Rich Gossage

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Rich Gossage

Hall-of-Famers as Seen Through Player Won-Lost Records: Rich Gossage

Rich Gossage was elected to the Hall of Fame in his 9th year of eligibility, 2008, with 85.8% of the vote.

Five highlights of Rich Gossage's career:

Rich "Goose" Gossage was named to nine All-Star teams in his career. He received Cy Young and MVP votes five times apiece.

Gossage led his league in saves three times. His career total in saves, 310, was fourth in major-league history at the time of his retirement.

More than 60% of Gossage's career saves, 193 of 310 (62.3%), involved him getting four or more outs. Gossage is second in major-league history in saves of more than one inning (Rollie Fingers had 201 such saves).

Gossage pitched 99 or more innings in relief in a season five times. He had 100 or more strikeouts in a season in relief five times. Gossage has the most seasons with 100+ strikeouts and no games started in major-league history (Dellin Betances tied him in 2018).

Gossage was one of only two relief pitchers (not counting Dennis Eckersley, who was a starting pitcher for 12 seasons and a relief pitcher for 12 seasons) to make the top 150 players from 1961 - 2010 in my second book, Baseball Player Won-Lost Records: 150 Players, 50 Years.

The first two tables below present Rich Gossage's career as measured by Player won-lost records, in and out of context.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWORL	pWOPA

Basic Player Won-Lost Records
						Value Decomposition
1972	CHA	20	36	4.4	4.2	1.0	0.3
1973	CHA	21	21	1.8	3.9	-1.7	-2.1
1974	CHA	22	39	3.7	5.2	-0.9	-1.6
1975	CHA	23	62	12.0	6.9	6.7	4.9
1976	CHA	24	31	12.8	13.9	0.8	-0.9
1977	PIT	25	72	11.1	7.3	5.2	3.6
1978	NYA	26	63	10.2	8.4	3.3	1.6
1979	NYA	27	36	4.2	2.9	1.8	1.2
1980	NYA	28	64	9.0	4.5	5.5	4.3
1981	NYA	29	32	4.7	2.4	2.8	2.2
1982	NYA	30	56	8.7	4.8	4.8	3.6
1983	NYA	31	57	8.8	6.2	3.6	2.3
1984	SDN	32	62	9.4	5.9	4.7	3.3
1985	SDN	33	50	7.2	3.2	4.8	3.8
1986	SDN	34	45	6.7	6.6	1.2	-0.0
1987	SDN	35	40	4.0	3.3	1.2	0.5
1988	CHN	36	46	3.0	3.7	-0.2	-0.7
+– 1989		37	42	1.5	2.0	-0.3	-0.6
	NYA		11	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.1
	SFN		31	1.2	1.9	-0.4	-0.7
1990	-	38	-	-	-	-	-
1991	TEX	39	44	2.0	2.6	-0.3	-0.7
1992	OAK	40	30	1.5	1.6	0.1	-0.2
1993	OAK	41	39	2.2	2.1	0.4	0.0
1994	SEA	42	36	1.4	0.8	0.8	0.6
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			1,003	130.4	102.2	45.3	25.5
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			19	2.7	1.4	1.6	1.3
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			1,022	133.1	103.6	47.0	26.8

