Mariano Rivera greatest closer ever?

[LSK]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/5400/career

Or does Eckersley lay claim to that title also?

http://www.baseball-reference.com/e/eckerde01.shtml

[rinsd]

1. I'm a Mo man myself.

[bigwillq]

2. I'll take Rivera.

To me, he's the best.

[JohnKleeb]

3. He is a damned ynakee

But I have to swallow my pride and say yeah Rivera is the best closer of all time for what he's done in the postseason alone. Now what I hope ultimately is chris Ray takes his place but I like to dream.

[Counciltucky]

4. Beyond a shadow of a doubt.

As a Yankee fan, I fear the day when we no longer have Mo's services. He's been as reliable as any closer for almost as long as any closer. He gets the job done. Can't ask for more.

[nickgutierrez]

5. Why the question mark?

Of course he is. Nobody's been this great, for this long - and it isn't even close.

[NJ Democrats]

6. It not even close, Mo in a walk

Just look at the last series. The 2 games Mo closed theyh won, when Procter closed (even though Fransworth should have) they lost.

[Broken_Hero]

7. MO

for sure...I'm not a big yank supporter, but he gets the job done consistantly, and against some of the best batters, during some very important games...:)

[PDittie]

8. How many people here saw Eck pitch?

I could not choose one over the other. Eck practically invented the term closer (they used to call it 'fireman', if you recall).

The Wiki:

(Then-A's manager Tony) LaRussa and Eckersley revolutionized the strategy of relief pitching. Eckersley was the first prominent reliever to be used almost exclusively in the "protecting the ninth inning lead" role which is now commonplace, in part because of Eckersley's overwhelming success.

Eckersley was one of the most dominant closers in the game from 1987 to 1992, saving 236 games and never posting an ERA higher than 3.03 (and posting a microscopic 0.61 in 1990). Eckersley's control, which had always been above average even when he was not otherwise pitching well, became his trademark; he walked only three batters in 57.7 innings in 1989, and only four batters in 73.3 innings in 1990. In that 1990 season, Eckersley became the only relief pitcher in baseball history to have more saves than baserunners allowed (48 SV, 41 H, 4 BB, 0 HBP).

He was the American League's Cy Young Award winner and MVP in 1992, a season in which he posted 51 saves. No pitcher since has won the two honors in the same season.

Only one reliever since Eckersley has been awarded the Cy Young: Eric Gagné won NL honors in 2003.

In 2002, Atlanta's John Smoltz matched Eckersley's feat of having had a 20-win season and a 50-save season.

[nickgutierrez]

9. A major step backward for baseball strategy.

Only Tony LaRussa could come up with a strategy that was based on the premise that your best reliever was better utilized with a three-run lead in the 9th than a tie game in that same inning. And wouldn't ya know it, they win a World Series or two, and now everybody's doing it.

[PDittie]

10. That HO

doesn't diminish the accomplishments of Dennis Eckersley.

[never cry wolf]

11. Hoyt Wilhelm

is they kept the same stats then.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/w/wilheho01.shtml

[PDittie]

12. One of my most prized

baseball cards. I can still the '68 version of his ugly mug in my mind's eye. (But then I always was a Joe Schlabotnik guy, too.)