Rollie Fingers

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
Home List of Articles

Rollie Fingers

Hall-of-Famers as Seen Through Player Won-Lost Records: Rollie Fingers

Rollie Fingers was elected to the Hall of Fame in his 2nd year of eligibility, 1992, with 81.2% of the vote.

Five highlights of Rollie Fingers's career:

Rollie Fingers was named to seven All-Star teams. He received MVP votes seven times and Cy Young votes four times.

Fingers led his league in saves three times and won the Rolaids Relief Man of the Year award four times.

Fingers was named World Series MVP in 1974. In the 1974 World Series, Fingers pitched in four games winning one and saving two with a 1.93 ERA in 9.1 innings pitched.

Fingers won the American League Cy Young and MVP awards in 1981. In that strike-shortened season, Fingers had a 6-3 record with a league-leading 28 saves and a 1.04 ERA in 78 innings pitched.

Fingers established a new major-league record for career saves when he earned his 244th career save in 1980. He finished his career with 341 saves and held the career record for saves until 1991.

The first two tables below present Rollie Fingers's career as measured by Player won-lost records, in and out of context.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWORL	pWOPA

Basic Player Won-Lost Records
						Value Decomposition
1968	OAK	21	1	0.0	0.1	-0.0	-0.0
1969	OAK	22	60	6.7	7.9	0.1	-1.1
1970	OAK	23	45	8.7	8.7	1.7	0.5
1971	OAK	24	48	7.0	7.0	1.3	0.2
1972	OAK	25	65	7.9	5.0	4.0	2.8
1973	OAK	26	62	8.0	5.9	3.2	1.9
1974	OAK	27	76	8.6	5.7	4.0	2.7
1975	OAK	28	76	9.1	5.6	4.6	3.3
1976	OAK	29	70	9.2	8.3	2.2	0.6
1977	SDN	30	78	9.1	7.7	2.8	1.3
1978	SDN	31	67	9.2	6.7	3.8	2.5
1979	SDN	32	54	5.0	7.8	-1.8	-2.9
1980	SDN	33	66	7.5	6.6	2.1	0.8
1981	MIL	34	47	7.1	3.7	4.1	3.2
1982	MIL	35	50	7.9	3.9	4.7	3.7
1983	-	36	-	-	-	-	-
1984	MIL	37	33	5.0	2.5	3.0	2.3
1985	MIL	38	47	4.3	4.5	0.4	-0.4
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			945	120.3	97.7	40.0	21.5
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			30	4.8	3.4	2.2	1.5
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			975	125.2	101.1	42.2	23.0

Season	Team	Age	Games	eWins	eLosses	eWORL	eWOPA

Expected Player Won-Lost Records
						Value Decomposition
1968	OAK	21	1	0.0	0.1	-0.1	-0.1
1969	OAK	22	60	6.9	7.8	0.5	-0.7
1970	OAK	23	45	8.8	8.6	1.8	0.7
1971	OAK	24	48	7.4	6.6	2.2	1.1
1972	OAK	25	65	7.2	5.8	2.5	1.4
1973	OAK	26	62	7.8	6.1	2.8	1.6
1974	OAK	27	76	8.0	6.2	2.9	1.6
1975	OAK	28	76	7.8	6.9	2.1	0.8
1976	OAK	29	70	9.7	7.7	3.3	1.7
1977	SDN	30	78	8.8	8.0	2.3	0.9
1978	SDN	31	67	9.2	6.8	3.7	2.4
1979	SDN	32	54	6.1	6.8	0.3	-0.8
1980	SDN	33	66	7.7	6.3	2.6	1.4
1981	MIL	34	47	6.6	4.1	3.4	2.5
1982	MIL	35	50	7.0	4.8	3.1	2.0
1983	-	36	-	-	-	-	-
1984	MIL	37	33	4.0	3.5	1.0	0.4
1985	MIL	38	47	4.4	4.5	0.5	-0.3
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			945	117.4	100.6	35.0	16.5
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			30	4.1	4.2	0.7	-0.1
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			975	121.5	104.8	35.7	16.4

Rollie Fingers pitched for three World Series winners: the 1972, 1973, and 1974 Oakland A's. Fingers pitched well in all three of these postseasons. But he was at his best, by far, in 1974. In the 1974 postseason, Fingers pitched in 6 games, pitching 12.1 innings with a 2.19 ERA, earning 1 win and 3 saves, capping off the postseason by being named World Series MVP.

This article, then, looks at Rollie Fingers's 1974 postseason (pitching only), as evaluated by Player won-lost records. Player won-lost records are calculated such that the players on the winning team earn 2 pWins and 1 pLoss within a given game and the players on the losing team earn 1 pWin and 2 pLoss.

