Holtzman's 'Save Stat' could only be earned with at most a 2-run lead

• Holtzman did not invent the 'save stat' used to publicize regular season 'saves' today. His rule was:
• tying or winning run had to be on base.

Jerome Holtzman, 2002 in Baseball Digest: "I invented the first formula for saves in 1960, in my fourth season as a baseball beat writer. At that time there were only two stats to measure the effectiveness of a reliever: earned run average and the win-loss record. Neither was an appropriate measure of a reliever's effectiveness.

• The ERA wasn't a good index because many of the runs scored off a reliever are charged

• to the previous pitcher;"...

With this statement, Holtzman assumes a 'save' stat seeker would at times enter a game

• with runners on base

• put there by an earlier pitcher.

• Add to that another layer of difficulty:

(Holtzman): "Initially, to earn a save,

• the reliever had to come in with the tying or winning run on base or at the plate

• and finish the game with the lead.

The following season, the degree of difficulty lessened:

• a two-run lead was sufficient."

It is a mistake to credit or blame Jerome Holtzman with today's scenario focused solely on the regular season total save stat.

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