The role of a closer was not an officially role until the term Save came into play officially in 1969. Bill Singer of the Los Angeles Dodgers was the first to register a save when he pitched 3 nearly perfect games to open the 69 season at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. 

The actually stat was created by Jerome Holtzman after he got frustrated watched Elroy Face receive so much credit after his 18-1 season. He felt Face was far better in 1958 and the existing stats had no true way to capture it. 

Thus the save was born and he was paid a bonus by the Sporting News to calculate the stat unofficially from 1960 - 1969. 

We hope you enjoy the episode! 

Mentioned in this episode:

Classic Baseball Broadcasts

Classic Baseball Broadcasts