Lidge is best now by far. A throwback closer that will get more than 3 outs un like those starting off the ninth fresh. Relievers (top reliever on a team) were called fireman in the past because the firdt batter faced woulf be withmen on base and the games balance in hand from the seventh inning on. Also, never mentioned til today, how many of those easy three out saves occurred with the bottom half of lineup coming up? In old days, when the rally was happenning, it was usually sparked by the better hitters and the reliever's first batter would be a top run producer.
Give me Gossage over anybody today. Lidge is the closest to the past greats: Lyle, Perronoski, Hrabosky, Wilhelm, Fingers (best all time --not even close as his post season better than Rivera because he'd consistently get 5-6 outs sometime 7-8)