Franco, John A.
Baseball
b. Sept. 17, 1960, Brooklyn, NY
Franco joined the NL's Cincinnati Reds early in the 1984 season. He had a 12-3 record as a relief pitcher, with 12 saves and a 2.18 ERA in 1985. A left-hander, the 5-foot-10, 185-pounder Franco was named The Sporting News fireman of the year in 1988, when he led the league with 39 saves and had a 1.57 ERA.
Cincinnati traded him to the New York Mets in 1990, when he was the league leader in saves again with 33 to win his second fireman of the year award. After he had 30 saves in 1991, Franco began to suffer arm problems and missed large portions of the next two seasons.
He came back strong in 1994, however, and became a very reliable relief pitcher for the Mets, with 28 or more saves each season through 1998. He slipped to 19 saves in 1999, when he was used as a setup man as well as a closer.
Franco missed most of the 2001 season and all of the 2002 season because of an arm problem that eventually required surgery. But he came back in 2003, as one of the oldest players in the major leagues at 42.