White Sox Career

((1972-1976)

Gossage was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the 9th round of the 1970 amateur draft. He appeared in 13 games combined that year for the Gulf Coast rookie White Sox and low level ‘A’ Appleton Foxes with mixed results, but a year later as a starter he made everyone in the organization stand up and take notice.

24 of Gossage’s 25 appearances for Appleton in 1971 were indeed as a starting pitcher and he excelled. An 18-2 record, 1.83 ERA and 149 strikeouts in 187 innings jumped off the page at everyone. He also allowed just 141 hits and 50 base on balls. His performance earned the 20-yr old an invitation to the big league spring training in 1972.

On April 16, 1972 Goose Gossage made his major league debut for the Chicago White Sox.

A solidly built, overpowering flame-thrower, Rich Goose Gossage intimidated hitters with a ferocious intensity. Gossage, one of the top relievers throughout the 1970s and '80s, spent a 22-year career with nine clubs, including the 1978 world champion New York Yankees and the 1984 National League champion San Diego Padres. One difference between Gossage and more recent closers is that Gossage often pitched as many as three innings to finish a game, while modern closers typically pitch only the ninth inning. He earned nine All-Star selections and recorded 20 or more saves during 10 seasons, leading his league three times. The second man to record 300 saves, Gossage retired among the top five all-time leaders in games pitched, relief innings and relief strikeouts.

Goose Gossage was one of the few pitchers who employed basically just one pitch, a fastball. However, his fastball was one of the best of all time, routinely throwing in the 98 - 102 mph range in his prime, with pinpoint accuracy. Occasionally he would throw a slurve or a changeup, but mainly just came right at hitters with heat, not afraid to knock them down to keep them from crowding the inner half of the strike zone. Despite his reputation as a pitcher who intentionally threw at hitters, Goose stated that he only threw at three hitters in his career: Ron Gant, Andrés Galarraga, and Al Bumbry. Even into his 40s, in the early 1990s, he still threw regularly in the mid-90s, though he did not close games as often as he did in his youth, serving as a capable and intimidating setup man.

Gossage had a reputation as a no-nonsense no-frills pitcher who wasted no time on the mound. Throwing only one pitch left little need for communicating with the catcher. Goose would stand on the mound and pitch from the stretch position as soon as the batter was in the batters box.

It wasn’t until 1975 that the player nicknamed "Goose", by teammate Tom Bradley, (because of the way he stuck his neck out when looking for the sign from the catcher) started to put it all together at the Major League level. He led the American League that year with 26 saves, struck out 130 batters in 141.2 innings pitched, and allowed 99 hits (just three of which were home runs). His play earned him the first of his nine All-Star appearances, and he finished sixth in the 1975 AL CY Young voting.

Despite his fabulous year, the White Sox decided to move Gossage back to the starting rotation for the 1976 season. The results were semi-disastrous. Goose lost 17 games, struck out just 130 in 224 innings, and allowed 214 hits. The team led by Paul Richards also lost 97 games, so that winter owner Bill Veeck decided to make some changes. In December, Gossage along with lefty Terry Forster were shipped to Pittsburgh for outfielder Richie Zisk and pitcher Silvio Martinez. Zisk hit 30 home runs and produced 101 RBI in his one and only year in Chicago and never approached those numbers again. Meanwhile Gossage’s best days were ahead of him.

[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goose_Gossage]

Complete Stats:

at Baseball Reference.com