The highly visible success of Page, a star reliever for three Yankee World Champions,
hastened the widespread use of the relief specialist. Page succeeded
Johnny Murphy
as the
Yankee bullpen ace, and while not as good or as durable as Murphy, he worked
more games per season. In 1949 (although the statistic did not officially exist at
the time), he set a ML save record of 27 that stood until 1961, and his 14 relief
wins in 1947 was the AL record until
Luis Arroyo broke that one too in 1961. He led
the league twice each in saves, relief wins, and appearances (but three times in
relief losses).
Page spent his first three seasons as a struggling starter before
Bucky Harris put Page into the bullpen in 1947. Page had just two starts that year
and one final start in 1948, and he went 14-8 with 17 saves and a 2.48 ERA (2.15
in relief). Page saved Game One of the 1947 World Series, lost Game Six, and won
the clincher, holding the Dodgers to one hit in five scoreless innings. In 1949 he
was even better, saving the record 27 while going 13-8 with a 2.59 ERA. In the World
Series, he won Game Three and saved the clincher. He dropped off the next year and
failed in a comeback attempt with the Pirates in 1954.
(SFS)
Joe Page
