According
to the recently released Baseball Writers' Association of America
article, Rich "Goose" Gossage, who tormented batters as one
of the game's most intimidating relief pitchers over a 22-season
career, was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the
BBWAA in balloting verified by Ernst & Young. He will be inducted
into the Hall July 27 at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Gossage
will be honored along with one of his former managers, Dick
Williams,
who was elected last month by the Veterans Committee. Former owners
Walter O'Malley and Barney Dreyfuss, former commissioner Bowie Kuhn
and former manager Billy Southworth, all deceased, will also be
enshrined at the ceremony that will include the presentation of the
J.G. Taylor Spink Award for baseball writing to the late Larry
Whiteside. The Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting will be announced
on Feb. 19. In the BBWAA election, 543 ballots, including three
blanks, were cast by members with 10 or more consecutive years'
service. Players must be named on 75 percent of ballots submitted to
be elected. This year, 408 votes were required.
Gossage
was listed on 466 ballots (85.8%) to win election in his ninth year
on the ballot, a gain of 14.6 percent over his percentage in 2007
when he finished 21 votes shy of the necessary 75 percent. His
election brings to 286 the number of elected members of the Hall. Of
that total, 199 are former Major League players, of which 106 have
been through the BBWAA ballot. Gossage is the 61st pitcher overall
elected to the Hall and the fifth reliever, joining Hoyt Wilhelm,
Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley and Bruce Sutter.
Gossage,
56, compiled a 124-107 record with a 3.01 earned run average and 310
saves in 1,002 games for nine clubs with his best seasons coming with
the Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees and San Diego Padres. The
hard-throwing righthander led the American League in saves three
times, twice won the Sporting News' AL Fireman of the Year Award and
was selected to nine All-Star teams.
The
closer on the Yankees' 1978 World Series championship club, Gossage
also pitched in the 1981 World Series for the Yankees and the 1984
World Series for the Padres. He had a 2.63 ERA and two saves in 13
2/3 World Series innings. Primarily a closer in his career, Gossage
did make 37 starts during his first five seasons with the White Sox
and had 16 complete games.
To
see a complete list of those to be inducted, check out the original
article here. Find out your
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