Phil Regan’s return last week to Wrigley Field as the interim pitching coach of the Mets not only provided a link to the 1969 Cubs but to a era when pitching staffs were used far differently than they
are now.
Regan pitched for the Cubs in 1968-72
and was their bullpen ace for the first three of those seasons. And the term was
‘‘bullpen ace,’’ not ‘‘closer.’’ Closers didn’t come into vogue until the late 1970s, when the Yankees with Goose Gossage and the Cubs with Bruce Sutter pioneered the practice of saving the best reliever to finish close games.