I'm rolling thunder, pouring rain
I'm coming on like a hurricane
My lightning's flashing across the sky
-- AC/DC, Hell's Bells
It's not overly presumptious to say that the "save" is one of the most overblown statistics in Major League Baseball history.
It's
also not a great leap of faith to point out that while pitching the era
of Eckersley, Wetteland, Smoltz, Gagne and Rivera, the unassuming
Trevor Hoffman -- who has led his league in saves precisely once in 14 big league seasons -- has never been considered "The Man" when it comes to closers.
Until today.
In nailing down his 479th career save tonight, Hoffman passed Lee Smith
to become the all-time leader in career saves in major league
history.
Now, Smith's 478 was never one of the sport's Magic Numbers like 714
and 4191 and 2130 (all of which have also been passed, incidentally).
But this record-breaker by Hoffman is truly one of the most
under-the-radar accomplishments in the history of the sport.
There was some talk about Aaron in the early 1970s, how he'd "snuck up"
on the Ruth record while glitzier home run hitters -- Mays, Killebrew,
Frank Howard -- led the league for a season or three at a time. But
Aaron outlasted them all and in historical context is to home runs,
admittedly a much sexier and more PR-friendly stat, what Hoffman is now
to saves.
Maybe Mariano Rivera catches Hoffman someday. Maybe Bonds catches Aaron
who caught Ruth. Doesn't matter; doesn't have any bearing on the fact
that today, Trevor Hoffman sits atop the baseball world in the one
historical category that he has been paid to dominate for the last
decade-plus.
And he's done just that. Hell's Bells, indeed.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20060924231229176