Greatest Tiger Relief Pitchers

The Tigers throughout the years have had some pretty good relief pitching, and some pretty bad ones as well. Growing up in Detroit, I certainly remember some of the ones from the 60's. Do you remember Terry Fox, Ron Kline, Ron Nischwicz, and John Wyatt. And then there were some of those guys that we got at the end of their careers. Guys like Elroy Face and Johnny Podres, who made their fame in other uniforms. We also can't forget the big one that got away, or in our case, three that got away. Those might be John Smoltz, Phil Regan, and Mike Marshall. But the real time of the relief pitcher was in the late 60's, 70's, and 80's, when we had good teams.

As I look back now, the greatest Tiger relief pitchers are actually none of these. No, Tom Timmerman is nor under consideration. I do propose to you the following "Masters of The Final Out". Those great pitchers would be: John Hiller, who was the greatest left handed relief pitcher of his time, and still looks good; Willie Hernandez, who came to the Tigers on the last day of Spring Training in 1984 for Glenn Wilson and went on to become the MVP and the Cy Young winner in the same year; Aurelio Lopez (aka. Senor Smoke) who was a great reliever that became even better with Guilermo taking over the 9th inning duties; Mike Henneman, who was a good pitcher on a bad team; and finally, The Rollercoaster, Todd Jones, the alltime saves leader for the Tigers and served for two stints, both of which was pretty successful. All of these guys had great attributes;

John Hiller


Hiller ranks 22nd on the alltime saves list in spite of his heart attack and subsequent return. I saw him a couple of years ago and he looks like he could still get guys out.

1968 World Series
1972 American League Championship Series

All-Star Selections
1974 AL

Not bad!!!

Willie Hernandez

When Willie Hernandez was acquired by the Detroit Tigers in a four-player trade in the last week of spring training in 1984, there was little way of knowing just how crucial he would be to the team's success that season. As a veteran reliever who had never saved more than 10 games or pitched more than 115 innings in a season, Hernandez was seen as a decent setup man with experience. But he mastered his screwball in '84 and baffled American League batters on his way to the Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards. He converted 32 of 33 save opportunities and posted a stingy 1.92 ERA, as his carefully permed hair and cheek bulging with chew became familiar to Tigers' fans in his 80 games on the mound. Far from a one-year wonder, Willie followed with a similar season in 1985, and retired with more saves than any other Tigers pitcher.

Willie Hernandez ranks #38 among the Top 50 all-time at RP

Post-Season Appearances
1983 World Series
1984 American League Championship Series
1984 World Series
1987 American League Championship Series

Awards and Honors
1984 AL Cy Young
1984 AL MVP

Matchup Data
Over the 1977 and 1978 seasons, Hernandez went 21 innings without allowing a run to the Pirates.

All-Star Selections
1984 AL
1985 AL
1986 AL


Aurelio Lopez

Best Season: 1984
Yeah, he went 10-1 out of the pen, but that was because he was in the right place to win a lot of tie games. But he pitched very, very well as Willie Hernandez's setup man. The Tigers really had two closers. Lopez was tough on right-handed batters, and he fanned 94 overall in more than 137 innings. He posted a 2.94 ERA and was on his game in the post-season, when he hurled six innings of shutout ball and earned two victories - one in the LCS and one in the World Series.

Post-Season Appearances
1984 American League Championship Series
1984 World Series
1986 National League Championship Series

All-Star Selections
1983 AL

Senor Smoke was good for a long time. He died in a tragic accident in 1992.

Todd Jones


The Alltime Tigers Saves Leader

Nicknames
The Roller Coaster

Tiger broadcaster Ernie Harwell dubbed Jones "The Roller Coaster" because of his exciting, up-and-down relief appearances.

Related Players
Mike Henneman replaced Jones as closer for the Astros in 1995, after coming over from the Tigers. Later, Jones broke Henneman's all-time save record for Detroit.

Awards and Honors
2000 AL Rolaids Relief

Notes
On May 18, 2006, Jones recorded his 154th save as a Tiger, tying Mike Henneman for the all-time Detroit franchise mark.

All-Star Selections
2000 AL

Post Season
2006 ALDS, ALDS, World Series

Mike Henneman

Like I said, he was a good pitcher for a long time, and some marginal teams. He eventually wore out and was traded to Texas, where he ended his career. He held the Tigers save record until the Rollercoaster abolished it in 2006.

Post-Season Appearances
1987 American League Championship Series

All-Star Selections
1989 AL