Decisions, Decisions: Rollie Fingers and Award Voting in 1975

Let’s start here: These are two right-handed relief pitchers for the same team in the same year. Which of them was better?

Obviously they were used differently, with the one on the left being the closer and the one on the right being sort of a long reliever/setup man I guess, though he obviously closed enough to get 12 saves, too. You obviously know from the title of this edition that the closer was Rollie Fingers and the year was 1975, which means the team they played for was the Oakland A’s. Do you have any idea who the other A’s reliever in this graphic is?

Maybe you’re guessing it was Paul Lindblad, and he did have a very good year for Oakland, but he was a lefty so it wasn’t him. So now you’re scratching your head and thinking, “Hmmm, A’s relievers from the 1970s. Darold Knowles?” Nope, he was also lefty, and was on the Cubs in 1975 anyway.