From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Goose Gossage
Goose Gossage
Goose Gossage Career highlights and awards
• 9× All-Star selection (1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981,
1982, 1984, 1985)
• World Series champion (1978)
• 1978 AL Rolaids Relief Man of the Year
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction 2008
Vote 85.8%
Richard Michael "Goose" Gossage (born July 5, 1951) is a
former Major League Baseball right-handed relief pitch-
er. During a 22-year baseball career, he pitched from
1972-1994 for nine different teams, spending his best
years with the New York Yankees and San Diego Padres.
The nickname "Goose" is a play on his surname. Although
otherwise known as "Rich" in popular media, to family
Pitcher
and friends he is "Rick".[1]
Born: July 5, 1951 (1951-07-05) In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was one of the
Colorado Springs, Colorado earliest manifestations of the dominating modern closer,
Batted: Right Threw: Right with wild facial hair and a gruff demeanor to go along
with his blistering fastball. He led the American League
MLB debut
in saves three times and was runnerup twice; by the end
April 16, 1972 for the Chicago White Sox of the 1987 season he ranked second in major league his-
tory in career saves, trailing only Rollie Fingers, although
Last MLB appearance
by the end of his career his final total of 310 had slipped
August 8, 1994 for the Seattle Mariners to fourth all-time. When he retired he also ranked third
Career statistics
in major league history in career games pitched (1,002),
and he remains third in wins in relief (115) and innings
Games pitched 1,002 pitched in relief (1,556⅔); his 1,502 strikeouts place him
Win–loss record 124–107 behind only Hoyt Wilhelm among pitchers who primarily
pitched in relief. He also is the career leader in blown
Earned run average 3.01 saves (112), three more than Rollie Fingers. From 1977
Strikeouts 1,502 through 1983 he never recorded an earned run average
over 2.62, including a mark of 0.77 in 1981, and in 1980 he
Saves 310
finished third in AL voting for both the MVP Award and
Teams Cy Young Award as the Yankees won a division title.[cita-
tion needed]
• Chicago White Sox (1972–1976)
• Pittsburgh Pirates (1977) Respected for his impact in crucial games, he record-
• New York Yankees (1978–1983) ed the final out to clinch a division, league or World
• San Diego Padres (1984–1987) Series title seven times. His eight All-Star selections as a
• Chicago Cubs (1988) reliever were a record until Mariano Rivera passed him in
• San Francisco Giants (1989)
2008; he was also selected once as a starting pitcher. He
• New York Yankees (1989)
• Fukuoka Daiei Hawks (1990) now works in broadcasting. He was elected to the Base-
• Texas Rangers (1991) ball Hall of Fame in 2008.[citation needed]
• Oakland Athletics (1992–1993)
• Seattle Mariners (1994)
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Goose Gossage
Pioneer of the closer role October 10, George Brett of the Royals hit a tide-turn-
ing three-run homer off Gossage into Yankee Stadium’s
The New York Yankees of the late 1970s and early 1980s right-field upper deck to lead the Royals to a three-game
arguably pioneered the set-up/closer configuration, sweep in the AL Championship Series, after the Yankees
which is used by every team today. The most effective had defeated the Royals in three consecutive ALCS from
pairing was Ron Davis and Gossage, with Davis typically 1976 to 1978. Almost three years later during the regular
entering the game in the 7th or 8th innings and Gossage season, Brett got to the Goose again in the Bronx, blasting
finishing up. During one stretch with that pairing, the a go-ahead two-run home run in the top of the ninth in a
Yankees won 77 of 79 games in which they led after six game memorialized as the "Pine Tar Game."
innings.
One difference between Gossage and more recent
closers is that Gossage often pitched as many as three
innings to finish a game, while modern closers typically
pitch only the ninth inning.
During his career, Gossage pitched in 1,002 games and
finished 681 of them, earning 310 saves. Per every nine
innings pitched, Gossage averaged 7.45 hits allowed and
7.47 strikeouts. He also made nine All-Star appearances
and pitched in three World Series.
