Top 7 closers of all-time

[Yankee Legend]

Who were the top 7 cloing pitchers of all-time?

This is my list:
1. Dennis Eckersley
2. Mariano Rivera
3. Trevor Hoffman
4. Rollie Fingers
5. John Franco
6. Rich "Goose" Gossage
7. Lee Smith

[Sockeye]

1. Mariano Rivera
2. Dennis Eckersley
3. Trevor Hoffman
4. Hoyt Wilhelm
5. Lee Smith
6. Rollie Fingers
7. John Franco
8. Rich Gossage
9. Billy Wagner
10. John Wetteland

[baseball junkie]

Totally Subjective Ranking of Best Closers

My Totally Subjective Ranking of Best Closers
01. Mariano Rivera
02. Dennis Eckersley
03. Trevor Hoffman
04. Rollie Fingers
05. John Franco
06. Goose Gossage
07. Bruce Sutter
08. Tom Henke
09. Billy Wagner
10. Eric Gagne
11. Randy Myers
12. Dan Quisenberry
13. John Wetteland
14. Troy Percival
15. Dave Righetti
16. Robb Nen
17. Hoyt Wilhelm
18. Mike Marshall
19. Sparky Lyle
20. Tug McGraw

[RuthMayBond]

Eck is really overrated on this board. I'm going by career value, and Wilhelm / Franco may not have actually closed much, but I'm going by relief value

1. Rivera probably passed Wilhelm
2. Wilhelm
3. Gossage
4. LSmith
5. Quisenberry
6. John Franco
7. Tekulve

Why exactly seven?

[RuthMayBond]

My Totally Subjective Ranking of Best Closers
10. Eric Gagne

Obviously, you're big on peak

[KCGHOST]

1 Hoyt Wilhelm
2 Mariano Rivera
3 Goose Gossage
4 John Franco
5 Dan Quisenberry
6 Lee Smith
7 Billy Wagner

[Honus Wagner]

Dick Radatz

[DoubleX]

I never understand why people rate Franco so high. Except for early in his career, he was a 50-60 innings a year pitcher for the last 15 years of his career, if even that much. I'm not going to levy much praise for being able to get a couple of outs every few nights.

[RuthMayBond]

I never understand why people rate Franco so high. Except for early in his career, he was a 50-60 innings a year pitcher for the last 15 years of his career, if even that much. I'm not going to levy much praise for being able to get a couple of outs every few nights

He's thrown about TWICE as many innings as Wagner.

[Blackout]

1-mariano

(huge gap)

2-eckersley
3-wilhelm
4-wagner
5-hoffman
6-gossage
7-smith

[RuthMayBond]

As a reliever, Eck had a LOWER ERA+ AND the same or FEWER innings than
Rivera
Wilhelm
Quisenberry
Henke
AND Hoffman.
And Wetteland was close with innings, and Sutter, Franco et al. are close in ERA+.

[Baseball Guru]

Mariano Rivera
Trevor Hoffman
Hoyt Wilhelm
Rollie Fingers
Lee Smith
Dennis Eckersley
Tom Henke
John Franco

[Baseball Guru]

My Totally Subjective Ranking of Best Closers
01. Mariano Rivera
02. Dennis Eckersley
03. Trevor Hoffman
04. Rollie Fingers
05. John Franco
06. Goose Gossage
07. Bruce Sutter
08. Tom Henke
09. Billy Wagner
10. Eric Gagne
11. Randy Myers
12. Dan Quisenberry
13. John Wetteland
14. Troy Percival
15. Dave Righetti
16. Robb Nen
17. Hoyt Wilhelm
18. Mike Marshall
19. Sparky Lyle
20. Tug McGraw

Lee Smith doesnt even crack your top 20?

[RuthMayBond]

Lee Smith doesnt even crack your top 20?

Well, when ya got Righetti over Wilhelm . . .

[drjjpdc]

I hate to be a critic, but except for Mariano I can't take these modern relievers seriously. Guys like Hoffman. I just can't consider a season where you enter 45 games and pitch 45 innings as a real season. At least the older relievers like Quiz, Fingers, etc pitched at least 2 innings or even 3. I understand the game has changed but...