Season	Team	Age	Games	eWins	eLosses	eWORL	eWOPA

Expected Player Won-Lost Records
						Value Decomposition
1972	CHA	20	36	4.1	4.5	0.5	-0.2
1973	CHA	21	21	2.1	3.5	-0.9	-1.4
1974	CHA	22	39	4.4	4.5	0.5	-0.2
1975	CHA	23	62	11.6	7.3	5.5	3.8
1976	CHA	24	31	13.1	13.6	1.3	-0.4
1977	PIT	25	72	10.7	7.6	4.8	3.2
1978	NYA	26	63	10.4	8.2	3.6	2.0
1979	NYA	27	36	3.7	3.4	0.9	0.2
1980	NYA	28	64	7.9	5.6	3.4	2.2
1981	NYA	29	32	4.3	2.8	2.0	1.4
1982	NYA	30	56	8.3	5.2	4.0	2.8
1983	NYA	31	57	8.1	6.9	2.3	0.9
1984	SDN	32	62	8.1	7.2	2.3	1.0
1985	SDN	33	50	6.2	4.1	3.3	2.4
1986	SDN	34	45	6.1	7.2	0.1	-1.1
1987	SDN	35	40	4.0	3.4	1.2	0.6
1988	CHN	36	46	3.3	3.4	0.4	-0.2
+– 1989		37	42	1.8	1.7	0.4	0.1
	NYA		11	0.3	0.2	0.1	0.1
	SFN		31	1.5	1.5	0.3	0.0
1990	-	38	-	-	-	-	-
1991	TEX	39	44	2.3	2.3	0.3	-0.1
1992	OAK	40	30	1.5	1.6	0.2	-0.1
1993	OAK	41	39	2.1	2.2	0.2	-0.2
1994	SEA	42	36	1.1	1.1	0.2	0.0
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			1,003	125.1	107.4	36.5	16.7
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			19	2.4	1.7	1.0	0.7
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			1,022	127.5	109.1	37.6	17.4

Working backwards in time, Goose Gossage is the fourth relief pitcher I come to in my series on Baseball Hall-of-Famers. Goose Gossage was, of course, one of the greatest relief pitchers of all time: undoubtedly one of the top five or so, arguably the second-best reliever ever. There are, however, only so many ways to show the greatest relief pitchers of all time and I think I've pretty much exhausted them in my three previous articles about Hall-of-Fame relievers. And Gossage shows up prominently in the tables presented in all three of those articles.

So, for some variety, for my article on Goose Gossage, I decided to take a look at the best games of his career. So here are the top games of Goose Gossage's career, as measured by net pWins (pWins minus pLosses).

First, a caveat. Goose Gossage pitched in 1,002 regular-season and 19 postseason games in his career (he also pinch ran in one game in 1973, which, obviously, does not rank among the greatest games of his career). He started 37 of these games. The vast majority of these games (and the last of them) were in 1976, when Goose Gossage started 29 games (out of 31 games total). Overall, Gossage's foray into the White Sox starting rotation didn't work out all that great. He finished the season with a traditional won-lost record of 9-17 (in large part because the White Sox finished 64-97 overall and 10th in the 12-team AL in runs scored) with a 3.94 ERA (vs. a league-average ERA of 3.52).

But within the 1976 season, Gossage pitched several excellent games. And excellent starting pitching performances tend to be more valuable than equally excellent relief pitching performances because starting pitchers pitch longer.

In fact, it turns out that three of the top four games in Gossage's career, as measured by net pWins (pWins minus pLosses), were during the 1976 season. So, I'm going to cheat a little bit and show the top two starting performances of Gossage's career (which rate as the top two overall games of his career), the top two regular-season relief performances of his career, and the top postseason performance of his career. All five of these games rank among the top ten games of Gossage's career, as measured by net pWins.

May 20, 1976

The best game in Goose Gossage's career, as measured by net pWins, was May 20, 1976, when Gossage pitched a complete-game 3-2 win over the Minnesota Twins. In the game, Gossage allowed 2 runs (both earned) on 7 hits, he walked nobody, with 8 strikeouts. After giving up an RBI single to Tony Oliva in the top of the 7th to let the Twins pull within one run, Gossage essentially became his own closer/fireman, retiring the last 8 batters he faced, striking out the last two of them.

The Player won-lost records by player for that game are shown in the next table.

