Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Have You Seen This Man?

If you look at the Career Leaderboard page, you'll see that the top eight players all-time in saves are as follows:

1. Alfano 214
2. Diaz 164
3. Rhea 147
4. Donato 129
5. Caroll 118
6. Garcia 103
7. Ertel 95
8. Beliveau 86

However, this list is wrong. Will (who some reason is the only owner not posting on the blog) has pointed out to me that Thomas Hallinan should be tied with Joel Ertel for seventh place on the list.

Who is Thomas Hallinan?

Well, he was the Houston closer who set the Adams League record for saves in a season way back in 2002 with 43 saves. In fact, he *still* holds the record!

After the 2003 season, he was still the all-time leader for saves, having saved 36 games (despite posting an ugly 5.19 ERA). By the end of the 2004 season, he fell to fourth place with 95 saves, having lost his closer job to Jose Abarca. He sat out the 2005 and 2006 seasons, but as of the end of the 2006 season, he was still on the all-time leaders list (tied for 6th).

Hallinan officially retired on 1/26/2007. Yet, by the end of the season, he was a forgotten man outside of Houston. He was so forgotten that he was even wiped off the all-time leaders list. Aside from his mention in the Adams League and Houston record books, we'd never know he was here. It's fairly common for minor players who retire to "disappear" without a trace. However, it is not common for a player on an all-time leader list to do so (and even odder to do so after retirement). So, where is he?

Zev

1 comment:

  1. Interesting post. It's amazing, to me, is how many saves Frank Carroll never got because I kept demoting him to be a set-up man for Karl Hatch, and now, Junior Cuomo. He hasn't closed for me 4 out of the past 5 years because of them.

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