Geese. Photo courtesy Goose Gossage
March 20, 2008
Rich “Goose” Gossage admitted to being a bit nervous as he waited for the phone call in early January that would inform him if he had been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
“Oh, sure, I was wondering if it would ever happen,” he told NJ Jewish News in a telephone interview. “[The] eight other times…I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. But it finally happened. I think the longer you have to wait for something like this, the more special it is.”
Gossage was voted into baseball’s Valhalla in his ninth year of eligibility, receiving almost 85 percent of the votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America; 75 percent is required for election. The only player to be elected this year, he will be formally inducted at a ceremony in Cooperstown, NY, on Sunday, July 27.
Naturally, his status as the newest member of the Hall has increased the demands for his time. “My plate right now is full…. Everyone said if you go in it’s going to change your life, the first year is going to be off the charts, and it is.”
Fortunately for local baseball fans, United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ had arranged for him to be the featured guest at its annual Sports Nite Out — to be held Wednesday, March 26, at the Hilton Parsippany — long before the election took place.
“I’m excited to come to MetroWest; I’m really looking forward to it,” Gossage said. “It’s always fun to share stories and my experiences in the big leagues with the folks. If I can make their event better, then I’m happy to do that.
“Any time that you can help an organization to help others, it doesn’t really get any better than that. I get to do a lot of fun things for a lot of different organizations and meet a lot of the fans and people who enjoyed what I used to do. Baseball just keeps giving back to me.”
Although he was one of the best relievers of all time, Gossage told NJJN he says he didn’t relish that role when he broke in with the Chicago White Sox in 1972. In those days, he said, “you didn’t want to be in the bullpen; you wanted to be a starting pitcher. The bullpen was kind of a junk pile where old starters went that couldn’t start any-more.” But as relief pitching evolved and became more specialized, he recognized the appeal of the greater responsibilities. “I really enjoyed coming to the ballpark to pitch in a tight ballgame. The adrenaline was always going; it was even going when I was driving into the ballpark. That was very exciting. I didn’t like the four or five days off between starts.”
Gossage, who enjoyed his greatest success with the Yankees from 1978 to ’83, pitched in 1,002 games for eight teams during his 22-year career, compiling a 124-107 record and 310 saves. He led the American League in saves three times, twice won The Sporting News’ American League Fireman of the Year Award, and was selected to nine All-Star teams.
He is currently a special instructor for the Yankees in spring training, helping a new generation of pitchers master the fundamentals of the game. Who knows, maybe there’s a future Hall of Famer in the bunch?
For more information on Sports Nite Out, email or call 973-929-3005.
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