Saves
 

In 1950, the Phillies' Jim Konstanty was named the league MVP. He pitched in 74 games, all in relief, finishing in 62 of them. The Phillies won the pennant.

How many saves did he have that year?

It's obviously a low number otherwise you wouldn't be asking this question, how about nine? ETA: I would have nailed it if you asked what his 1951 total was. :D

I don't think the save was an official statistic in 1950 so the answer would be 0. However, it is likely that his save count has been retroactively determined. I don't know what that number is.

Using your closer when your team is behind is not common since the creation of the save.

In the fifties that was not the case. Konstanty had 16 wins in 1950 with zero starts. He is credited retroactively with 22 saves and that is probably correct.

The more dramatic example is Roy Face, who in 1959, had zero starts in 57 games and was credited with 10 saves despite finishing 47 games. His record that year was 18 wins and 1 loss.

Had either Konstanty or Face been managed by a contemporary manager in the "save" era, there records in terms of saves and wins would be dramatically different. One could argue today that they were not used effectively, but one might lose that argument.

The more interesting question to me is the impact of the "save" on bullpen management. The closers are measured by the number of saves they record, but Konstanty and Face and their managers were not so obsessed. Were they mismanaged? I'm not convinced.

It would be hard to measure if the modern use of closers is to the teams' advantage, but i doubt it.

2nd in the league was Bill Werle with 8. Konstanty had a ton by the standards of 1950 when relief pitching worked in a very different way.

Not the answer, but related:

This discussion brings to mind Firpo Marberry, who may have been the first regular 'closer'.


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On the other end of the spectrum, in 1934 Dizzy Dean was the last NL pitcher to win 30 games going 30-7, yet he only started 33 games. He appeared in 17 games in relief. He went 4-2 with 7 saves in those 17 games.

Can you imagine a team today using the league MVP pitcher so many times in relief in between regular starts? For example on August 7 he pitched a complete game shutout, the next day he pitched 3 shutout innings to get another win. On September 10 he pitched a complete game then appeared in relief the next two days.