Player Won-Lost Records by Player: Summary

	Basic Player Won-Lost Records (sorted by net pWins)
	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins

1976 Minnesota Twins
Tom Burgmeier	0.10	0.02	0.08
Tony Oliva	0.09	0.02	0.07
Lyman Bostock Jr.	0.18	0.16	0.01
Jerry Terrell	0.01	0.00	0.01
Steve Braun	0.09	0.12	-0.02
Craig Kusick	0.00	0.05	-0.05
Bob Randall	0.07	0.14	-0.06
Dan Ford	0.13	0.22	-0.09
Danny Thompson	0.04	0.17	-0.13
Rod Carew	0.03	0.22	-0.19
Pete Redfern	0.18	0.37	-0.20
Larry Hisle	0.06	0.26	-0.20
Butch Wynegar	0.03	0.25	-0.22
Team Totals	1	2	-1


1976 Chicago White Sox
Rich Gossage	0.94	0.28	0.66
Chet Lemon	0.20	0.08	0.12
Rich Coggins	0.20	0.08	0.12
Jorge Orta	0.16	0.08	0.08
H. Pat Kelly	0.10	0.04	0.06
Jack Brohamer	0.16	0.10	0.06
Brian Downing	0.05	0.03	0.02
Lamar Johnson	0.02	0.02	-0.01
Bucky Dent	0.08	0.09	-0.01
Ralph Garr	0.07	0.10	-0.04
Jim Spencer	0.03	0.09	-0.07
Team Totals	2	1	1

August 1, 1976

Gossage's next best game came a little more than two months later, on August 1, 1976, against the California Angels. In this one, Gossage pitched a complete-game 2-1 victory with the only run scored by the Angels being unearned. For the game, Gossage held the Angels to 5 hits and 3 walks with 6 strikeouts. After the Angels scored their (unearned) run, Gossage closed the game by retiring 7 of the last 8 batters he faced, 3 via strikeout.

Player won-lost records for this game are summarized in the table below.

Player Won-Lost Records by Player: Summary

	Basic Player Won-Lost Records (sorted by net pWins)
	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins

1976 Chicago White Sox
Rich Gossage	0.88	0.23	0.65
Bill Stein	0.25	0.05	0.20
Lamar Johnson	0.24	0.07	0.17
Ralph Garr	0.23	0.07	0.16
Jim Essian	0.09	0.02	0.06
Jim Spencer	0.00	0.00	-0.00
Alan Bannister	0.01	0.01	-0.00
Jorge Orta	0.06	0.07	-0.02
Kevin Bell	0.08	0.10	-0.02
Chet Lemon	0.09	0.13	-0.04
Wayne Nordhagen	0.04	0.10	-0.06
Bucky Dent	0.04	0.14	-0.10
Team Totals	2	1	1


1976 California Angels
Ron D. Jackson	0.18	0.11	0.07
Frank Tanana	0.38	0.34	0.04
Bruce Bochte	0.14	0.14	-0.00
Bill Melton	0.05	0.07	-0.01
Bob O. Jones	0.00	0.06	-0.06
Leroy Stanton	0.00	0.08	-0.08
Bobby Bonds	0.07	0.18	-0.11
Andy Etchebarren	0.00	0.14	-0.13
Tony Solaita	0.06	0.19	-0.14
Jerry Remy	0.03	0.17	-0.14
Mario Guerrero	0.07	0.27	-0.20
Dave Collins	0.01	0.24	-0.23
Team Totals	1	2	-1

September 3, 1978

The top relief performance of Goose Gossage's career - and the 4th-most valuable performance of his career - was on September 3, 1978, for the New York Yankees against the Seattle Mariners.

The Yankees had jumped out to a 4-0 lead over the Mariners by the end of the third inning. But Mariners' starter Rick Honeycutt toughened up after the third inning and shut out the Yankees on five hits after the third inning. Meanwhile, the Mariners cut the Yankees' lead in half with two runs off of Yankees starter Jim Beattie in the eighth inning.

The Yankees brought Sparky Lyle in for the ninth inning to close out a 4-2 win. But Lyle didn't have it. He faced three batters and gave up a single, single, and double, in that order. The Yankees' lead was down to 4-3, the Mariners had runners on second and third in the top of the ninth inning with nobody out.

