Who did Goose Gossage say is the greatest of all closers in baseball?
Goose Gossage believes Mariano Rivera is the greatest closer in Yankees’ history – and baseball history, for that matter – but that’s not to say the Hall of Famer doesn’t consider himself to be in the same class as the newest member of the 500 club. Gossage points out how different it is to be a closer today, saying pitchers such as Rivera and Trevor Hoffman have it easy compared to the load that he was asked to carry during the prime years of his career. “He might be the greatest closer of all-time, but we weren’t closers,” Gossage said Monday. “That word hadn’t been coined yet. We were relief pitchers; we did a job it now takes three guys to do. I don’t know who the greatest relief pitcher is because we did different jobs.” Gossage, who had 310 career saves, recorded an incredible 193 of them by notching four or more outs and 52 getting at least seven outs. By comparison, Rivera has recorded 10 two-inning saves and one seven-out save out of his 500, picking up 390 saves of three outs
Richard Michael “Goose” Gossage (born July 5, 1951 in Colorado Springs, Colorado) is a former right-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played 22 seasons from 1972 to 1994 for nine different teams, spending his best years with the New York Yankees and San Diego Padres. The nickname “Goose” is a play on his surname. Although otherwise known as “Rich” in popular media, to himself and his friends he goes by “Rick”. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was one of the earliest manifestations of the dominating modern closer, with wild facial hair and a gruff demeanor to go along with his blistering fastball. He led the American League in saves three times and was runnerup twice; by the end of the 1987 season he ranked second in major league history in career saves, trailing only Rollie Fingers, although by the end of his career his final total of 310 had slipped to fourth all-time. When he retired he also ranked third in major league history in career games pitched (1,002), a
A few days ago, Goose Gossage stated that he considered Mariano Rivera the greatest of all closers, but that it was impossible to compare closers with relief pitchers. Gossage contends that he, Rollie Fingers, Dan Quisenberry, and Sparky Lyle were relief pitchers who did a job that requires three pitchers to accomplish today.
