XM MLB Chat: Goose Gossage was a bust in 5 high stakes outings in post season and All Star

Goose Gossage's constantly publicized and ungracious bragging about his superior durability doesn't hold water when looking at his high percentage of high stakes flops (listed below). The media does not concern itself with Gossage's actual record.

Gossage says he's worlds apart from today's late inning relievers (item at end of article).

Gossage had it easy not having to perform year in and year out in grueling post season matches. His post season and All Star appearances had a high percentage of flops. The few times he was asked to perform in high stakes situations, the results were too often catastrophic. Nor did his failures involve grueling multiple innings. His persona falls apart easily in the following 5 examples:

1975 All Star game

1977 All Star game

1978 All Star game

1980 ALCS elimination game, Game 3

1984, Padres World Series elimination game

Helping teams get to big games is one thing, winning big games is another. Gossage didn't measure up in the above All Star and post season opportunities when the pressure was on. Recognition as an elite player includes mental as well as physical toughness. It's best not to constantly say how much better you are than others when you're not-someone might look it up someday. His career included 6 All Star appearances among his 9 elections. Each was only one inning.

1975 All Star game

Gossage enters top 9th, score tied 3-3. 2 runners on, no out. He gave up 3 runs, only one earned, score now 6-3. The AL ended up losing the game but Gossage didn't figure in the decision. I've heard him say many times how hard he had it, had to come into tie games and get out of huge messes. In this big game, he failed to get out of the mess.

1977 All Star game

Gossage enters in the 9th with a 4 run lead and gave up a home run and 2 earned runs. His league still won 7-5. Gossage didn't figure in the decision.

1978 All Star game

Gossage was the losing pitcher of record in the game. Entered bottom 8th, tie game, 3-3. One IP, 4 earned runs, final 7-3 NL. Another tie game he didn't get out of.

1980 All Star game

Team was losing by 2 runs when he entered bottom 8th. He pitched one inning without giving up additional runs, game ended with same score.

1984 All Star game

He did well in this game, entered in 9th with 2 run lead for the NL. Got out of it without giving up any runs. For those who are curious, he did get a 'save' for this game.

1985 All Star game

Entered in 9th with a 5 run lead, score 6-1, NL leading. Gave up no runs.

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Post Season examples: I wouldn't mention this but he keeps saying how much better he is than pitchers today.

He usually had a lot of time in the off season to rest up, to gear all his strength toward his regular season stats. He only played in 3 levels of post season competition one year, 1981, the only year the ALDS or NLDS was played until after 1994. 'Modern' relievers have an extra level of post season play to test their durability. His 4 years in the post season totaled 31.1 IP. That is his record.

In 1980, he only played a third

of an inning in post season in the ALCS and was losing pitcher of record. With the season on the line v the Royals, Gossage entered Game 3 leading 2-1. Entering in the 7th with 2 outs and one ROB. Unfortunately, he gave up a single, then a 3 run home run. He left with the Yankees trailing 4-2. He did not pitch the 8th or 9th innings. Why brag about coming in in the 7th inning if you blow it, the game, and the season at the same time? Someday, somebody might look it up.

In 1984, the Padres' final game

of the World Series, he did come in in the 7th, but gave up a solo home run. He came back out in the 8th and gave up a 3 run home run. He didn't figure in the loss as the team was losing 4-3 when he entered but the team was counting on him not to give up any more runs. The pressure does seem to get to him in big games. This was the game where his manager told him to walk Kirk Gibson but Gossage decided to pitch to him, ignoring his manager.
"Kirk Gibson's towering home run into the upper deck was the climactic blow of Game 5.
"Dick put up the four fingers when Gibson came to bat," Gossage recalled, "but I waved him off, insisting I could get him out. Afterward, Dick didn't throw any blame. He respected me like I respected him.""

(Quote from NY Daily News column by Bill Madden, 3/4/07.

If a player has All Star and post season stats, they are part of his career. (Unless you're talking about the Cy Young Award). Regarding All Star games, in 2008 Brad Lidge warmed up 6 times and threw around 100 pitches in the bullpen. This is an extreme example of what happens at an All Star game, but shows All Star games can contain valuable information.

To date, Mariano Rivera has pitched more than 3 outs in 57 of his 88 post season appearances. Many of these were 6 outs and more including extra inning games, tie games, runners on, consecutive days, etc. (Jeff Passan noted the 53 game mark after ALDS game 3 in 2009.
Outings 54 through 57 were as follows: 2.1, 2.0, 2.0, 1.2).
Today there are 3 levels of post season play, whereas Gossage's era only had 2 (with the exception of 1981). It's easy to say anyone could do it but actually doing it is an entirely different matter. Gossage's existing post season record shows he couldn't possibly have come close to Rivera's high stakes achievements.

Also, in his first full season of late inning relief, 1996, Mariano Rivera broke Goose Gossage's strikeout record as a Yankee relief pitcher which pretty much ends Gossage's narrative that everyone today is a wimp compared to him. "Rivera went 8-3 with a 2.09 ERA (regular season), held opponents to a .193 batting average,

and broke Goose Gossage's Yankee relief record of
122 strikeouts by fanning
130 in 107.2 innings.

Most amazingly, of the record 4,962 homers spanked in 1996, Rivera allowed just one, to Baltimore's Rafael Palmeiro on June 28." page 208 from Joel Sherman's book, "Birth of a Dynasty," published in 2006 by Rodale.