2002-2004 were defining years for Eric Gagne. For those three short years, he was one of the most dominating pitchers in baseball. His ERA’s never went above 1.00 in an era were 3.00 is respectible. The game was over once his name was called because nobody was going to do much off of him. I remember hearing the roar of the Los Angeles crowds when his name was announced … they then knew they could leave early to beat the traffic because the game was over.
He holds the record for consecutive saves at 84, where the next closest is Gordon at 54 and Hoffman at 41. Noboday has ever come close to this record, reminding me of a certain hit streak. At the time of the streak, he was regularly compared to Bob Gibson’s 1968 season … with little debate.
But an elbow injury sidelined him for over a year, and now he’s never been the same. Today it was announced the Milwaukee Brewers have dropped him as the closer. It’s sad to see a pitcher with such a great multi-year performance see it end because of an injury. What would have happened if he had stayed healthy. Would more pitching records fall like the consecutive saves?
Eric Gagne was a very good pitcher who gave us one of the greatest pitching performances in history. But that will be hard to remember after the recent struggles. Which is a shame.
