 Mariano Rivera won the AL Relief Man Award in 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005, and 2009. | |
| Sport | Baseball |
|---|---|
| League | Major League Baseball |
| Awarded for | Best relief pitcher in the American League and National League |
| Sponsored by | Rolaids |
| Presented by | Rolaids |
| History | |
| First award | 1976 |
| Final award | 2012 |
| Most wins | 5, shared by Mariano Rivera and Dan Quisenberry |
The Rolaids Relief Man Award was an annual Major League Baseball (MLB) award given from 1976 to 2012 to the top relief pitchers of the regular season, one in the American League (AL) and one in the National League (NL).
Relief pitchers enter the game after the starting pitcher is removed. The award was sponsored by the antacid brand Rolaids, whose slogan was "R-O-L-A-I-D-S spells relief." Because the first closers were nicknamed "firemen", a reference to "putting out the fire" of another team's rally, the trophy was a gold-plated firefighter's helmet.
Statistical performance determined the winner, unlike the voting bodies that chose the recipients of the Cy Young Award and the MLB Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award. Each save was worth three points; each win was worth two points; and each loss was worth negative two points. Beginning with the 1988 MLB season, negative two points were given for blown saves.[1][2] In the 2000 MLB season, Rolaids added an additional point for a "tough save": when a relief pitcher got the save after entering the game with the potential tying run on base. The player with the highest point total won the award.[3]
The first winners were Bill Campbell (AL) and Rawly Eastwick (NL); Campbell also won in the following season. Dan Quisenberry and Mariano Rivera each won the AL award five times, while Rollie Fingers and Bruce Sutter won the award four times each. Lee Smith won the award on three occasions; Campbell, Dennis Eckersley, Dave Righetti, John Franco, Éric Gagné, Randy Myers, Trevor Hoffman, Francisco Rodríguez, Heath Bell, and José Valverde each won the award twice. Sutter (NL 1979), Fingers (AL 1981), Steve Bedrosian (NL 1987), Mark Davis (NL 1989), Eckersley (AL 1992), and Éric Gagné (NL 2003) won the Relief Man and the Cy Young Award in the same season; Fingers and Eckersley won the AL MVP as well, in 1981 and 1992 respectively.[4][5] Todd Worrell won both the Relief Man and the MLB Rookie of the Year Award in the 1986 MLB season.[6] Rivera and Joe Nathan were the only relief pitchers to have tied in points for the award, and both received the award in 2009. Goose Gossage, Fingers, Eckersley, Hoffman, Rivera, Smith, John Smoltz and Sutter were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.[7] Craig Kimbrel (NL) and Jim Johnson (AL) were the final award winners in 2012.
In 2013, Sanofi acquired Rolaids from Johnson & Johnson unit McNeil Consumer Healthcare and canceled the award.[8][9]
- ^ "Thrown for a Loss". Sun-Sentinel. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. AP. May 21, 1988. p. 48. Retrieved June 6, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Tourtellotte, Shane (December 28, 2017). "The Unofficial Rules: Of Holds and Blown Saves". fangraphs.com. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
- ^ "About The Award". McNeil Consumer Healthcare Division of McNeil-PPC, Inc. Archived from the original on September 6, 2012.
- ^ "Cy Young Award winners". Major League Baseball. Retrieved May 23, 2009.
- ^ "Most Valuable Player winners". Major League Baseball. Retrieved May 23, 2009.
- ^ "Rookie of the Year winners". Major League Baseball. Retrieved May 23, 2009.
- ^ "Hall of Famers". Baseball Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on September 20, 2012.
- ^ Van Riper, Tom (April 10, 2014). "Why Can't Baseball Monetize It's Big Postseason Awards?". Forbes.com. Archived from the original on April 12, 2014.
- ^ Neyer, Rob (April 9, 2014). "Kissing the Rolaids Relief Award goodbye". FoxSports.com. Archived from the original on April 12, 2014.