K-Rod for the Save!

K-Rod: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K (SV)

Seattle was Francisco Rodriguez’ victim as he broke the all-time single season record for saves. 

F Rodriguez (S, 58)  was the entry in the boxscores this morning as K-Rod eclipsed Bobby Thigpen’s old record of 57.  Rodriguez will most likely be the first 60 save reliever.  Who was it that had the all-time record BEFORE Thigpen?  I’ll give you a second to think about it.

While I do, check out Baseball-Reference’s Progressive Leaders for saves (the answer’s there).  B-R’s Progressive Leaders board is fun to look at for any stat.  It lists 4 columns for EACH year going back to 1876; career leader, single-season leader, active player career leader, and yearly leader.  It sounds rather mundane as I describe it but when you look at all four columns together, you get a sense of how the stat (in this case, saves) "progressed".  Try other stats, too!

Oh, the answer is Dave Righetti with 46 saves in 1986.