Gossage continues verbal assault on modern baseball
Nobody escaped the wrath of Goose Gossage on Thursday. Jose Bautista, the Toronto Blue Jays icon and six-time All-Star, drew the brunt of his ire, but Gossage's tirade went beyond the bat flip. Speaking with ESPN's Andrew Marchand, the Hall-of-Famer lamented the showmanship in baseball these days, the "f---ing nerds running the game," recent rule changes, and performance-enhancing drug use, too - realities that, according to Gossage, are turning baseball into a "freaking joke."
Hours later, after Bautista had graciously dismissed Gossage's ravings, the former New York Yankees star was offered an opportunity to clarify, or even downplay, his earlier remarks during an appearance on Sportsnet's "Tim & Sid" show. He wasn't interested in softening his stance, though.
In a wild 15-minute interview, Gossage further decried the evolution of the game and its players, and explained that he singled out Bautista because "all the antics" being perpetrated by him and his teammates last year were "out of control." Here are some of the other memorable quotes from the follow-up interview:
... The baseball fans that think they're baseball fans? Go back to the "old school" way, the respect; now you see kids in Little League - in the Little League World Series - act like little turds.
Gossage, who famously tore a thumb ligament in 1979 in a shower fight with teammate Cliff Johnson, also took exception to the increased cordiality among opponents, explaining that, in his day, players were punished for fraternizing with the enemy.
There was character in the game. I hated them and they hated me. And that's the way we like it. Now, it's a big love fest out there. Watch (batting practice): everybody's running around, hugging each other. Like, the opposition. We got fined if we said hi to somebody!
Relations between opposing players weren't nearly as friendly several decades ago, but, Gossage insisted, they had a much stronger sense of sportsmanship than current MLB players.
It goes back to sportsmanship. There is no sportsmanship anymore. There is no respect for anything, anybody, anywhere.
A proud proponent of self-policing during his playing days, Gossage said that by condemning players who choose not to keep their emotions in check, he's trying to preserve the game he struggles to recognize these days.
You know what I'm doing? I'm trying to keep the game in check. There is nothing that is the same in the game, in any facet. Whatever facet you want to talk about, it is totally frickin' - it's being controlled by a bunch of people that are not baseball people.
When asked if he feels the game is passing him by, Gossage wasn't able to give an unqualified "no."
You know what? I'm not even gonna go there. No, because I still love the game; I can't watch it. Kids don't know how to play today. They don't know how to run the bases, they don't know the finer points of the game.