That was the situation when Goose Gossage entered the game. Gossage proceeded to strike out the side. Game over; Yankees win, 4-3.

Player won-lost records for this game are summarized in the table below.

Player Won-Lost Records by Player: Summary

	Basic Player Won-Lost Records (sorted by net pWins)
	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins

1978 Seattle Mariners
Bill Stein	0.27	0.11	0.16
Ruppert Jones	0.10	0.03	0.07
Dan T. Meyer	0.14	0.13	0.01
Larry Milbourne	0.01	0.00	0.01
John Hale	0.01	0.00	0.01
Kevin Pasley	0.00	0.00	0.00
Craig Reynolds	0.12	0.14	-0.02
Bruce Bochte	0.06	0.08	-0.02
Bill Plummer	0.00	0.05	-0.05
Leon Roberts	0.01	0.17	-0.15
Rick Honeycutt	0.23	0.40	-0.17
Bob Robertson	0.00	0.23	-0.23
Julio Cruz	0.03	0.28	-0.25
Tom Paciorek	0.01	0.38	-0.37
Team Totals	1	2	-1


1978 New York Yankees
Rich Gossage	0.59	0.00	0.59
Jim Beattie	0.39	0.08	0.31
Chris Chambliss	0.29	0.03	0.26
Cliff Johnson	0.11	0.02	0.09
Bucky Dent	0.09	0.05	0.04
Graig Nettles	0.09	0.06	0.03
Willie Randolph	0.09	0.06	0.03
Gary Thomasson	0.02	0.03	-0.02
Mickey Rivers	0.14	0.16	-0.02
Reggie Jackson	0.04	0.06	-0.02
Lou Piniella	0.13	0.15	-0.03
Thurman Munson	0.03	0.09	-0.06
Sparky Lyle	0.01	0.21	-0.21
Team Totals	2	1	1

September 27, 1975

The second most valuable relief performance of Goose Gossage's career - and the 6th-most valuable performance of his career overall - was on September 27, 1975, for the Chicago White Sox against the Minnesota Twins.

Gossage's White Sox won the game, 1-0, with Gossage picking up the traditional pitcher win (his 9th win in 1975, all in relief) via 5 shutout innings in relief. The score was tied at zero when the first two Twins batters singled to start the bottom of the fifth inning. Gossage escaped that inning by inducing a double play and a fly out. He then proceeded to pitch four innings of shutout ball over which he allowed two hits, two walks, and a hit batter, with two strikeouts.

The White Sox finally managed to scratch out one run in the top of the eighth inning and held on for the 1-0 victory.

The losing pitcher of this game was also a Hall-of-Famer, Bert Blyleven, who pitched a complete game in which he allowed only six hits and three walks, while striking out eight batters. This was one of nine games in his career in which Blyleven pitched a complete game but lost 1-0, the most in the major leagues since the great Walter Johnson. This is exactly the sort of game which contributed to Bert Blyleven having the 10th-most pitcher losses in major-league history (250) and gave him a reputation as a pitcher who had a tendency to pitch "just well enough to lose". This is also, I think, an excellent example of how unfair that reputation was. Bert Blyleven pitched extremely well and it took one of the best performances of a fellow Hall-of-Famer's career to beat him that day.

Player won-lost records for this game are summarized in the table below.

Player Won-Lost Records by Player: Summary

	Basic Player Won-Lost Records (sorted by net pWins)
	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins

1975 Chicago White Sox
Rich Gossage	0.76	0.19	0.57
H. Pat Kelly	0.23	0.08	0.16
Claude Osteen	0.24	0.10	0.14
Brian Downing	0.13	0.05	0.09
Jerry Hairston Sr.	0.14	0.08	0.06
Mike Squires	0.11	0.05	0.06
Nyls Nyman	0.16	0.11	0.05
Bill Stein	0.09	0.09	0.01
Bucky Dent	0.05	0.07	-0.02
Bill Melton	0.05	0.09	-0.04
Ken Henderson	0.03	0.11	-0.08
Team Totals	2	1	1


