Dear Goose:
I’m going to make this short and sweet. Are you kidding me? Dude, you were a CLOSER, arguably one of the most over-rated positions in the sports world. The starting pitchers of the early 20th century are rolling over in their graves with laughter–in their day a reliever was a scrub who couldn’t start and barely got into the game. They also would have called you a “punk” because of your facial hair. You know who invented your position? Statisticians–or “nerds” as you so eloquently called them.
You are in the Hall of Fame for 3 reasons:
A) you were a Yankee (ugh…probably the main reason as you only have to be really good instead of great if you spent most of your career in pinstripes.)
B) You had a handlebar mustache and a dumb nickname.
C) The closer position and statistics hadn’t been established yet. There are guys with almost double the saves that you compliled in a career who aren’t in the HOF and will never get in. You were simply in the right place at the right time.
Jose Batista’s batflip: This was one of the most iconic homeruns in ML history in a ALDS game 5. It put the BlueJays ahead and had (possibly) put an end to a very emotionally charged game that would put Toronto in the ALCS. Topps decided that it was so important that they immortalized it on a baseball card. It was an exciting moment. Jose Bautista is one of the most exciting sluggers in the game. Excitment brings in fans. Fans bring in money. Money is the bottom line. Bautista is in the entertainment industry, not the “raise your kids for you” or “act like you want me to act” industry. I doubt many fans were going to games or sitting in front of the tube clamoring for you to hold a 3 run lead in the 9th in order to pad your bogus statistics while sitting on your ass the whole game. Now that’s entertainment!
This blog is tired of arguing the bat flip and its racist connotations. Latin players do it all the time and it isn’t a big deal; it’s just as ingrained in their culture as live bands and vuvazelas. Latin players are more pervasive in baseball than ever before so they are going to bring their culture with them. Japan, a traditionally rigid country, embraces the bat flip. Baseball culture changes with the world and the world has always changed, physically and theoretically. Perhaps there is a racial component to some of your criticism, perhaps not, but I do know one thing: you would have been one of the players that refused to play with Jackie Robinson because that would mean embracing change.
To put it simply….you are a punk.
Coco Crisp's Afro
A baseball publication that embraces the absurdity of life and the 8-1 putout…Stay in Oakland! (cococrispafro@gmail.com)
Coco Crisp's Afro 
You nailed it. My introduction to dog whistles and code words came in 1972, watching Dick Allen have one of the greatest seasons I’ve ever witnessed, made more impressive by virtue of me being 7. It was that summer that I discovered that 3 out 4 white suburban males were what we can now call “Gossageesque.” They also hated, and applied similar language to “Hot dogs” Jose CardinaI, Tito Fuentes and Willy Montanez–three guys who always made the game fun. I tend to prefer to believe that number has gone down, then I go down the rabbit hole of comments of people supporting Gossage on social media and reconsider my battered and bruised hopes for the future.
Reblogged this on REFLECTIONS ON BASEBALL and commented:
Hear Hear!!!
Who pimped a home run more than Reggie one of Gossages Yankee teammates
I wonder If Goose is a fan of Gymnastics?If so,would he approve of the front or back flip?What about hair flips,a tradition prevalent In surfing?
The title of this post alone deserves a round of applause.
I had noted in my own dissertations that I disagreed with Gossage on bat flips. They are harmless, and really nothing more than an, ‘I feel good about me, now!’ for the batter. Why not?
If Gossage wants to interpret that as a personal affront on the pitcher, I can name a number of offensive ‘goosey’ moves he made on the mound prior to a pitch to live up to the ‘Goose’ image.
Yes. Baseball is Sho-biz. It was okay with me then, and it’s okay with me today.
I do believe however, there are more important things to address when it comes to having a responsibility as an example for kids. Example, yes! Caregiver, no! As a parent, I’m the caregiver.
On the other hand, kids do look up to celebrities as examples. My bigger issues include a clean game of baseball without purposely throwing at batters. The strengths of a player, coach or, manager is how well they handle the situations they are presented with.
Professionals in this sport do more with a bat, ball, and glove along with clean baseball strategy. Those are the prime examples for kids, and as the Caregiver my responsibility to teach them the preferred examples.
Hopefully, they get it, and make a good choice for their examples to follow.