Reliever of the Year Award

History

The Reliever of the Year was one of the annual awards given out by the Sporting News from 1960 to 2010. It was designed to honor the best relief pitcher in baseball and was the first official recognition of relief pitchers as a specific class of players. A winning player was chosen in each league. The award was often called the Fireman of the Year although this was never its official name. It should not be confused with the Japanese award called the Fireman of the Year.

In 1976, Major League Baseball introduced the Rolaids Relief Award which rapidly became the most prestigious award for relievers. The major difference between the two awards was that the MLB-sponsored award was based on a points system, whereas the one given out by the Sporting News was based on a vote conducted by the magazine based on subjective criteria. In practice, however, there was very little difference between the two lists of winners.

List of Winners

American League

Year	Player	Team	ERA	Wins	Losses	Saves	Innings Pitched	Strikeouts
1960	Mike Fornieles	Boston Red Sox	2.64	10	5	14	109.0	64
1961	Luis Arroyo	New York Yankees	2.19	15	5	29	119.0	87
1962	Dick Radatz	Boston Red Sox	2.24	9	6	24	124.2	144
1963	Stu Miller	Baltimore Orioles	2.24	5	8	27	112.1	114
1964	Dick Radatz	Boston Red Sox	2.29	16	9	29	157.0	181
1965	Eddie Fisher	Chicago White Sox	2.40	15	7	24	165.1	90
1966	Jack Aker	Kansas City Athletics	1.99	8	4	32	113.0	68
1967	Minnie Rojas	California Angels	2.52	12	9	27	121.2	83
1968	Wilbur Wood	Chicago White Sox	1.87	13	12	16	159.0	74
1969	Ron Perranoski	Minnesota Twins	2.11	9	10	31	119.2	62
1970	Ron Perranoski	Minnesota Twins	2.43	7	8	34	111.0	55
1971	Ken Sanders	Milwaukee Brewers	1.91	7	12	31	136.1	80
1972	Sparky Lyle	New York Yankees	1.92	9	5	35	107.2	75
1973	John Hiller	Detroit Tigers	1.44	10	5	38	125.1	124
1974	Terry Forster	Chicago White Sox	3.62	7	8	24	134.1	105
1975	Rich Gossage	Chicago White Sox	1.84	9	8	26	141.2	30
1976	Bill Campbell	Minnesota Twins	3.01	17	5	20	167.2	115
1977	Bill Campbell	Boston Red Sox	2.96	13	9	31	140.0	114
1978	Rich Gossage	New York Yankees	2.01	10	11	27	134.1	122
1979	Mike Marshall	Minnesota Twins	2.65	10	15	32	142.2	81
tie	Jim Kern	Texas Rangers	1.57	13	5	29	143.0	136
1980	Dan Quisenberry	Kansas City Royals	3.09	12	7	33	128.1	37
1981	Rollie Fingers	Milwaukee Brewers	1.04	6	3	28	78.0	61
1982	Dan Quisenberry	Kansas City Royals	2.57	9	7	35	136.2	46
1983	Dan Quisenberry	Kansas City Royals	1.94	5	3	45	139.0	48
1984	Dan Quisenberry	Kansas City Royals	2.64	6	3	44	129.1	41
1985	Dan Quisenberry	Kansas City Royals	2.37	8	9	37	129.0	54
1986	Dave Righetti	New York Yankees	2.45	8	8	46	106.2	83
1987	Dave Righetti	New York Yankees	3.51	8	6	31	95.0	77
tie	Jeff Reardon	Minnesota Twins	4.48	8	8	31	80.1	83
1988	Dennis Eckersley	Oakland Athletics	2.35	4	2	45	72.2	70
1989	Jeff Russell	Texas Rangers	1.98	6	4	38	72.2	77
1990	Bobby Thigpen	Chicago White Sox	1.83	4	6	57	88.2	70
1991	Dennis Eckersley	Oakland Athletics	2.96	5	4	43	76.0	87
tie	Bryan Harvey	California Angels	1.60	2	4	46	78.2	101
1992	Dennis Eckersley	Oakland Athletics	1.91	7	1	51	80.0	93
1993	Jeff Montgomery	Kansas City Royals	2.27	7	5	45	87.1	66
1994	Lee Smith	Baltimore Orioles	3.29	1	4	33	38.1	42
1995	Jose Mesa	Cleveland Indians	1.13	3	0	46	64.0	58
1996	John Wetteland	New York Yankees	2.83	2	3	43	63.2	69
1997	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	1.88	6	4	43	71.2	68
1998	Tom Gordon	Boston Red Sox	2.72	7	4	46	79.1	78
1999	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	1.83	4	3	45	69.0	52
2000	Todd Jones	Detroit Tigers	3.52	2	4	42	64.0	67
2001	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	2.34	4	6	50	80.2	83
2002	Billy Koch	Oakland Athletics	3.27	11	4	44	93.2	93
2003	Keith Foulke	Oakland Athletics	2.08	9	1	43	86.2	88
2004	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	1.94	4	2	53	78.2	66
2005	Joe Nathan	Minnesota Twins	2.70	7	4	43	70	94
tie	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	1.38	7	4	43	78.1	80
2006	Francisco Rodriguez	Los Angeles Angels	1.73	2	3	47	73	98
2007	Joe Borowski	Cleveland Indians	5.07	4	5	45	65.2	58
2008	Francisco Rodriguez	Los Angeles Angels	2.24	2	3	62	68.1	77
2009	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	1.76	3	3	44	66.1	72
2010	Rafael Soriano	Tampa Bay Rays	1.73	3	2	45	62.1	57

