The Phineas Flint Award is given to the best reliever each year in the WBL.
Here are the contenders
| Name | H | W-L | ERA | Sv | BSv | H | G | Inn | SD | MD |
| Terry Adams | CLE | 2-6 | 2.65 | 38 | 7 | 1 | 54 | 51 | 26 | 7 |
| Chad Bradford | DET | 6-6 | 2.63 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 60 | 75 | 18 | 11 |
| Aroldis Chapman | MCG/NYY | 5-4 | 2.62 | 32 | 3 | 0 | 48 | 48 | 26 | 5 |
| Rob Dibble | IND | 3-4 | 2.52 | 30 | 4 | 1 | 49 | 50 | 19 | 9 |
| Buddy Groom | BAL | 2-2 | 1.96 | 8 | 2 | 13 | 51 | 64 | 14 | 4 |
| Mike Henneman | DET | 2-7 | 4.60 | 38 | 6 | 0 | 54 | 47 | 27 | 7 |
| Mark Melancon | HOU/POR | 10-2 | 3.56 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 56 | 61 | 11 | 12 |
| Robb Nen | NYG | 3-5 | 4.81 | 9 | 3 | 15 | 60 | 67 | 17 | 11 |
| Mike Norris | NYG | 4-4 | 1.47 | 8 | 4 | 15 | 57 | 67 | 22 | 6 |
| Ron Reed | PHI/CLE | 1-6 | 4.61 | 3 | 7 | 17 | 66 | 84 | 14 | 16 |
| Ron Robinson | SFS | 7-5 | 3.86 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 54 | 70 | 20 | 14 |
| Jonny Venters | LAA | 5-3 | 2.79 | 5 | 2 | 15 | 53 | 58 | 21 | 9 |
| Brian Wilson | NYG | 2-0 | 2.13 | 29 | 1 | 1 | 40 | 42 | 18 | 3 |
Some of this is pretty easy to navigate, though: Henneman isn’t a contender, because Adams matched him with saves with far superior numbers elsewhere; likewise, Chapman is a slightly better version of Dibble and Groom a better version of Venters. Reed and Melancon are sort of statistical anomalies (Reed for holds, most of which were in the first half of the season with Philadelphia, leading to his all-star selection; Melancon for vulturing win after win). Bradford, Nen, and Robinson all had good years, but too many outings where they failed to do their jobs.
That leaves 3 pure closers: Adams, who tied for the league lead in saves; Chapman, who was not only fantastic but settled a horrifically ineffective Black Yankees’ bullpen; and Wilson, who was, simply, magnificent, but in far fewer opportunities and with far fewer saves.
I think those three rank Adams, Wilson, Chapman.
So, was Buddy Groom better than Chapman? I don’t think so. Groom started in the middle of the pen, and was the Black Sox closer by year end. He was great throughout, but I’d take Chapman’s season over his.
But then you have Mike Norris. Mike Norris did everything, all season, without ever letting up. He pitched in 57 games, allowing less than a hit per inning and allowed only 1 homerun all season. He was asked to pitch in high leverage situations (where he held opposing batters to a 211/310/284 slash line) and low leverage situations, save situations and key 8th innings. And no matter what, he came out and did his thing. He had three scoreless streaks of over 12 innings.
Norris was, simply, the best reliever in the league, followed by Terry Adams and Norris’ teammate, closer, Brian Wilson.