Rich “Goose” Gossage

Rich “Goose” Gossage started his baseball career with the Chicago White Sox in 1972. After pitching there until 1976, he would go on to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1977), New York Yankees (1979-1983, 1989), San Diego Padres (1984-1987), Chicago Cubs (1988), San Francisco Giants (1989), Texas Rangers (1991), Oakland Athletics (1992-1993) and Seattle Mariners (1994). He also spent one season in Japan playing for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in 1990.

There might not have been a more dominant relief between the years of 1975 and 1985 than Goose Gossage. During that span, Gossage made the All-Star team nine times and deserves mention as one of the greatest relievers in baseball history.

During his 22 years in baseball, Goose Gossage was the MLB save leader three times and was also among the top six in saves nine times. He was among the top six vote-gettors for the Cy Young award five times and compiled 310 career saves during a time when the stat meant more than it did in today’s game.

One of the more interesting stats in baseball is that Goose Gossage had to save a total of 52 games in which he needed at least seven outs to close out the win. One baseball’s other great closers was Dennis Eckersley and by comparison, “The Eck” had only five such saves among his career total of 390. Trevor Hoffman (2) and Mariano Rivera (1) – two of baseball’s top closers in today’s era – had even less such saves in their careers.

For his career, Goose Gossage amassed a won-loss record of 124-107 and an ERA of 3.01. He was selected to nine All-Star Games, was a World Series champion in 1978 when he was a member of the New York Yankees and won the 1978 AL Rolaids Relief Man of the year.

For all of his career accomplishments, Goose Gossage was passed over to being inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 2000. But in 2008, Gossage received enough votes to be enshrined into the Hall and thus his career reached its pinnacle.

Rich “Goose” Gossage is certainly a legend among MLB relievers.