During 2019 All-Star Game Workout Day in Cleveland, I spoke to Oakland Athletics closer Liam Hendriks about Jerome Holtzman, the writer who came up with the save rule.
“I’ve heard that story before,” Hendriks said. “I couldn’t remember the name, but I’ve read into the fact that someone invented the save. Was he a reporter or a broadcaster?”
Holtzman, as many baseball fans remember, was a longtime columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and Tribune, nicknamed “the Dean” by his colleagues. He invented the modern-day save rule in 1969, and though it’s been modified over the years, it’s still his baby.