Mariano Rivera pitched part time and should not be elected to the Hall of Fame.

Mariano Rivera threw only a few more innings than Babe Ruth. That anecdotal fact alone should jolt any rational person, even a baseball fan, into realizing how absurd it is to even consider, much less actually elect, someone to the Hall of Fame who played so little.

Innings pitched by Babe Ruth: reasonable minimum for Hall of Fame. Friday, January 26, 2018

Geez, is that too much to expect, that a pitcher at least surpass the number of innings pitched by Babe Ruth who hit 714 Home Runs?
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Below is the case against electing any relief pitchers, especially one inning closers, to the Hall of Fame.

Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte had the same first and last seasons: 1995 and 2013. Both began and ended with the Yankees. Pettitte played three seasons for the Houston Astros (2004, 2005, 2006) and not at all in 2011. Rivera played his entire career with the Yankees.

They played together and in the same seasons enough to make a very valid, obvious and substantive point. We'll use regular season numbers.

	games	starts	relief	innings
Rivera	1,115	10	1,105	1,283
Pettitte	531	521	10	3,316

There's really is no comparison. Pettitte pitched 2.6 times more innings than Rivera. How could Rivera possibly contribute nearly as much as Pettitte? Oh, wait, you say. Rivera was pitching almost exclusively in the 9th inning, which is much more important and difficult. Is it really? It's more important than all the other 8 innings?

To qualify for the league lead in average stats like ERA a pitcher must pitch one inning for every game scheduled. In recent seasons, that's usually 162 innings. Rivera never came close to qualifying. Pettitte qualified 14 times, including in his final season at age 41.

Let's look at a matrix comparing their percent of team innings pitched year by year. And just for fun, let's throw in teammate Derek Jeter, the Yankee shortstop, and look at his percent of Yankee plate appearances (PA); for Jeter, we'll divide the Yankee total by 9, since a batter is prevented by rule from having more than one 9th of his team's PA on average.

	%	%	%	Inn	Inn	Inn	PA	PA	PA	Inn
Year	Rivera	Pettitte	Jeter	Yankees	Rivera	Pettitte	Yankees	Yanks/9	Jeter	Astros
1995	5.22%	13.63%	8.05%	1284.2	67	175	5,699	633	51
1996	7.44%	15.35%	91.77%	1440	107.2	221	6,414	713	654
1997	4.85%	16.36%	103.14%	1467.2	71.2	240.1	6,527	725	748
1998	4.20%	14.84%	96.93%	1456.2	61.1	216.1	6,444	716	694
1999	4.79%	13.29%	103.66%	1439.2	69	191.2	6,416	713	739
2000	5.28%	14.34%	96.83%	1424.2	75.2	204.2	6,311	701	679
2001	5.53%	13.80%	99.05%	1451.2	80.2	200.2	6,233	693	686
2002	3.17%	9.24%	103.03%	1452	46	134.2	6,377	709	730
2003	4.80%	14.23%	75.85%	1462	70.2	208.1	6,431	715	542
2004	5.42%	5.75%	101.96%	1443.2	78.2	83	6,364	707	721	1443
2005	5.46%	15.39%	105.65%	1430.2	78.1	222.1	6,406	712	752	1443
2006	5.20%	14.58%	99.69%	1443.2	75	214.1	6,455	717	715	1468.2
2007	4.90%	14.83%	98.44%	1450.2	71.1	215.1	6,528	725	714
2008	4.87%	14.15%	96.08%	1441.2	70.2	204	6,257	695	668
2009	4.56%	13.39%	99.92%	1450	66.1	194.2	6,449	717	716
2010	4.16%	8.95%	104.26%	1442.1	60	129	6,379	709	739
2011	4.19%		86.63%	1458.1	61.1		6,306	701	607
2012	0.56%	5.20%	106.88%	1445.1	8.1	75.1	6,231	692	740
2013	4.42%	12.79%	10.87%	1447.1	64	185.1	6,045	672	73
2014			93.82%				6,082	676	634

Gee, comparing a pitcher, especially a relief pitcher, especially a closer, to an actual every day baseball player shows just how little the pitcher participates.

Hall of Fame: why elect ANY pitchers? Friday, January 22, 2010