Goose Gossage never was known for his tact.
He'd get the call from the bullpen, bases loaded, none out and a one-run lead to protect, and simply dominate hitters.
Gossage has been out of the game for a decade now, but the man who changed the late-inning approach to baseball hasn't changed his full speed-ahead approach to life.
So, not surprisingly to some, it doesn't sit well with Gossage that Dennis Eckersley will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Sunday, along with Paul Molitor. Eckersley will join Hoyt Wilhelm and Rollie Fingers as the only pitchers who were primarily relievers to be enshrined.
Gossage has no complaints with the enshrinement of those three. But he does take offense that only those three have been given spots in Cooperstown. And he really gets worked up when he hears himself and Bruce Sutter, another pioneer in the evolution of the bullpen, being compared with modern-day closers such as the Dodgers' Eric Gagne or the Yankees' Mariano Rivera.
"What respect does the old guy get?" Gossage asked. "They should be comparing them to us, not us to them. The jury is still out on if these guys could do what we did. I don't think Eck resurrects his career if he had to do what we had to do. He was older when he became a reliever. I don't know if he could have handled the grind."
The life of a closer was different when Gossage was creating the role.
There wasn't any preferential treatment. Gossage might pitch in the seventh inning or the ninth. There was no formula. He didn't come in to start the ninth inning and get a stat. When he got the call, there were usually runners on base, quite often two and, sometimes, three.
"We had jams to get out of," Gossage recalled. "Now they bring guys in with two-and three-run leads. We didn't pitch with three-run leads. We'd let other guys get some work in. I'd come in and have to get strikeouts. Why? Because I could. My strikeout totals weren't padded."
Gossage's strikeout totals, like most of his stats, were impressive.
His single-season save totals didn't compare with the numbers pitchers rack up today, but in Gossage's heyday the game wasn't designed for the closer.
In 10 of the 11 seasons from 1975 to 1985, when he was a go-to closer, Gossage averaged 55 appearances and 97 innings with 92 strikeouts, eight wins, 25 saves and a 2.04 ERA.
Four times, he worked more than 100 innings, including 133 innings in 72 appearances in 1977, when he struck out 151, a single-season record for relievers.
Not that anybody remembers.
This past winter, Gossage was listed on only 206 of the Hall of Fame ballots that were cast, 40.74 percent, far less than the 75 percent needed for induction. Gossage's vote totals have been pretty consistent in his five years on the ballot.
He has tried to act as if it doesn't bother him, but it does. And he isn't trying to hide his frustration anymore.
"I think people have forgotten what we did," Gossage said. "Don't get me wrong. These guys are awesome with what they are doing. . . . If I had been used like they are used, it's hard to tell what my stats would be. I might still be pitching."
NUMBERS
30: Home runs hit by Jim Thome for the ninth consecutive season. Now with Philadelphia, Thome is one of only eight players to hit 30 or more homers in at least nine consecutive seasons. Barry Bonds of San Francisco is on his way this year to a record 13 consecutive seasons. Jimmie Foxx also hit 30 or more homers in 12 consecutive seasons (1929-40).
Others with nine consecutive seasons of 30 or more home runs include two active players — Rafael Palmeiro of Baltimore and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs — and Lou Gehrig (1929-37), Eddie Mathews (1953-61) and Mike Schmidt (1979-87).
HE SAID IT
"They smell blood every time they take the field. They don't win by accident." — Larry Bowa, Phillies manager, on the Atlanta Braves.
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