José Ramón Nova Mesa (; born May 22, 1966) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1987 through 2007. He played for the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Colorado Rockies, and Detroit Tigers. He retired with 321 career saves. Mesa was a two-time MLB All-Star and won the American League (AL) Rolaids Relief Man Award in 1995, when he led the AL in saves. His nickname was "Joe Table", the literal translation of his name in the English language. Baseball career Initially, Mesa was signed as an amateur free agent by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1981, originally as an outfielder. He was sent from the Blue Jays to the Orioles on September 4, 1987 to complete a transaction from four days prior on August 31 when Oswaldo Peraza was traded to Baltimore for Mike Flanagan. Mesa began his major-league career as a starting pitcher with the Orioles, who hoped that Mesa's superior fastball would earn him success in the starting role. After 48 starts of below-average results during four seasons, Mesa was traded from the Orioles to the Indians for minor-league outfielder Kyle Washington on July 14, 1992. Cleveland continued to use Mesa as a starter through the end of ; that year, Mesa pitched a career-high innings, although his earned-run average was worse than the league average ERA for the fifth consecutive season. Mesa became a relief pitcher for the Cleveland Indians in , and for the first season of his career, he posted an ERA better than the league average. In the role of closer during the season, Mesa pitched superbly; in 64 innings pitched over 62 appearances, Mesa had a 1.13 ERA, saved 46 games in 48 chances, and earned three wins. Thirty-eight of Mesa's 46 saves were recorded in consecutive appearances in save situations; this was a major-league record at the time. Mesa's performance in 1995 was critical in the Indians' 100–44 regular-season record and their first World Series appearance since . That year, Mesa finished second in AL Cy Young voting and fourth in AL MVP voting. In , Mesa's 2.40 ERA, 16 saves, and four wins helped the Indians to their second World Series appearance in three seasons; however, he failed to hold a one-run lead in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, and