Jerome Holtzman (1926-2008)

Hall of Famer Jerome Holtzman, who created the formula for saves in Major League Baseball and later became its' official historian, died this past Saturday at age 81. Mr. Holtzman created saves as a journalist in 1959 to better measure the performance of relief pitchers, and it became a part of MLB's rulebook in 1969. Mr. Holtzman was a baseball writer and columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, retiring in 1999 to become MLB's historian. With 51 years of service to the game of baseball, Mr. Holtzman was definitely someone special.

Anyone interested in reading more about Mr. Holtzman should go read the story in the Chicago Tribune. http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/cs-080721-jerome-holtzman-death,0,5720155.story There's also some interesting information about his feud with baseball historian Bill James and information on some of Holtzman's books at Baseball-Reference.com. http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Jerome_Holtzman