1975 Minnesota Twins
Johnny Briggs	0.07	0.00	0.07
Tony Oliva	0.07	0.01	0.06
Lyman Bostock Jr.	0.17	0.12	0.05
Bert Blyleven	0.39	0.35	0.04
Luis Gomez	0.01	0.01	-0.01
Jerry Terrell	0.07	0.11	-0.05
Steve Braun	0.02	0.07	-0.05
Steve Brye	0.00	0.05	-0.05
Danny Thompson	0.05	0.14	-0.08
Dan Ford	0.07	0.17	-0.10
Rod Carew	0.00	0.11	-0.11
Mike Poepping	0.00	0.13	-0.13
Dave McKay	0.04	0.17	-0.13
Craig Kusick	0.04	0.21	-0.17
Phil Roof	0.00	0.17	-0.17
Larry Hisle	0.00	0.18	-0.18
Team Totals	1	2	-1

October 8, 1981

The best postseason performance of Goose Gossage's career, as measured by net pWins, was Game 2 of the 1981 AL East Divisional Playoffs (the 1981 season was split because of a 50-day midseason strike with the first-half AL East winning Yankees facing the second-half AL East winning Brewers).

Gossage entered the game in the bottom of the 7th inning with the bases loaded and one out and the Yankees clinging to the 1-0 lead. Gossage got Robin Yount on a pop-up to third and then struck out Cecil Cooper to end the inning. Gossage then stuck around to pitch a 1-2-3 8th inning. The Yankees pushed across two runs in the top of the 9th to give Gossage some breathing room heading into the bottom of the 9th, and Gossage worked around two singles to finish the shutout by getting Yount to pop up for the second time, this time to the catcher.

Based purely on net pWins, with no regard to the relative importance of the game, this performance rates 9th in Gossage's career (i.e., in the top 1% of his 1,022 career games).

Player won-lost records for this game are summarized in the table below.

Player Won-Lost Records by Player: Summary

	Basic Player Won-Lost Records (sorted by net pWins)
	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins

1981 New York Yankees
Rich Gossage	0.52	0.03	0.49
Dave Righetti	0.60	0.16	0.44
Lou Piniella	0.20	0.04	0.16
Reggie Jackson	0.24	0.14	0.10
Dave Winfield	0.15	0.06	0.09
Willie Randolph	0.09	0.06	0.03
Larry Milbourne	0.04	0.06	-0.02
Bob Watson	0.02	0.05	-0.03
Jerry Mumphrey	0.05	0.08	-0.03
Graig Nettles	0.01	0.05	-0.04
Rick Cerone	0.01	0.07	-0.06
Ron G. Davis	0.07	0.20	-0.13
Team Totals	2	1	1


1981 Milwaukee Brewers
Sal Bando	0.17	0.08	0.08
Roy Howell	0.06	0.00	0.06
Jim Gantner	0.18	0.15	0.03
Thad Bosley	0.06	0.04	0.02
Jim Slaton	0.00	0.00	-0.00
Don Money	0.00	0.04	-0.04
Ted Simmons	0.08	0.17	-0.09
Paul Molitor	0.02	0.11	-0.09
Gorman Thomas	0.04	0.16	-0.12
Charlie Moore	0.00	0.13	-0.13
Cecil Cooper	0.05	0.20	-0.14
Ben Oglivie	0.03	0.20	-0.17
Mike Caldwell	0.27	0.44	-0.17
Robin Yount	0.06	0.27	-0.21
Team Totals	1	2	-1

Article last updated: February 9, 2020

All articles are written so that they pull data directly from the most recent version of the Player won-lost database. Hence, any numbers cited within these articles should automatically incorporate the most recent update to Player won-lost records. In some cases, however, the accompanying text may have been written based on previous versions of Player won-lost records. I apologize if this results in non-sensical text in any cases.

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