Mariano Rivera is going to the Hall of Fame. There's no doubt about that. And everybody everywhere says he's the greatest closer of all-time. There's only one problem with that, though. Closers haven't existed for "all-time." What we think of today as the closer has really only been around for about 20 years. This kind of specialist, only pitching one inning, really started with Dennis Eckersley when he was on the A's. It was a Tony LaRussa invention. Way back when, they were just relief pitchers, old washed-up starters thrown to the scrapheap of the bullpen. Sure, there was a Hoyt Wilhelm here and there, but they weren't valued as specialists with any specific role. Then in the late '60s and early '70s, Rollie Fingers and Sparky Lyle created what was then called the fireman, followed by guys like Goose Gossage and Bruce Sutter. They would come in at a crucial point in the game with runners on base, hopefully get out of the jam and pitch the rest of the game. They were the closer, the setup man and even the sixth and seventh inning guy all rolled into one. You didn't have to find pitchers to span the bridge to the closer. They were their own bridge. The most innings pitched in a season by Rivera has been 80.2 in 2001, when he appeared in 71 games. The most by Eckersley since he was made a full-time closer was 80 in 1992 (69 games). Contrast that with Lyle, whose most innings pitched was in '77 with 137 in 72 games. Fingers appeared in 134.2 innings in 70 games in '76. Sutter tossed 122.2 innings in '84. And Gossage threw a whopping 141.2 innings in 62 games in '75 with the White Sox. Some starters today can't even do that. Lyle threw over 100 innings six times in his career. Fingers did eight times and Gossage four (as relievers). Rivera has never come close. If you take a look at Rivera's post-season career, he's been used a little differently. In his Championship Series appearances, he pitched in 25 games, throwing 38.2 innings (1.53 IP per game). And in the World Series, his numbers are 20 games, 31 innings pitched (1.55). Those still aren't Rollie Fingers