http://tinyurl.com/b3mqo4d
Goose Gossage is 61, which I guess is old enough to turn the Hall of Fame
relief pitcher into a grumpy old man, or at least a grumpy middle-aged man.
Over the weekend, Gossage told Newsday that Mariano Rivera is certainly
great, BUT ...
"I think that these guys are so dominant in that one-inning role that
they've forgotten what we used to do," the former Yankees closer said. "It
takes three guys to do what we used to do."
Joe Posnaski followed up with a blog post that, well, ripped the Goose a
pretty good one. I do agree with what Joe wrote here:
The obvious reason is that it diminishes Goose Gossage to talk this way.
Goose Gossage was a great pitcher. A truly great pitcher. Gossage is in the
Hall of Fame, he's widely remembered, he does not need to go around telling
people how great he was or how he wasn't used the way pitchers today are
used. I think it cheapens him to do so, especially when he uses the beloved
Mariano Rivera for effect. Rivera has been gracious and classy and
respectful. Gossage shouldn't use him as a prop.
Posnanski then goes into a lengthy discussion of the careers of the two
relievers and why Rivera is the greatest relief pitcher ever:
OK, do you see? Rivera was better. A lot better. He was better in cold
numbers, and he was a lot better when you take into consideration the eras
when they pitched. For Rivera to match Gossage in the basic numbers, he would
have had to pitch 278 more innings