wibubba
07-20-2008, 09:46 PM
Gossage's career took off in Appleton (http://postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080720/APC02/807200569&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL)
The legend of Rich "Goose" Gossage may have been written in cathedrals like Comiskey Park and Yankee Stadium.
But it was hatched in a bullpen in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
It was early in the 1971 Midwest League season when Chicago White Sox general manager Roland Hemond and Sox skipper Chuck Tanner decided to take advantage of an off day by traveling to Cedar Rapids to catch a glimpse at some of their prospects with the Appleton Foxes — then Chicago's Class A affiliate.
As the story goes, Tanner also used the visit to teach the 19-year-old Gossage how to throw a changeup so he had something off-speed in his repertoire to go along with his sizzling upper 90 mph fastball.
"His record was 1-1 at the time," Hemond recalled. "And then he just took off after that."
Consider that an understatement, since the 6-foot-3 right-hander responded by going on to enjoy one of the best pitching performances in Midwest League history, finishing 18-2 with 149 strikeouts and a 1.83 ERA in 187 innings en route to earning league player of the year honors as the Foxes won the Northern Division title and advanced to the championship series.
He also posted 15 complete games and seven shutouts in his 24 starts.
According to Gossage, it was White Sox pitching coach Johnny Sain who showed Tanner how to teach the changeup. Tanner then simply relayed the tutorial to an eager pupil.
"I picked it up right there that day," said the 57-year-old Gossage, who on July 27 will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. "That's what I needed, was some kind of off-speed pitch. I had no breaking ball until I got to the big leagues, and it took me a couple of years to get it. I didn't work on my slurve until Johnny Sain got me in the big leagues.
"Johnny Sain, his method of teaching the changeup was so easy. I teach it to little kids now. It's amazing how easy it is to throw. That really was what put me over the top."
So much so that Hemond remembers a conversation between he and Gossage late in that '71 season in which the two discussed making the giant leap from A-ball to the major leagues.
"I went up with my family to see the Appleton club and he said, 'What do you think, Roland? What's the plan?' And I said, 'Think big leagues. We'll take you to major league camp next year.' He made the club, was 7-1, pitched great ball for us in relief and launched his major league career that started him onto the Hall of Fame."
Gossage was selected out of high school by the White Sox in the ninth round of the 1970 amateur draft and struggled in 10 appearances that season with the Foxes, going 0-3 record with a 5.91 ERA in 35 innings after being promoted following a trio of rookie level starts.
He also made two starts at Appleton in 1974 before permanently embarking on a 22-year major league career that saw him emerge as one of the game's all-time great closers with 310 saves.
But back-to-back all-star appearances with the White Sox in 1975 and '76 – the former as a reliever and the latter as a starter – prompted Hemond and then-Chicago owner Bill Veeck to trade Gossage and pitcher Terry Forster to Pittsburgh in December of '76 for outfielder Richie Zisk and pitcher Silvio Martinez as free agency, then in its infancy, loomed.
Gossage pitched just that one season with the Pirates and then signed a free agent deal with the New York Yankees, whom he played for from 1978-83. He made two World Series appearances with the Yankees, winning a title in 1978.
"So if we had kept him for the '77 season, we most likely would have lost him to the Yankees," said Hemond, who along with Gossage, Forster and Veeck are members of the Appleton Baseball Hall of Fame. "That was the reasoning. We were going to lose Gossage and Forster anyway after the next year, so instead let's get some hitting. And it worked because we scored a lot of runs. You realize it would have been nice to have him but you were happy for him because he was pitching for New York and that helped him go to the Hall of Fame."
To this day, Hemond said he and Gossage remain good friends. They even had breakfast together while in New York for last Tuesday's annual All-Star game and have enjoyed many chats about those early days in Appleton.
Days Hemond fondly remembers as unearthing a legend.
"You could tell when I saw him in August (of 1971) that he was the real McCoy and you put him high on the list," the 78-year-old Hemond said. "We got someone special, there was no doubt about it. And it turned out that way."