ALCS, Game 1

The Baltimore Orioles jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the top of the fifth and led 6-2 when Fingers entered the game to pitch the top of the ninth. Fingers pitched one scoreless inning, working around a leadoff single by Don Baylor with one strikeout. A fairly uneventul, low-value appearance to start the postseason.

Overall, for this game, Rollie Fingers amassed a Player won-lost record (in context) of 0.01 - 0.00, 0.00 net wins.

ALCS, Game 4

The A's won Games 2 and 3 of the ALCS on the strength of back-to-back complete-game shutouts, by Ken Holtzman and Vida Blue. Catfish Hunter also had a shutout working through seven innings of Game 4 with the A's clinging to a 2-0 lead.

Hunter allowed a leadoff single to Baylor to start the bottom of the eighth inning, bringing the tying run to the plate in the person of Brooks Robinson, bringing Fingers into the game. Two flyouts and a strikeout ended the threat in the eighth. Fingers stayed in the game for the ninth. That inning, he allowed a run on two singles and a walk, but struck out the ubiquitous Don Baylor to end the game and the series.

Overall, for this game, Rollie Fingers amassed a Player won-lost record (in context) of 0.41 - 0.15, 0.26 net wins.

World Series, Game 1

Game 1 of the World Series probably looks strange to somebody used to the modern "closer" model of bullpen usage. In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Dodgers scored a run on an error and a single to close to within 2-1. When starting pitcher Ken Holtzman walked Jim Wynn to move the tying run into scoring position, A's manager Al Dark didn't fool around. He went to his relief ace, bringing Rollie Fingers into the game with one out in the fifth inning. Fingers struck out Steve Garvey and got out of the inning without allowing any further damage - working around a hit-by-pitch that loaded the bases with two out.

Fingers then pitched three more shutout innings - the 6th, 7th, and 8th - as the A's extended their lead to 3-1. With two out in the bottom of the ninth, Fingers - who had pitched 4-1/3 innings and faced 17 batters to this point - finally started to fatigue, allowing a home run and a single, leading Dark to bring in 1974 Cy Young winner Catfish Hunter to get the final out of the 3-2 A's win.

Overall, for this game, Rollie Fingers amassed a Player won-lost record (in context) of 0.43 - 0.19, 0.24 net wins.

World Series, Game 3

After pitching 4-1/3 innings in Game 1, Rollie Fingers understandably did not pitch in Game 2, which the Dodgers won 3-2. The lack of a relief ace did not really hurt the A's here, as the Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning which they would never relinquish. The A's managed to avoid a shutout with two runs in the ninth inning, which left them one run down.

When the series shifted to Oakland for Games 3, 4, and 5, Fingers was ready.

Fingers entered Game 3 with one out in the eighth inning and the A's leading 3-1. Although he allowed a home run to Willie Crawford leading off the ninth, he finished out the A's 3-2 victory.

Overall, for this game, Rollie Fingers amassed a Player won-lost record (in context) of 0.29 - 0.13, 0.16 net wins.

World Series, Game 4

With the A's leading the Series 2-1, the A's scored 4 runs in the sixth inning to take a 5-2 lead. A walk and a single by the Dodgers with two out in the eighth inning brought the tying run to the plate in the person of Joe Ferguson and brought Rollie Fingers in from the bullpen. Fingers struck out Ferguson and pitched a scoreless 3-batter ninth to preserve the A's 5-2 victory and bring them within one win of their third consecutive World Championship.

Overall, for this game, Rollie Fingers amassed a Player won-lost record (in context) of 0.08 - 0.02, 0.06 net wins.

World Series, Game 5

In Game 5, the A's scored single runs in the bottom of the first and second, to jump out to a 2-0 lead. The Dodgers tied the score with two runs in the top of the sixth, but Joe Rudi led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a home run to give the A's a 3-2 lead.

With two innings to go, Manager Dark wasted no time in turning the game over to his relief ace to bring the championship home. It was a good choice. Fingers worked around a single and a walk in the eighth and then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning and the Oakland A's had their third consecutive World Championship.

Overall, for this game, Rollie Fingers amassed a Player won-lost record (in context) of 0.25 - 0.11, 0.14 net wins.

For the 1974 postseason, that works out to an overall record (pitching only) of 1.46 - 0.59, 0.87 net wins.

Article last updated: June 8, 2020

All articles are written so that they pull data directly from the most recent version of the Player won-lost database. Hence, any numbers cited within these articles should automatically incorporate the most recent update to Player won-lost records. In some cases, however, the accompanying text may have been written based on previous versions of Player won-lost records. I apologize if this results in non-sensical text in any cases.

Home List of Articles