A four-time All-Star during his 16-year career (1979 to '94) with seven teams, including the 1987 champion Twins, Reardon only led his league in saves once (the NL, in 1985, with 41 for the Expos), but he placed among his league's top four six other times. In 1992 while pitching for the Red Sox, he broke Rollie Fingers' career saves record with his 342nd; two months later, he was traded to the Braves, who won the NL pennant, but he took the loss in Game 2 of the World Series against the Blue Jays, then gave up the game-winning hit in Game 3, allowing an inherited runner to score. The next year, after Reardon lost the closer's job in Cincinnati, Lee Smith surpassed his saves record (357); Trevor Hoffman passed Smith in 2006 and Mariano Rivera took over the top spot five years later. Reardon finished with 367 saves (but just 19.2 WAR), and that was almost good enough to keep him on the Hall of Fame ballot; he received 4.8% in 2000, falling a single vote short of a return engagement.
