Rolaids Relief Award

The Rolaids Relief Man Award was an annual Major League Baseball award given by Rolaids to the top relief pitcher in each league. It was first awarded in 1976, but was discontinued following the 2012 season, to allow for the introduction of the Mariano Rivera Award and the Trevor Hoffman Award in 2014. Nippon Professional Baseball has a similar award called the Fireman of the Year.

Scoring System

Unlike other awards such as the Cy Young Award or the Most Valuable Player, the Relief Man Award was based on statistical performance, rather than subjective opinion.

1976-1987

• Relief Wins: +2
• Saves: +2
• Relief Losses: -1

1988-1999

• Saves: +3
• Relief Wins: +2
• Relief Losses: -2
• Blown Saves: -2

2000-2012

• Saves: +3
• Relief Wins: +2
• "Tough Saves": +1 (in addition to save points)
• Relief Losses: -2
• Blown Saves: -2

The reliever with the highest score at the end of the season was given the award.

Award Winners

Dan Quisenberry and Mariano Rivera have both won the Rolaids Award five times. Bruce Sutter and Rollie Fingers have won it four times.

Bold indicates Cy Young Award winner

American League

Year	Player	Team	ERA	Wins	Losses	Saves	Blown Saves	Tough Saves	Points
1976	Bill Campbell	Minnesota Twins	3.01	17	5	20	n/a	n/a	69
1977	Bill Campbell	Boston Red Sox	2.96	13	9	31	n/a	n/a	79
1978	Rich Gossage	New York Yankees	2.01	10	11	27	n/a	n/a	63
1979	Jim Kern	Texas Rangers	1.57	13	5	29	n/a	n/a	79
1980	Dan Quisenberry	Kansas City Royals	3.09	12	7	33	n/a	n/a	83
1981	Rollie Fingers	Milwaukee Brewers	1.04	6	3	28	n/a	n/a	65
1982	Dan Quisenberry	Kansas City Royals	2.57	9	7	35	n/a	n/a	81
1983	Dan Quisenberry	Kansas City Royals	1.94	5	3	45	n/a	n/a	97
1984	Dan Quisenberry	Kansas City Royals	2.64	6	3	44	n/a	n/a	97
1985	Dan Quisenberry	Kansas City Royals	2.37	8	9	37	n/a	n/a	81
1986	Dave Righetti	New York Yankees	2.45	8	8	46	n/a	n/a	100
1987	Dave Righetti	New York Yankees	3.51	8	6	31	n/a	n/a	72
1988	Dennis Eckersley	Oakland Athletics	2.35	4	2	45	8	n/a	123
1989	Jeff Russell	Texas Rangers	1.98	6	4	38	6	n/a	106
1990	Bobby Thigpen	Chicago White Sox	1.83	4	6	57	8	n/a	151
1991	Bryan Harvey	California Angels	1.60	2	4	46	6	n/a	122
1992	Dennis Eckersley	Oakland Athletics	1.91	7	1	51	3	n/a	159
1993	Jeff Montgomery	Kansas City Royals	2.27	7	5	45	6	n/a	127
1994	Lee Smith	Baltimore Orioles	3.29	1	4	33	6	n/a	81
1995	Jose Mesa	Cleveland Indians	1.13	3	0	46	2	n/a	140
1996	John Wetteland	New York Yankees	2.83	2	3	43	4	n/a	119
1997	Randy Myers	Baltimore Orioles	1.51	2	3	45	1	n/a	131
1998	Tom Gordon	Boston Red Sox	2.72	7	4	46	1	n/a	142
1999	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	1.83	4	3	45	4	n/a	129
2000	Todd Jones	Detroit Tigers	3.52	2	4	42	4	4	118
2001	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	2.34	4	6	50	7	3	135
2002	Billy Koch	Oakland Athletics	3.27	11	4	44	6	2	136
2003	Keith Foulke	Oakland Athletics	2.08	9	1	43	5	4	139
2004	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	1.94	4	2	53	4	2	157
2005	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	1.38	7	4	43	4	8	135
2006	Francisco Rodríguez	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	1.73	2	3	47	4	3	134
2007	J.J. Putz	Seattle Mariners	1.38	6	1	40	2	8	134
2008	Francisco Rodríguez	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	2.24	2	3	62	7	1	171
2009	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	1.76	3	3	44	2	4	132
2010	Rafael Soriano	Tampa Bay Rays	1.73	3	2	45	3	0	131
2011	Jose Valverde	Detroit Tigers	2.24	2	4	49	0	0	143
2012	Jim Johnson	Batimore Orioles	2.49	2	1	51	3	0	149

