Being a relief pitcher has its ups and downs. One one hand you don’t have the need to be on the mound at all times and therefore the majority of the game isn’t riding on your shoulders. On the other, if you come out in the teams time of need and don’t perform, then you’re the guy that let the team down no matter what. You can be a hero or a pariah as a relief pitcher, and you can be the guy that no one really counts on until there’s no one else. Of course if you do well on a consistent basis, then eventually you might be seen as the go-to guy in certain situations.
Here are some of the top relief pitchers in film.
5. Duke – Major League
Might as well put it out there, this guy is a brute. He’s big, he’s mean, and he’s not above playing a little chin music if the batter gets on his nerves a little. Simply looking at him one can think that he might very well act this way in a game or just playing around with his kids. Even though he doesn’t speak you get the idea that he’s easily capable of putting the ball wherever he wants, even if it’s inside the other guy’s helmet.
4. Pittsburgh Relief Pitcher – The Natural
This is kind of situation where you really don’t want to screw up. You’ve got a legend on base, a game on the line, and you’re hoping and praying that you can strike the guy out and preserve your chance of a win. Being a relief pitcher with the game on the line is about as tense as it gets, and more to the point it’s about as stressful as anything an athlete can ever go through. You don’t want to be the guy that gives up the winning hit, but you also don’t want to be the guy that’s afraid to challenge the batter.
3. Ricky Vaughn – Major League
WILD THING! It’s hard not to jump up and start singing when that song hits, especially in this film since it means that everyone’s favorite relief pitcher is about to make an appearance. He’s unrefined, out of control, and has a fastball that could stop a bull in its tracks, but above all he’s the one guy on the team that the others look to in their time of need.
2. Robert Ellis – The Rookie
Sometimes its the unmentioned players that manage to garner the attention mostly because they don’t go looking for it. The job of a relief pitcher is a hard and sometimes very thankless position based upon how the fans receive them and how they’re compared to the starting pitchers. All in all no one wants to be thought of as a nobody, but in truth that might be what happens until your number is finally called.
1. Mel Clark – Angels in The Outfield
This might be considered cheating just a bit on this list considering that Clark was a starting pitcher for most of the movie. But in the beginning of the film he was inactive and confined to the bullpen for a while. He was also considered washed up and essentially useless, so it’s kind of a safe to assume that he was considered as a relief pitcher in that particular story line.
A lot of pitchers would likely say that they’d rather start than be relief. But the truth of the matter is that while some are great at the beginning of the game, others are far better at finishing. Finding where to put everyone in the rotation is the hard part.
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