Career Gossage during 1983 spring training
Gossage led the American League in saves in 1975 (26),
1978 (27) and 1980 (33). On October 2, 1978, he earned the Gossage recorded saves in all three Yankee victories
save in the Yankees’ one-game playoff against the Bos- in the 1981 AL Division Series against the Milwaukee
ton Red Sox for the AL East title, entering with one out in Brewers, not allowing a run in 6⅔ innings, and he was
the seventh inning and a 4-2 lead following Bucky Dent’s again the final pitcher when they clinched the 1981 pen-
home run; although he allowed two runs in the eighth nant against the Oakland Athletics. In 1983, his last sea-
inning, he held on to preserve the 5-4 victory, getting son with the Yankees, Gossage broke Sparky Lyle’s club
Carl Yastrzemski to pop up to third baseman Graig Net- record of 141 career saves; Dave Righetti passed his final
tles with two out and two men on base in the ninth in- total of 150 in 1988. Gossage holds the Yankees’ career
ning to clinch the division championship. He was also on record for ERA (2.14) and hits per nine innings (6.59)
the mound five days later when the Yankees clinched the among pitchers with at least 500 innings for the team.
pennant in the ALCS against the Kansas City Royals, en- In eight of his first ten seasons as a closer, Gossage’s
tering Game 4 in the ninth inning with a 2-1 lead and a ERA was less than 2.27.[4] Over his career, right-handed
runner on second base; he earned the save by striking out hitters hit .211 against him.
Clint Hurdle and retiring Darrell Porter and Pete LaCock In 1984, Gossage clinched another title, earning the
on fly balls. He was on the mound ten days later when save in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series and send-
they captured the World Series title against the Los Ange- ing the Padres to their first World Series; after San Diego
les Dodgers for their second consecutive championship, had scored four runs in the seventh inning to take a 6-3
coming on with no one out in the eighth inning of Game lead against the Chicago Cubs, Gossage pitched the final
6; he retired Ron Cey on a popup to catcher Thurman two innings, getting Keith Moreland to hit into a force
Munson to clinch the win. play for the final out. On August 17, 1986, Gossage struck
One of his most impressive performances was on out Pete Rose in Rose’s final major league at bat.[5] On
Sept. 3, 1978, in a game vs. the Seattle Mariners. Replac- August 6, 1988, while with the Cubs, Gossage became the
ing Sparky Lyle in the top of the 9th with runners on sec- second pitcher to record 300 career saves in a 7-4 victory
ond and third and no outs, he preserved a 4-3 lead by over the Philadelphia Phillies, coming into the game with
striking out the next three batters in 11 pitches.[2][3] two out in the ninth and two men on base and retiring
He missed some of the 1979 season with the Yankees Phil Bradley on a popup to second baseman Ryne Sand-
due to a thumb injury sustained in a locker-room fight berg.
with teammate Cliff Johnson. Ron Guidry, the reigning Cy On July 23, 1991, while Gossage was with the Texas
Young Award winner, volunteered to go to the bullpen to Rangers, a statistical coincidence was noted when he
replace him. In the first game of a doubleheader on Oc- recorded his 308th career save to preserve Nolan Ryan’s
tober 4, 1980, Gossage pitched the last two innings of a 308th win. On August 4, 1994, Gossage became the third
5-2 win over the Detroit Tigers, earning his career-high pitcher in major league history to appear in 1,000 games.
33rd save as New York clinched another division title. On Pitching for the Seattle Mariners against the California
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Goose Gossage
Angels, he entered the game with two out in the seventh
inning and runners on second and third base, trailing 2-1;
he picked up the win when the Mariners scored three
times in the eighth for a 4-2 victory. In his final major
league appearance on August 8, he earned a save of three
innings – his first save in over 15 months – in the
Mariners’ 14-4 win over the Rangers, retiring all nine bat-
ters he faced; José Canseco hit a fly ball to left field to end
the game.
Pitching
Goose Gossage was one of the few pitchers who employed
basically just one pitch, a fastball. However, his fastball
was one of the best of all time, routinely throwing in the
98 - 102 mph range in his prime, with pinpoint accuracy.
