The Sporting News Reliever of the Year Award

The Sporting News Reliever of the Year Award was established in 1960 by The Sporting News (TSN) as TSN Fireman of the Year Award. The award originally recognized the best closer from each league, but in 2001 the award was broadened to include all relievers. The name was subsequently changed to The Sporting News Reliever of the Year Award.

Fireman of the Year Award winners:

Year	American League	Team	National League	Team
1960	Mike Fornieles	Boston Red Sox	Lindy McDaniel	St. Louis Cardinals
1961	Luis Arroyo	New York Yankees	Stu Miller	San Francisco Giants
1962	Dick Radatz	Boston Red Sox	Roy Face	Pittsburgh Pirates
1963	Stu Miller (2)	Baltimore Orioles	Lindy McDaniel (2)	Chicago Cubs
1964	Dick Radatz (2)	Boston Red Sox	Al McBean	Pittsburgh Pirates
1965	Eddie Fisher	Chicago White Sox	Ted Abernathy	Chicago Cubs
1966	Jack Aker	Kansas City Royals	Phil Regan	Los Angeles Dodgers
1967	Minnie Rojas	California Angels	Ted Abernathy (2)	Cincinnati Reds
1968	Wilbur Wood	Chicago White Sox	Phil Regan (2)	Chicago Cubs
1969	Ron Perranoski	Minnesota Twins	Wayne Granger	Cincinnati Reds
1970	Ron Perranoski (2)	Minnesota Twins	Wayne Granger (2)	Cincinnati Reds
1971	Ken Sanders	Milwaukee Brewers	Dave Giusti	Pittsburgh Pirates
1972	Sparky Lyle	New York Yankees	Clay Carroll	Cincinnati Reds
1973	John Hiller	Detroit Tigers	Mike Marshall	Montreal Expos
1974	Terry Forster	Chicago White Sox	Mike Marshall (2)	Los Angeles Dodgers
1975	Rich Gossage	Chicago White Sox	Al Hrabosky	St. Louis Cardinals
1976	Bill Campbell	Minnesota Twins	Rawly Eastwick	Cincinnati Reds
1977	Bill Campbell (2)	Boston Red Sox	Rollie Fingers	San Diego Padres
1978	Rich Gossage (2)	New York Yankees	Rollie Fingers (2)	San Diego Padres
1979	Jim Kern Mike Marshall (3)	Texas Rangers Minnesota Twins	Bruce Sutter	Chicago Cubs
1980	Dan Quisenberry	Kansas City Royals	Rollie Fingers (3) Tom Hume	San Diego Padres Cincinnati Reds
1981	Rollie Fingers (4)	Milwaukee Brewers	Bruce Sutter (2)	St. Louis Cardinals
1982	Dan Quisenberry (2)	Kansas City Royals	Bruce Sutter (3)	St. Louis Cardinals
1983	Dan Quisenberry (3)	Kansas City Royals	Al Holland Lee Smith	Philadelphia Phillies Chicago Cubs
1984	Dan Quisenberry (4)	Kansas City Royals	Bruce Sutter (4)	St. Louis Cardinals
1985	Dan Quisenberry (5)	Kansas City Royals	Jeff Reardon	Montreal Expos
1986	Dave Righetti	New York Yankees	Todd Worrell	St. Louis Cardinals
1987	Jeff Reardon (2) Dave Righetti (2)	Minnesota Twins New York Yankees	Steve Bedrosian	Philadelphia Phillies
1988	Dennis Eckersley	Oakland Athletics	John Franco	Cincinnati Reds
1989	Jeff Russell	Texas Rangers	Mark Davis	San Diego Padres
1990	Bobby Thigpen	Chicago White Sox	John Franco (2)	New York Mets
1991	Dennis Eckersley (2) Bryan Harvey	Oakland Athletics California Angels	Lee Smith (2)	St. Louis Cardinals
1992	Dennis Eckersley (3)	Oakland Athletics	Doug Jones Lee Smith (3)	Houston Astros St. Louis Cardinals
1993	Jeff Montgomery	Kansas City Royals	Randy Myers	Chicago Cubs
1994	Lee Smith (4)	Baltimore Orioles	John Franco (2)	New York Mets
1995	José Mesa	Cleveland Indians	Randy Myers (2)	Chicago Cubs
1996	John Wetteland	New York Yankees	Trevor Hoffman	San Diego Padres
1997	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	Jeff Shaw	Cincinnati Reds
1998	Tom Gordon	Boston Red Sox	Trevor Hoffman (2)	San Diego Padres
1999	Mariano Rivera (2)	New York Yankees	Ugueth Urbina	Montreal Expos
2000	Todd Jones	Detroit Tigers	Antonio Alfonseca	Florida Marlins

Reliever of the Year Award winners:

Year	American League	Team	National League	Team
2001	Mariano Rivera (3)	New York Yankees	Armando Benitez Robb Nen	New York Mets San Francisco Giants
2002	Billy Koch	Oakland Athletics	John Smoltz	Atlanta Braves
2003	Keith Foulke	Oakland Athletics	Eric Gagne	Los Angeles Dodgers
2004	Mariano Rivera (4)	New York Yankees	Eric Gagne	Los Angeles Dodgers

External links

• Baseball Almanac