The legend of Rich "Goose" Gossage may have been written in cathedrals like Comiskey Park and Yankee Stadium.
But it was hatched in a bullpen in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
It was early in the 1971 Midwest League season when Chicago White Sox general manager Roland Hemond and Sox skipper Chuck Tanner decided to take advantage of an off day by traveling to Cedar Rapids to catch a glimpse at some of their prospects with the Appleton Foxes — then Chicago's Class A affiliate.
As the story goes, Tanner also used the visit to teach the 19-year-old Gossage how to throw a changeup so he had something off-speed in his repertoire to go along with his sizzling upper 90 mph fastball.
"His record was 1-1 at the time," Hemond recalled. "And then he just took off after that."
Consider that an understatement, since the 6-foot-3 right-hander responded by going on to enjoy one of the best pitching performances in Midwest League history, finishing 18-2 with 149 strikeouts and a 1.83 ERA in 187 innings en route to earning league player of the year honors as the Foxes won the Northern Division title and advanced to the championship series.
He also posted 15 complete games and seven shutouts in his 24 starts.
According to Gossage, it was White Sox pitching coach Johnny Sain who showed Tanner how to teach the changeup. Tanner then simply relayed the tutorial to an eager pupil.
"I picked it up right there that day," said the 57-year-old Gossage, who on July 27 will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. "That's what I needed, was some kind of off-speed pitch. I had no breaking ball until I got to the big leagues, and it took me a couple of years to get it. I didn't work on my slurve until Johnny Sain got me in the big leagues.
"Johnny Sain, his method of teaching the changeup was so easy. I teach it to little kids now. It's amazing how easy it is to throw. That really was what put me over the top."
So much so that Hemond remembers a conversation between he and Gossage late in that '71 season in which the two discussed making the giant leap from A-ball to the major leagues.
"I went up with my family to see the Appleton club and he said, 'What do you think, Roland? What's the plan?' And I said, 'Think big leagues. We'll take you to major league camp next year.' He made the club, was 7-1, pitched great ball for us in relief and launched his major league career that started him onto the Hall of Fame."
Gossage was selected out of high school by the White Sox in the ninth round of the 1970 amateur draft and struggled in 10 appearances that season with the Foxes, going 0-3 record with a 5.91 ERA in 35 innings after being promoted following a trio of rookie level starts.
He also made two starts at Appleton in 1974 before permanently embarking on a 22-year major league career that saw him emerge as one of the game's all-time great closers with 310 saves.
But back-to-back all-star appearances with the White Sox in 1975 and '76 – the former as a reliever and the latter as a starter – prompted Hemond and then-Chicago owner Bill Veeck to trade Gossage and pitcher Terry Forster to Pittsburgh in December of '76 for outfielder Richie Zisk and pitcher Silvio Martinez as free agency, then in its infancy, loomed.
Gossage pitched just that one season with the Pirates and then signed a free agent deal with the New York Yankees, whom he played for from 1978-83. He made two World Series appearances with the Yankees, winning a title in 1978.
"So if we had kept him for the '77 season, we most likely would have lost him to the Yankees," said Hemond, who along with Gossage, Forster and Veeck are members of the Appleton Baseball Hall of Fame. "That was the reasoning. We were going to lose Gossage and Forster anyway after the next year, so instead let's get some hitting. And it worked because we scored a lot of runs. You realize it would have been nice to have him but you were happy for him because he was pitching for New York and that helped him go to the Hall of Fame."
To this day, Hemond said he and Gossage remain good friends. They even had breakfast together while in New York for last Tuesday's annual All-Star game and have enjoyed many chats about those early days in Appleton.
Days Hemond fondly remembers as unearthing a legend.
"You could tell when I saw him in August (of 1971) that he was the real McCoy and you put him high on the list," the 78-year-old Hemond said. "We got someone special, there was no doubt about it. And it turned out that way."