Verducci's Top 10 Closers of All Time

SI Staff | Jul 2, 2009

Verducci's Top 10 Closers of All Time

Tom Henke

John Iacono/SI

SI senior baseball writer Tom Verducci came up with this list when asked to rank his top closers of all time.<br><br>A truly dominant closer with a 156 ERA-plus and 9.8 strikeouts per nine innings. At age 37 he saved 36 games with a 1.82 ERA -- then retired.<br><br>Send comments to siwriters@simail.com

Dan Quisenberry

Heinz Kluetmeier/SI

He led the league in saves five times, earned Cy Young votes five times, posted a 146 ERA-plus over more than 1,000 innings -- all while striking out only 3.3 batters per nine innings. Amazing. A very underrated closer.

Lee Smith

Heinz Kluetmeier/SI

He finished more games (802) than any other pitcher in history and is third on the saves list while playing for eight teams.

Billy Wagner

Darren Carroll/SI

Better numbers than you might think: 385 career saves, 11.7 strikeouts per nine innings and an ERA-plus of 180.

Bruce Sutter

Walter Iooss Jr./SI

He is No. 21 on the saves list, just ahead of Jason Isringhausen, which just goes to show you how the job has changed. Sutter popularized the splitter and was at the forefront of the transition to the role of the modern closer.

Goose Gossage

John Iacono/SI

Only 18th on the all-time saves list, but five times received Cy Young Award votes and once struck out 151 batters in a season.

Rollie Fingers

Walter Iooss Jr./SI

The best of a very different time, Fingers threw more than one inning in 62 percent of his saves.

Trevor Hoffman

John W. McDonough/SI

Hoffman has the most saves in history (572), a better save percentage than Mariano Rivera and an average of 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings.

Dennis Eckersley

V.J. Lovero/SI

In 1990 he had more saves than base runners allowed. Think about that for a minute. Impeccable control.

Mariano Rivera

Damian Strohmeyer/SI

Only one of two relievers in history with at least 500 saves (502 to be exact), Mariano Rivera is the perfect closer: He strikes out batters, walks almost no one and rarely gives up extra-base hits. The clincher: a 0.77 ERA in 76 career postseason games.