Goose Gossage Has Had Enough Of Your Tomfoolery

I guess we're somewhat removed from the era in which Rich "Goose" Gossage dominated baseball; well, when he dominated the final three innings of it, anyway. The closer really hadn't been perfected until Gossage came along, and the game hasn't been the same since. Although the Hall of Famer spent just six of his 22 major league seasons with the Yankees (1978-83), that's where he enjoyed his best years, and it's obvious that his first allegiance will always be in New York. And as Yankee Badass Emeritus, he has a few words for current relief Wunderkind Joba Chamberlain.

At issue is an incident on Thursday in which Chamberlain became somewhat demonstrative — pumping his fist and so forth — after striking out the Indians' David Dellucci.

"That's just not the Yankee way, what Joba did. Let everyone else do that stuff, but not a Yankee," Gossage said by telephone on Saturday. ... "there's no one to pass the torch anymore, no one to teach the young kids how to act. The Mets did a lot of that [celebrating] last year, and look how it came back to haunt them."

Is Gossage predicting a similar collapse by the Yankees? Well, first they have to GET to first. I'm not sure where I stand on the concept of old players coming back and telling current ones how to behave. Isn't that the manager's job? Joe Girardi needs to put a clamp on those antics stat, if that's the kind of team he wants. On the other hand, it's Goose freakin' Gossage, who could still probably kill you with a fresh dinner roll from 20 yards away. I'd probably listen to what he had to say.

Klapisch: Goose Tells Joba To Act Like A Yankee [The Record]