MLB: Top 20 closers in Major League Baseball history
Career Statistics:
- Games: 880
- Saves: 367
- Won-Loss Record: 73-77
- ERA: 3.16
- ERA+: 122
- FIP: 3.49
- WHIP: 1.199
- Innings: 1,132.1
- Strikeouts: 877
- Strikeout Percentage: 18.6%
- All-Star Appearances: 4
- World Series Championships: 1
- Awards: None
Many closers begin their Major League careers as starters, but Jeff Reardon wasn’t one of them. After moving to the bullpen in Triple-A Tidewater in 1979, Reardon joined the relief corps of the New York Mets the following season. All 880 of Reardon’s big league appearances came out of the bullpen, and he racked up 367 saves in a 16-year career.
Reardon’s career as a closer began to bloom after he was traded from the Mets to the Montreal Expos before the 1981 season. In his best year in Montreal, Reardon led the Majors with 41 saves in 1985, which earned him the NL Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award. Reardon finished seventh in the Cy Young voting that season and made the All-Star team for the first time. In six years north of the border, Reardon collected 152 saves.
In February 1987, Reardon was traded to the Minnesota Twins, a team for whom he earned the save in Game 7 of the World Series that year. The following season, Reardon set a career high with 42 saves and he totaled 104 saves during three years in Minnesota. The right-hander finished his third and final 40-save season as a member of the Boston Red Sox in 1991, which was his last great season as a closer. After short stints as a setup man in Atlanta, Cincinnati and with the New York Yankees, Reardon retired with an impressive 367 saves, which ranks ninth all-time.
Next: 9. John Franco