitchers within their eras and beyond.

The career numbers are computed accordingly:
Wins x 10 + Saves x 15 + Shutouts
x 100 + Strikeouts x 1

500)+World Series Championships x 500+ League Championships x 250+ Playoffs x 100+ League leading points 10-100 depending on place finished in a season in the categories of Wins, Saves, and E.R.A. That’s 14 categories that show dominance by a pitcher that includes longevity, within the season dominance, awards that are given by the writers and the quality teammate that played for a winner. For the formula for hitters, check out the book For Argument’s Sake, written by Ron Henrich, at www.ronhenrich.com.