Joe Nathan Marquee

b. November 22, 1974 · San Francisco Giants 1999–2000, 2002–2003, 2016, Minnesota Twins 2004–2009, 2011, Texas Rangers 2012–2013, Detroit Tigers 2014–2015, Chicago Cubs 2016

He saved 377 games, tenth on the all-time list, with a 2.87 earned run average and 976 strikeouts in 923 innings. Six All-Star selections across sixteen seasons, and the great majority of the saves came with Minnesota, where he arrived in a trade that also sent Francisco Liriano north for A. J. Pierzynski.

He had been a shortstop at college and was converted to pitching in the minors, then started 29 games for San Francisco before the Giants gave up on him. Minnesota made him a closer in 2004 and he saved 40 or more in four of the next six seasons.

Elbow surgery cost him the whole of 2010 and a second one ended him at forty in 2016. The writers gave him 17 votes of 394 in 2022 and he came off the ballot after one appearance.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
All-Star selection	6	2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013
Reliever of the Month	4	2006, 2008, 2009, 2013
Player of the Week	2	2004, 2005
The Sporting News All-Star	1	2005
The Sporting News Reliever of the Year	1	2004

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1999	SFG	19	28	1	5	1	0	1	2	6	.179
2000	SFG	20	32	3	5	2	2	3	1	9	.156
2002	SFG	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
2003	SFG	78	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
2004	MIN	73	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
2005	MIN	69	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
2006	MIN	64	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
2007	MIN	68	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
2008	MIN	68	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
2009	MIN	70	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
2011	MIN	48	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
2012	TEX	66	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
2013	TEX	67	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
2014	DET	62	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
2015	DET	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
2016	CHC/SFG	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
Career	—	787	63	4	10	3	2	4	3	17	.159

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1999	SFG	7	4	19	14	1	90.1	84	42	46	54	4.18
2000	SFG	5	2	20	15	0	93.1	89	54	63	61	5.21
2002	SFG	0	0	4	0	0	3.2	1	0	0	2	0.00
2003	SFG	12	4	78	0	0	79.0	51	26	33	83	2.96
2004	MIN	1	2	73	0	44	72.1	48	13	23	89	1.62
2005	MIN	7	4	69	0	43	70.0	46	21	22	94	2.70
2006	MIN	7	0	64	0	36	68.1	38	12	16	95	1.58
2007	MIN	4	2	68	0	37	71.2	54	15	19	77	1.88
2008	MIN	1	2	68	0	39	67.2	43	10	18	74	1.33
2009	MIN	2	2	70	0	47	68.2	42	16	22	89	2.10
2011	MIN	2	1	48	0	14	44.2	38	24	14	43	4.84
2012	TEX	3	5	66	0	37	64.1	55	20	13	78	2.80
2013	TEX	6	2	67	0	43	64.2	36	10	22	73	1.39
2014	DET	5	4	62	0	35	58.0	60	31	29	54	4.81
2015	DET	0	0	1	0	1	0.1	0	0	0	1	0.00
2016	CHC/SFG	2	0	10	0	0	6.1	5	0	4	9	0.00
Career	—	64	34	787	29	377	923.1	690	294	344	976	2.87

On this day & linked events

1974

Born November 22, 1974

Houston, TX, USA

1999

Major-league debut: Joe Nathan

Joe Nathan made a major-league debut on April 21, 1999.

2016

Final major-league game: Joe Nathan

Joe Nathan played a final major-league game on September 27, 2016.

Image: User Keith Allison on Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0