National League

Year	Player	Team	ERA	Wins	Losses	Saves	Blown Saves	Tough Saves	Points
1976	Rawly Eastwick	Cincinnati Reds	2.09	11	5	26	n/a	n/a	69
1977	Rollie Fingers	San Diego Padres	2.99	8	9	35	n/a	n/a	77
1978	Rollie Fingers	San Diego Padres	2.52	6	13	37	n/a	n/a	73
1979	Bruce Sutter	Chicago Cubs	2.22	6	6	37	n/a	n/a	80
1980	Rollie Fingers	San Diego Padres	2.80	11	9	23	n/a	n/a	59
1981	Bruce Sutter	St. Louis Cardinals	2.62	3	5	25	n/a	n/a	51
1982	Bruce Sutter	St. Louis Cardinals	2.90	9	8	36	n/a	n/a	82
1983	Al Holland	Philadelphia Phillies	2.26	8	4	25	n/a	n/a	62
1984	Bruce Sutter	St. Louis Cardinals	1.54	5	7	45	n/a	n/a	93
1985	Jeff Reardon	Montreal Expos	3.18	2	8	41	n/a	n/a	78
1986	Todd Worrell	St. Louis Cardinals	2.08	9	10	36	n/a	n/a	80
1987	Steve Bedrosian	Philadelphia Phillies	2.83	5	3	40	n/a	n/a	87
1988	John Franco	Cincinnati Reds	1.57	6	6	39	3	n/a	111
1989	Mark Davis	San Diego Padres	1.85	4	3	44	4	n/a	126
1990	John Franco	New York Mets	2.53	5	3	33	6	n/a	91
1991	Lee Smith	St. Louis Cardinals	2.34	6	3	47	6	n/a	135
1992	Lee Smith	St. Louis Cardinals	3.12	4	9	43	8	n/a	103
1993	Randy Myers	Chicago Cubs	3.11	2	4	53	6	n/a	143
1994	Rod Beck	San Francisco Giants	2.77	2	4	28	0	n/a	80
1995	Tom Henke	St. Louis Cardinals	1.82	1	1	36	2	n/a	104
1996	Jeff Brantley	Cincinnati Reds	2.41	1	2	44	5	n/a	120
1997	Jeff Shaw	Cincinnati Reds	2.38	4	2	42	7	n/a	116
1998	Trevor Hoffman	San Diego Padres	1.48	4	2	53	1	n/a	161
1999	Billy Wagner	Houston Astros	1.57	4	1	39	3	n/a	117
2000	Antonio Alfonseca	Florida Marlins	4.24	5	6	45	4	0	125
2001	Armando Benitez	New York Mets	3.77	6	4	43	3	3	130
2002	John Smoltz	Atlanta Braves	3.25	3	2	55	4	5	164
2003	Eric Gagné	Los Angeles Dodgers	1.20	2	3	55	0	2	165
2004	Eric Gagné	Los Angeles Dodgers	2.19	7	3	45	2	3	142
2005	Chad Cordero	Washington Nationals	1.82	2	4	47	7	14	137
2006	Trevor Hoffman	San Diego Padres	2.14	0	2	46	5	0	124
2007	Jose Valverde	Arizona Diamondbacks	2.66	1	4	47	7	1	122
2008	Brad Lidge	Philadelphia Phillies	1.95	2	0	41	0	0	127
2009	Heath Bell	San Diego Padres	2.71	6	4	42	6	3	121
2010	Heath Bell	San Diego Padres	1.93	6	1	47	3	5	150
2011	John Axford	Milwaukee Brewers	1.95	2	2	46	2	0	134
2012	Craig Kimbrel	Atlanta Braves	1.01	3	1	42	3	1	125