The closer position in baseball is a relatively recent development, one which has only come about as a full-time position with specific duties in the past twenty years. There were closers before then, guys who came into the game in tight situations, but they might appear in the sixth or seventh inning as the ninth, and (at least early in this century) might be starters pitching on their off-day.
Mike Scoscia
3 July 2008
29 June 2008
I’m more interested in Mike Scoscia having the managerial cojones to pull Jeff Weaver during a no-hitter.
One of the angles on this story, of course, is the AL manager facing an NL decision: had this been played in Angel Stadium, Scoscia wouldn’t have needed to make that call (since Weaver wouldn’t have been hitting). Instead, he made the tough call and lifted his pitcher for a pinch-hitter in the seventh, the kind of call no manager wants to make, the kind of call that leaves announcers speechless and fans stunned.
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