Gossage: Closing Time in ’75

In doing some research for a book I’m writing, I came across Goose Gossage’s 1975 season for the Chicago White Sox. Most folks think of Gossage as a member of the New York Yankees, but he got his start with the ChiSox.

Anyway, in 1975, he saved 26 games. That isn’t a remarkable total by today’s standards, but take a look at his game logs from that year. A few things about Gossage’s season jump out at me:

He worked more than a single inning in 41 of his 62 appearances.
He pitched three or more frames on 22 different occasions.
He faced 20 or more batters in a game six times

Gossage actually faced 34 batters in a game against the Red Sox. He entered in the seventh inning and lost in the 14th on a two-run homer to Carl Yastrzemski. Heck, starting pitchers don’t throw that many pitches in a game nowadays.

Gossage faced a total of 582 batters in 1975. To put this into perspective, consider that Trevor Hoffman (47) and Francisco Rodriguez (46) had the two highest saves totals in 2006. Combined, they faced 38 fewer batters than Gossage did in 1975. They also worked 5 2/3 fewer innings, and yet they combined for 67 more saves.

You know how Gossage was rewarded for his spectacular season? He was moved to the rotation in ’76. Needless to say, the role of closer has changed just a tad in the intervening 30 years.

Comments

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1582 days ago

Congrats to Goose on Overcoming Extreme Voter Stupidity Syndrome
[...] 141 2/3 innings. To give a further idea of how the closer’s role has evolved, he actually worked 3 innings or more in over a third of his appearances that [...]

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1913 days ago

Ducksnorts » Gossage Inducted, Masur Hired, San Diegans Too Laid Back
[...] I actually took a cursory look at Gossage’s workload in 1975 a while back over at Knuckle Curve. What I found shocked me. For instance, he worked three innings or more in just over a third of his appearances that year, and faced 20 or more batters in a game on six different occasions. Can you imagine asking a closer to do something like that now? [...]

By Geoff Young

Absolutely, Greg. He’s got a better claim on a spot than Bruce Sutter, IMO, and probably Rollie Fingers as well.

By Greg Weeks

More reasons to rethink his claim to the HIF.