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[QUOTE="nomar, post: 5291049, member: 651"]
This doesn't really fit the theme but I just thought of a guy who, for one season, was arguably the greatest closer of all time. (Eckersley's 1990 season is the only competition.) At the age of 38!

His name: Koji Uehara.

Now, he had a pretty good career. And the season before the Sox got him, he had a 1.75 ERA in 36 IP. But what he did in 2013 for the Sox, at 38, is downright incredible:

74.1 IP, 1.09 ERA, 0.565 WHIP,101/9 K:BB ratio (2 of the 9 were IBB)

But that was just the appetizer. In the playoffs, he was even better:

13.2 IP, 0.66 ERA, 0.512 WHIP, 16/0 K:BB ratio

He was excellent in his year 39 & 40 seasons for Boston, and then very good in his year 41 and 42 seasons for the Sox and the Cubs, respectively. But nothing like that 2013 season. He made batters look like they were swinging with toothpicks. I have never, in 40 years of watching baseball, trusted a player more than I trusted Koji in the 2013 playoffs.

Over the course of the season, Uehara faced 265 batters and only reached a 3-0 count four times. Two of those four were IBBs, and the other two he ended up striking out.
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