Time showed just how great Goose was
Posted: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 1:50 PM
Congratulations to Goose Gossage, Hall of Fame relief pitcher. Yeah, it was a long time coming, and a generation from now people will wonder how a guy that great at his job could sit on the ballot for eight years before being elected.
But he’s in now, and the rest doesn’t really matter.
Fans wonder how writers can ignore a guy for a year or a decade or more, then suddenly decide he’s a Hall of Famer. But every hall of fame has the same issues, with people who you’d think are clear all-time stars having to wait forever to get in.
It depends on who else is eligible. Last year, Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, Jr., were clear-cut first-ballot inductees, and a lot of voters ended their ballots with those two names. Unlike football, which requires that five people be elected each year, baseball has no such requirement. And if some voters decide that they’ll let Gwynn and Ripken go in alone and vote for a Gossage the next year, that’s their choice.
There’s also something very special about going in during the first year of eligibility. From the day the Hall opened, that’s been an honor reserved only for the best of the best. I understand the argument that if someone’s a Hall of Famer, that should be it. But I respect the idea that even within the game’s shrine, there are levels of stardom. And only the absolute best go in immediately.
And if a player has to wait a few years for his contributions to be fully appreciated, what’s wrong with that? It’s a judgment call, after all; there are no absolute standards.
Getting back to Gossage, you really did need to wait to appreciate where he stood in his craft. Relief specialists were still relatively new when he came to prominence in the mid-1970s, and it was only in the 10 years after he retired that we could see what other practitioners of this new art could do and compare it to what he had done.
Remember, in his day, relief specialists were seen as something of an abomination, like designated hitters. In that era, we still expected real men to finish what they started. And it was hard to appreciate a guy who came in for an inning or two and got the glory.
The first reliever wasn’t elected to the Hall until 1985, and that was Hoyt Wilhelm. In the next decade, only two more followed: Rollie Fingers and Dennis Eckersley. And in the 13 years since the Eck went in, Bruce Sutter was the only closer to join them.
It’s taken that long to appreciate what closers do and what constitutes and great one. We’ve seen those who have followed Gossage, and we see now how great he was.
Today, closers pitch an inning and rarely more. In Gossage’s best years, he averaged more than two innings an appearance. In 1977 and 1978 he pitches 133 and 134 innings respectively. There are some starters who don’t get many more today. Check out his stats at baseball-reference.com. They’re amazing.
If he were used like relievers today, he’s have fewer innings, more saves and an even lower ERA than the 3.01 he finished with. Who knew in 1994 when he retired that there wouldn’t be many like him?
But because we now have a standard, there will be more relievers gaining entry in the future. One day, a closer will get in on the first ballot. And Gossage will have had something to do with that.
But don’t rip the voters. Baseball writers take their jobs as seriously as anyone in journalism. They don’t scribble down votes arbitrarily. I don’t always agree with my fellows, but I respect the hell out of them. They are conscientious; they care about the game. If they elect you, you belong.
