Goose Gossage

SMOKE

Smoke. One word. That’s what I used to say whenever Rich “Goose” Gossage entered a Yankees game. Smoke. Blazing speed. Over powering speed. Lightning speed. I was happy to see it too, because his tenure with the Bronx Bombers coincided with my six-year stint as a died in the wool, yes, it’s true, New York Yankees fan. We’ll save the story of how that came about for another day.

Everything about Goose Gossage was scary. His glare. His mannerisms. His Fu Manchu mustache. His self-confidence. He was sheer intimidation backed up by a 95 mile an hour fastball and a nasty slider.  He didn’t enter a game; he menaced his way into it. I often wondered what he thought during the moments when he got the ball and was about to throw his first pitch. It looked to me as if he was thinking that the game was his now, and the outcome assured; another Yankees win.

I remember one such game. In 1978  the Yankees roared to 48 wins against 20 losses down the stretch to catch the faltering Boston Red Sox, each team finishing the season with identical records of 99 wins and 63 losses. A one-game playoff was held at Boston’s Fenway Park.

As is often the case with any team’s closer, Gossage was on the mound for one of its most dramatic moments. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, and two Red Sox runners on the bases, Carl Yastrzemski came to bat. In a tense but brief confrontation, Gossage got “Yaz” to pop up on an inside fastball, and the Yankees won the game. In recalling that moment in an interview with baseball writer Dick Lally, Gossage said “I can’t tell you how hard I threw that pitch, but it might have been one of the hardest pitches I’ve ever thrown.”

There would be other confrontations with other great hitters that would not go Gossage’s way, but that is the nature of the game. No one wins all the time. Gossage, however, won often enough to be elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame. The numbers tell the story. Goose was a nine time All Star. He saved 310 games. His ERA got as low as 0.77 during the strike-shortened season of 1981, and in other seasons was 1.84 (1975), 1.62 (1977), and 1.82 (1985). He struck fear in the hearts of major league hitters. I am writing this as a prelude to announcing my selection for this year’s top relief pitcher, which is one of the perks of being a member of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance (BBA). In honoring him by naming the prize for the top reliever the Goose Gossage Award, the BBA made the right choice.