National League

Year	Player	Team	ERA	Wins	Losses	Saves	Innings Pitched	Strikeouts
1960	Lindy McDaniel	St. Louis Cardinals	2.09	12	4	26	116.1	105
1961	Stu Miller	San Francisco Giants	2.66	14	5	17	122.0	89
1962	Roy Face	Pittsburgh Pirates	1.88	8	7	28	91.0	45
1963	Lindy McDaniel	Chicago Cubs	2.86	13	7	22	88.0	75
1964	Al McBean	Pittsburgh Pirates	1.91	8	3	22	89.2	41
1965	Ted Abernathy	Chicago Cubs	2.57	4	6	31	136.1	104
1966	Phil Regan	Los Angeles Dodgers	1.62	14	1	21	116.2	88
1967	Ted Abernathy	Cincinnati Reds	1.27	6	3	28	106.1	88
1968	Phil Regan	Los Angeles Dodgers/ Chicago Cubs	2.27	12	5	25	134.2	67
1969	Wayne Granger	Cincinnati Reds	2.80	9	6	27	144.2	68
1970	Wayne Granger	Cincinnati Reds	2.66	6	5	35	84.2	38
1971	Dave Giusti	Pittsburgh Pirates	2.93	5	6	30	86.0	55
1972	Clay Carroll	Cincinnati Reds	2.25	6	4	37	96.0	51
1973	Mike Marshall	Montreal Expos	2.66	14	11	31	179.0	124
1974	Mike Marshall	Los Angeles Dodgers	2.42	15	12	21	208.1	143
1975	Al Hrabosky	St. Louis Cardinals	1.66	13	3	22	97.1	82
1976	Rawly Eastwick	Cincinnati Reds	2.09	11	5	26	107.2	70
1977	Rollie Fingers	San Diego Padres	2.99	8	9	35	132.1	113
1978	Rollie Fingers	San Diego Padres	2.52	6	13	37	107.1	72
1979	Bruce Sutter	Chicago Cubs	2.22	6	6	37	101.1	110
1980	Rollie Fingers	San Diego Padres	2.80	11	9	23	103.0	69
tie	Tom Hume	Cincinnati Reds	2.56	9	10	25	137.0	68
1981	Bruce Sutter	St. Louis Cardinals	2.62	3	5	25	82.1	57
1982	Bruce Sutter	St. Louis Cardinals	2.90	9	8	36	102.1	61
1983	Al Holland	Philadelphia Phillies	2.26	8	4	25	91.2	100
tie	Lee Smith	Chicago Cubs	1.65	4	10	29	103.1	91
1984	Bruce Sutter	St. Louis Cardinals	1.54	5	7	45	122.2	77
1985	Jeff Reardon	Montreal Expos	3.18	2	8	41	87.2	67
1986	Todd Worrell	St. Louis Cardinals	2.08	9	10	36	103.2	73
1987	Steve Bedrosian	Philadelphia Phillies	2.83	5	3	40	89.0	74
1988	John Franco	Cincinnati Reds	1.57	6	6	39	86.0	46
1989	Mark Davis	San Diego Padres	1.85	4	3	44	92.2	92
1990	John Franco	New York Mets	2.53	5	3	33	67.2	56
1991	Lee Smith	St. Louis Cardinals	2.34	6	3	47	73.0	67
1992	Doug Jones	Houston Astros	1.85	11	8	36	111.2	93
tie	Lee Smith	St. Louis Cardinals	3.12	4	9	43	75.0	60
1993	Randy Myers	Chicago Cubs	3.11	2	4	53	75.1	86
1994	John Franco	New York Mets	2.70	1	4	30	50.0	42
1995	Randy Myers	Chicago Cubs	3.88	1	2	38	55.2	59
1996	Trevor Hoffman	San Diego Padres	2.25	9	5	42	88.0	111
1997	Jeff Shaw	Cincinnati Reds	2.38	4	2	42	94.2	74
1998	Trevor Hoffman	San Diego Padres	1.48	4	2	53	73.0	86
1999	Ugueth Urbina	Montreal Expos	3.69	6	6	41	75.2	100
2000	Antonio Alfonseca	Florida Marlins	4.24	5	6	45	70.0	47
2001	Armando Benitez	New York Mets	3.77	6	4	43	76.1	93
tie	Robb Nen	San Francisco Giants	3.01	4	5	45	77.2	93
2002	John Smoltz	Atlanta Braves	3.25	3	2	55	80.1	85
2003	Eric Gagné	Los Angeles Dodgers	1.20	2	3	55	82.1	137
2004	Eric Gagné	Los Angeles Dodgers	2.19	7	3	45	82.1	114
2005	Chad Cordero	Washington Nationals	1.82	2	4	47	74.1	61
2006	Trevor Hoffman	San Diego Padres	2.14	0	2	46	63	50
2007	Jose Valverde	Arizona Diamondbacks	2.66	1	4	47	64.1	78
2008	Brad Lidge	Philadelphia Phillies	1.95	2	0	41	69.1	92
2009	Ryan Franklin	St. Louis Cardinals	1.92	4	3	38	61	44
2010	Heath Bell	San Diego Padres	1.93	6	1	47	70	86