Goose is right about 1 thing--"fist pumps" get the glory

After all, ESPN can't show you highlights of a guy walking modestly back to the dugout without violently ramming his fist--and hopefully snarling. The same fist pumpers show up in all the print media, too. The modest guy can't get this kind of publicity, of course. Gossage recalls his friend Dennis Eckersley's fist pumps after 1 inning jobs. Then, Eckersley tried to go more than 1 inning in the post season, but failed. Goose was watching: "He recalls his days of setting up Eckersley in Oakland in 1992 and 1993, specifically watching the '92 playoffs against Toronto while sitting out with a broken wrist.

• "Dennis and I were very close -- I love Dennis -- but I remember when Dennis was fist-pumping after getting the last out," Gossage said. "I always thought -- I never told him but I always thought --
• 'You know, Dennis, if you had to pitch more than one inning, you wouldn't be pumping your fist after the seventh inning because you've got two more innings to go.'

"Well it happened in the playoffs, he came in in the eighth inning and got the last out, a strikeout, and I thought, 'This is what I've been thinking.' I looked over in the Toronto dugout, and they flew off the bench. They were pissed. And they came back and won in the ninth inning (Game 4 of the ALCS in Oakland).""

These comments from Scott Miller's article about Gossage which otherwise is concerned (as usual)with passive-aggressively minimizing Mariano Rivera, so that's the main sub-text here. Of course, Goose lends a big hand as he does every year, (ignoring Rivera's many multi-inning appearances in almost 1000 IP)--Scott must've been giggling. I've seen certain closers night after night on ESPN and in print violently pumping their fists at the best camera angle. (I'm not going to mention their names here--they're already world famous for being on ESPN for pumping their fists and snarling ferociously). How often and for how many seconds do they show you a modest closer? I have my facts in order for this, unfortunately. Even if the closer deserves publicity, it's not going to make a jazzy promo to show a guy walking quietly to the dugout with his head down.

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