By PETER ABRAHAM
The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News

The starting pitchers would curse and the fans boo when Cincinnati Reds manager Sparky Anderson came to the mound.

Pitching coach Don Gullett keeps in touch with the bullpen via phone and closed circuit television. (Michael E. Keating photo)

In 1970, his first year as manager of what would become the Big Red Machine, Anderson got more saves out of his relief pitchers than complete games by his starters that season. It was a revolutionary concept, and the purists thought Anderson was mad.

"They called me Captain Hook," said the 70-year-old Anderson, who cackles at the memory. "Now what would they call me?"

Just another manager, actually.

Relief pitchers have taken over baseball, becoming perhaps the biggest factor between success and failure.

The reigning Cy Young Award winner in the National League is Eric Gagne, a 28-year-old Canadian who gets the final three outs better than anybody else. His entrance to games at Dodger Stadium is greeted by standing ovations from fans.

This season, the New York Yankees will spend close to $30 million on their bullpen, a record. The rival Boston Red Sox countered by giving Oakland closer Keith Foulke a four-year contract worth $24 million. Even the sad-sack Mets will spend $11.35 million on relievers this season.

"Back in my day you had to be a starter or you were nobody," said Dennis Eckersley, a closer elected to the Hall of Fame this year in his first year of eligibility. "Now guys want to be relievers because that's a fast way to the big leagues and a quick way to get rich."

The revolution was fomented by Anderson and former Oakland manager Dick Williams, the first managers who saw a complete game as more of an anomaly than a necessity.

"It started with those two teams in the 1970s," said St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, who won the 1989 World Series for Oakland with Eckersley as his closer. "The A's won two World Series with Dick using a lot of relievers then closing with Rollie Fingers. Then Sparky did the same thing with the Reds.

"That changed everything and the momentum has carried onto today. People copy what is successful."

In 1983, starting pitchers completed 745 games. That dropped to 371 in 1993 and 209 last season. As workhorse starters like Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling retire, that number will dip even further and the value of relief pitchers will increase.

On only 187 occasions last season was a starting pitcher allowed to throw more than 120 pitches. Two managers - Dusty Baker of the Cubs and Frank Robinson of the Expos - were responsible for 49 of those outings.

"Clubs don't train starters to go nine innings," said Houston's Jimy Williams, one of 10 managers who averaged approximately three pitching changes per game last season. "You leave somebody out there and they accuse you of abuse."

With starters able to pitch only six or seven innings, specialization has increased. Now teams have left-handed relievers whose job might be only to face one batter in the seventh or eighth inning. Then right-handed and left-handed set-up men bridge the gap to the closer, whose job is usually only to get the final three outs.

"Guys like Bruce Sutter, myself, Rollie Fingers and Goose Gossage, we never went in a game unless there were guys on base," said Sparky Lyle, the former Yankee who in 1977 became the second relief pitcher to win the Cy Young Award. For Yankees manager Joe Torre, the bullpen can be just as important as the starting pitchers. "I go back to 1996 when our starters could barely go six innings," he said. "Our bullpen was very important to us then. It was our bullpen that kept us in the game."

John Franco grudgingly accepted his fate when the Reds made him a relief pitcher in 1984. Now 43, the left-hander is still pitching, makes $1 million a year and has appeared in the fifth most games in baseball history.

"The bullpen has become so important. I was lucky my career started when it did," Franco said. "The relief pitcher used to be some broken-down guy. Now we're the stars, everybody needs us."

The numbers

A partial look at the number of complete games by starting pitchers over the last 30 years:

Year	CG	Leader
1983	745	Ron Guidry, 21
1993	371	Chuck Finley, 13
2003	209	3 tied at 9

Closing fast

Here is a look at the career saves leaders and the years each pitched:

Pitcher	Sv	Seasons
1. Lee Smith	478	1980-97
2. John Franco	424	1984-
3. Dennis Eckersley	390	1975-98
4. Jeff Reardon	367	1979-94
5. Trevor Hoffman	352	1993-
6. Randy Myers	347	1985-98
7. Rollie Fingers	341	1968-85
8. John Wetteland	330	1989-00
9. Roberto Hernandez	320	1991-
10. Rick Aguilera	318	1985-00

The rule

Major League Baseball made the save an official statistic in 1969. It has been modified several times since. In 1973, the rule was changed to allow a reliever to earn a save by pitching three effective innings to finish a game. In 1975, the save standard was extended to include the tying run being on deck in the final inning.