The MMOB Daily Quote - Richard "Goose" Gossage

Richard Michael "Goose" Gossage (born July 5, 1951)

Today's subject of The MMOB Daily Quote is known as an intimidating relief pitcher, the ultimate closer, who played for 22 years from 1972 to 1994. In all, he pitched in 1,002 games, racking up 1,502 strikeouts while winning 124 games and saving 310 while maintaining a .304 ERA. Not a bad career, and the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame agreed as he was inducted in 2008.

Here's Goose's induction speech for the Hall of Fame.



And now, a few quotes to get us started on this Sunday morning.

"I had set the standard for my style of relief pitching so high that when I came back to the rest of the pack, everybody said I was done. I was so aggressive on the mound and thought I could throw the ball by anyone. I was so high up there in terms of how I went about my job and being overpowering."

"The first year was weird. I knew I was just there to talk to pitchers and not step on any toes. I could feel my adrenaline start to flow in about the sixth inning. I had to tell myself, 'What the hell are you getting excited about? You're not going anywere, big boy. Just go sign some autographs.' I was still programmed."

"Hitting in a game is no different than hitting in a home run contest. It pisses me off to say Barry Bonds is the greatest hitter. He's playing in a wussy era. The game is soft. You never get thrown at today. Last thing a hitter has to worry about today is getting hit. The first thing Hank Aaron had to worry about is: Am I going to survive this at-bat because I'm black."

"It's just very insulting to me that Dennis Eckersley would go in (to the Hall of Fame) before Bruce Sutter and myself. I mean, it's nothing against Eckersley. He belongs in the Hall of Fame. But Sutter and me, we changed the role of the relief pitcher. Don't even compare what Mariano [Rivera] does to what we used to do. How many times a year does Mariano come in with a man on base? Very seldom. I was brought into tough situations. And you look at my 1,502 strikeouts, and my (1,809) innings. Those were big strikeouts, and those were grueling innings. Don't even insult me by comparing what I used to do to what the relievers do today." — Gossage, quoted in a column by Dan Graziano of the The Star-Ledger, January 9, 2006.

"Don't even compare me with Hoffman or Rivera. I'd love to have been used like them. I went and set up for Dennis at Oakland (in 1992 and 1993), so I know the way he was handled, how pampered he was over there. Not to take anything away from these guys, to compare what I did with what they did. ... It was even a joke with the coaches. We joked with Eckersley all the time."

And one about him.

"If you had Gossage strong, pitching four or five times a week, my goodness, it's scary to think about how good he'd be." — Tony LaRussa

Cheers! - Jason