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                                          Rollie Fingers

Rollie Fingers' 17-year career epitomized the emergence of the modern-day relief ace. But more importantly, it epitomized a different and better type of relief -- comic relief. Mr. Fingers burnt just as many batters with the hilarity of his facial hair as he did with his fastball. After watching him post inconsistent results as a starter, the A's converted him to the bullpen, where he excelled quickly and frequently in his new role. And here we must credit Mr. Fingers with starting a new trend in professional sports -- if you suck or nobody is paying any attention to you, just start being really outrageous and you will soon achieve notoriety, playing time, and better contracts. It worked. Mr. Fingers grew the moustache in the spring of '72 and the A's won three World Championships from 1972-1974. Now days, Mr. Fingers' method looks pretty tame compared to others who have used and built upon the Finger Creedo, such as Dennis Rodman and Latrell Spreewell. A crazy mustache doesn't seem that bold, but in the 70's people were doing a lot of drugs that, for some reason, made them dreadfully afraid of old-fashioned train robbers. Mr. Fingers capitalized on this fear and used it to shut down slugger after slugger.   (SUBMITTED BY SLAMMER OF RISELING VALLEY, GERMANY)