Happy Belated Birthday to one of the all-time greatest Closers and the player with the most fabulous mustache in all of baseball history, Rollie Fingers. Most of his seventeen-year career occurred with the Oakland Athletics and stints with the San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1968-82;84-85):

114-118 W-L 2.90 ERA 1,701.1 IP 1.156 WHIP 341 SV 1,299 SO 709 GF

• 7x All-Star

• 4x Rolaids Relief Man Award

• 1981 Cy Young/MVP Winner

• 3x World Series Champion (1972-74)

Fingers was moved to the bullpen because of his struggles as a starter, where he would be regarded as the pioneer of modern relief pitching, in which he defined the closer role for years to come. For a long time, Relief Pitchers had a limited role, but after 1968, with an increase in Offense and with the DH being introduced in 1973, managers were more willing to use relief pitchers. As a Closer, he led the MLB in Saves three times. Also, the winners of four Roliads Relief Man Awards only, Mariano Rivera and Dan Quisenberry, have won more than him. The one thing you need in a Relief Pitcher more than anything is you have to shine in the postseason, which Fingers did during his time with the Athletics. In the 1974 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Fingers earned the Win in Game 1 and followed that by earning the Save in the next three games as the A’s would go on to sweep the Dodgers, and Fingers was named the MVP of that series.

On his second ballot, Fingers was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992. He is also one of ten players to have their number retired by more than one team, as the Athletics and Brewers both retired his #34 jersey. In 1999, he was ranked #96 on The Sporting News list of 100 Greatest Baseball Players.

References:

1. Rollie Fingers via Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollie_Fingers

2. Rollie Fingers Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fingero01.shtml