Firpo Marberry

Frederick "Firpo" Marberry (November 30 1898 - June 30 1976) was an American right-handed starting and relief pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1923 to 1936, most notably with the Washington Senators. The sport's first prominent reliever, he has been retroactively credited as having been the first pitcher to record 20 saves in a season, the first to earn 100 career saves, the first to make 50 relief appearances in a season or 300 in a career, and the only pitcher to lead the major leagues in saves five times. But relief pitching was still seen as a lesser calling in a time when starters were only removed when clearly ineffective, and Marberry also started 187 games in his career, posting a 94-52 record as a starter for a remarkable .644 winning percentage. He pitched in later years for the Detroit Tigers (1933-1935) and New York Giants (1936) before ending his career in Washington.

Highlights

• Top 10 in the American League in wins, five times (1929, '30, '31, '33, '34)
• Top 6 in the league in ERA, four times (1924, '29, '31, '33)
• Led the league in saves, five times (1924, '25, '26, '29, '32); in the top 10 four more times (1927, '28, '31, '34)
• Led the league in games, six times (1924, '25, '26, '28, '29, '32), and led the league in games finished, four times (1924, '25, '26, '28)