Roy Face (1 Viewer)

[David Yudkin]

Roy Face holds the major league record for winning percentage in a season at 18-1 (.947) as a member of the 1959 Pirates. But he didn't start a game the entire season. How on earth could a relief pitcher get 18 wins in a season?

 

[cheese]

I would've guessed that he was someone who often came in before the 5th inning and as a result was credit with a bunch of wins where his team put up big runs early and the starter didn't last. However, that wasn't the case. In fact, he got zero of his wins that way. He entered every game in the 7th or later that year. One thing that did help him with achieve this is that he entered the game 32 times with his team tied or losing by 3 or less. Only one of his appearances came with a difference of 4 or more, so I'm also thinking he probably blew a couple leads only to get the win.

Either way, cool stat.

 

[Tom Servo]

This is known as being a "vulture".

 

[Eephus]

It all depends on how a pitcher is used. Both the Phillies and Rockies had over 40 come from behind wins in 2007. It's not inconceivable that a pitcher today could vulture a half that number if his role was as defined as Face's. It's still a pretty impressive record when you consider his team finished just over .500.

 

[NY/NJMFDIVER]

I'd love to see an arbitration situation with those digits today.

 

[apalmer]

Different era with a different approach to relief pitchers. Managers now would be fired if they used their best relief pitcher in the 7th or 8th inning when they were behind, and the pitcher would probably scream because he was being used in a non-save situation. Face's job was to pitch in the late innings, hold the other team and hope for the Bucs to score. Nobody tracked "saves" then, so there was no pressure not to use him.

 

[Please See Mine]

11 of his 18 wins were from extra inning games.