Occasionally he would throw a slurve or a changeup, but
mainly just came right at hitters with heat, not afraid to
knock them down to keep them from crowding the inner
half of the strike zone. Despite his reputation as a pitch-
er who intentionally threw at hitters, Goose stated that
he only threw at three hitters in his career: Ron Gant,
Andrés Galarraga, and Al Bumbry.[6] Even into his 40s, in
the early 1990s, he still threw regularly in the mid-90s,
though he did not close games as often as he did in his Gossage’s plaque at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
youth, serving as a capable and intimidating setup man.
Gossage had a reputation as a no-nonsense no-frills gether for an ESPN interview on the podium, taking au-
pitcher who wasted no time on the mound. Throwing on- dience questions and gently ribbing each other, especial-
ly one pitch left little need for communicating with the ly about the upper-deck home run Kirk Gibson hit in the
catcher. Goose would stand on the mound and pitch from 1984 World Series.[7]
the stretch position as soon as the batter was in the bat-
ters box. See also
• List of Major League Baseball saves champions
Retirement • List of Major League Baseball all-time saves leaders
Gossage lives in his home town, Colorado Springs, • List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
Colorado, and is active in the community promoting and
sponsoring youth sports. In 1995, the city of Colorado References
Springs dedicated the Rich "Goose" Gossage Youth Sports
Complex, which features five fields for youth baseball [1] http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/cc353/
and softball competition. He also owned a hamburger TameraGoldsmith/CS%20Daily%20Photo%202009/
joint in Parker, Colorado, called Burgers N Sports. 07082009.jpg
He has written an autobiography, released in 2000, [2] Sept. 3, 1978 Yankees box score:
entitled The Goose is Loose (Ballantine: New York). http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/
His son Todd is a professional baseball player who NYA197809030.shtml
currently plays for the Sussex Skyhawks in the Can-Am [3] Sept 4, 1978 newspaper article
League. http://news.google.com/
Gossage coached the American League team in the newspapers?id=8IEyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rOYFAAAAIBAJ&dq=gossage&
Taco Bell All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game in [4] "Famers on the Fringe". ESPN.com.
Anaheim, California on July 12, 2010.[citation needed] http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hof07/news/
At the Hall of Fame induction in 2008, Gossage ex- story?id=2703632. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
pressed gratitude to a number of baseball people who [5] Baseball’s Top 100: The Game’s Greatest Records,
had helped him through his career, and several times de- p.11, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books,
scribed his Hall of Fame week experience as "amazing". Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
The inductions included Dick Williams, his manager at [6] "The Official Site of The New York Yankees: News:
San Diego. After the ceremonies, the two of them sat to- Goose not a fan of Joba’s celebrations ". MLB.com.
3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Goose Gossage
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/ • ESPN: Is Goose Gossage a Hall of Famer? - December
2007 discussion by Sean McAdam and Phil Rogers
article.jsp?ymd=20080512&content_id=2687738&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy&partnered=rss_nyy.
Retrieved 2008-09-04. • ESPN: Five for the Hall of Fame - December 2001
[7] http://mlb.mlb.com/news/ column by Rob Neyer
• Goose Gossage hopes Hall of
article.jsp?ymd=20080727&content_id=3210707&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb Fame vote provides
relief
External links Persondata
Name Gossage, Rich
• Official website
• Goose Gossage at the Baseball Hall of Fame Alternative names
• Career statistics and player information from Short description
Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Date of birth July 5, 1951
Cube
• BaseballLibrary - biography, career highlights and Place of birth Colorado Springs, Colorado
SABR bibliography Date of death
• SI.com: The Goose was a rare breed of durable relief Place of death
pitcher
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Goose_Gossage&oldid=463838335"
Categories:
• 1951 births
• Living people
• National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
• 300 saves club
• Major League Baseball pitchers
• Chicago Cubs players
• Chicago White Sox players
• New York Yankees players
• Oakland Athletics players
• Pittsburgh Pirates players
• San Diego Padres players
• San Francisco Giants players
• Seattle Mariners players
• Texas Rangers players
• American League All-Stars
• National League All-Stars
• Baseball players from Colorado
• American League saves champions
• American expatriate baseball players in Japan
• Fukuoka Daiei Hawks players
• People from Colorado Springs, Colorado
• Gulf Coast White Sox players
• Appleton Foxes players
• Iowa Oaks players
• Oklahoma City 89ers players
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