Why this card is awesome: Because of an unheralded rookie card from the 1988 Topps set. Henneman went largely unnoticed in his career but he was a very good closer for a number of years.
Cool stat: From 1987 to 1991, Henneman is way out in the lead for most wins by a pitcher who didn't start a single game. Looks like Henneman was used to finish out a lot of games that were non-save situations, and the Tigers came through to win when he was the pitcher of record. Not quite Mitch Williams vulture style.
7 comments:
What's Mitch Williams Vulture Style? It sounds dirty.
Blowing a save (usually in hilarious/horrendous fashion) and then getting bailed out by your offense in the next half inning to earn the "win".
Edwar Ramirez got one of those sunday, came in leading 8-5, loaded the bases, allowed a go-ahead grand slam to Mark Teixera.. then Yankees tacked on 6 more runs. Edwar wins the game! 14-9
The true meaning of "vulturing a win" is simply being a reliever who happens into a game fortuitously when the offense breaks a tie or comes from behind. Phil Regan had that as his nickname because in '66 he had 14 wins, but didn't "create" a lot of his wins (only 2 that year). Even in a year when he won 18 in relief, Elroy Face only had 4 "Mitch" wins. For the record, Henneman had 5 "Mitches" in his 57 career wins. In his 3 years as a Phillie ('91-'93), Williams "Mitched" it up 6 times in his 20 regular season wins.
Williams seemed to vulture a lot more than that. I think the issue is that the year he got double-digit wins, I think he did about 4 within one month.
Why this card is REALLY awesome:
It gave my mother impetus to explain to me what a cleft chin was, when I asked why his chin looked like a butt.
Henneman was the original Todd Jones. Boy how us Tigers fans had a love/hate relationship with him.
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