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Brett Saberhagen’s Cooperstown resumé is headlined by two Cy Youngs and a World Series MVP award. His 58.9 career WAR fits in nicely among pitchers inducted into the Hall of Fame. The total stands above no-doubt inductees such as Three-Finger Brown, Mariano Rivera, Whitey Ford and Sandy Koufax.

Sabes’ career is an interesting one when broken down by odd-numbered and even-numbered years.

In 1985 he won 20 games, the Cy Young and World Series MVP Award. In ’87 the right-hander was an All Star and 18-game winner. Two years later in ’89, his league-leading 23 wins, 2.16 ERA, and 12 complete games earned him a second Cy Young Award. Saberhagen’s WAR totals in those three campaigns were impressive: 7.1 in ’85, 8.0 in ’87, and 9.7 in ’89. For good measure, he pitched a no-hitter in another odd-numbered year – 1991. Together, all that sounds like a Hall of Famer.

The problem is his ineffectiveness in the intervening even-numbered seasons. In 1984, ’86, ’88, ’90, and ’92 he went a combined 39-53 with losing records each season.

Another knock on Saberhagen’s career is that his greatness was too brief. After coming out of the gate with 92 wins by the end of his age-25 season, Saberhagen won just 85 contests the rest of his career. From 1995 until he retired in 2001, the right-hander earned only 33 victories.

When he hung up his spikes, Saberhagen’s win total stood at 167, far below the 200-victory mark preferred by the voters. His 3.34 career ERA and 1,715 strikeouts don’t feel like Hall of Fame numbers.

When it came time for Hall of Fame voting, Saberhagen’s early-career, odd-numbered-year dominance simply wasn’t long enough for the baseball writers. After receiving 1.7% of the vote in his first year of eligibility, Saberhagen was one-and-done on their ballot.

His candidacy now lies in the hands of the Veterans Committee.

In the collection is this document signed by Saberhagen on July 14, 1998. That day Sabes took the mound against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Tropicana Field. Pitching for the Red Sox, he allowed 4 runs on 7 hits through 5 1/3 innings in a no-decision. For the season Saberhagen tossed 175 innings, going 15-8 with 100 strikeouts for the 92-win Boston club.

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On May 28, 1996, Bret Saberhagen went under the knife for what many assumed was a career-ending surgery. Doctors drilled into into a bone in his pitching shoulder to help keep his rotator cuff in place. The 32-year old missed the entire season.

The following year he signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox. He returned to the mound more than a year after the surgery. In five minor league starts spanning 22 innings Saberhagen posted a 1.64 ERA. Boston called him up and the former All Star started six games in the final two months of the season.

The following year, Saberhagen returned to the majors in style. The right-hander won 15 games for Boston in ’98, the most since his 23-win Cy Young campaign in 1989. After overcoming such adversity and grinding his way back, Saberhagen received the Tony Conigliaro Award.

Instituted by the Red Sox in 1990, the honor is named for the late Boston star whose career was derailed by a life-threatening beaning in 1967. The award goes to “Major Leaguer who has overcome adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination and courage that were trademarks of Tony C.”

Shown here is a government postcard of the Red Sox outfielder. The USPS postmark shows it was mailed from Boston on April 26, 1966. After the card was dropped in the mail, Red Sox ace Jim Lonborg took the mound against Yankee legend Whitey Ford.

A pitchers’ duel on paper, the contest was a 7-6 Yankee win in which neither starting pitcher figured in the decision. Tony C did his part, going 3-for-5 with a single, double, and triple, three runs scored, and three RBI.