Goose Gossage has a bone to pick with … everything, apparently.
Gossage flew off the handle Thursday in an expletive-laden, 10-minute interview with ESPN.com’s Andrew Marchand. The Hall of Fame reliever took aim at Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista, baseball “nerds” and the overall state of Major League Baseball.
“Bautista is a (expletive) disgrace to the game,” Gossage said, per Marchand. “He’s embarrassing to all the Latin players, whoever played before him. Throwing his bat and acting like a fool, like all those guys in Toronto. (Yoenis) Cespedes, same thing.”
Gossage clearly isn’t a fan of Bautista’s bat flips, especially the one Joey Bats busted out after drilling a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the American League Division Series. Bautista’s showboating isn’t the only baseball topic that struck a nerve, though. Gossage also doesn’t like the idea of having people who never played in the majors running things at a high level.
“It is a joke,” Gossage told Marchand. “The game is becoming a freaking joke because of the nerds who are running it.
“I’ll tell you what has happened, these guys played rotisserie baseball at Harvard or wherever the (expletive) they went and they thought they figured the (expletive) game out. They don’t know (expletive).”
Gossage, who retired in 1994 after a 22-year career, didn’t stop there, either. The F-bombs kept coming and the anger spewed. The 64-year-old ex-reliever really doesn’t sound happy with the direction the game is heading.
“A bunch of (expletive) nerds running the game,” Gossage said, per Marchand. “You can’t slide into second base. You can’t take out the (expletive) catcher because (Buster) Posey was in the wrong position and they are going to change all the rules. You can’t pitch inside anymore. I’d like to knock some of these (expletives) on their ass and see how they would do against pitchers in the old days.
“Ryan Braun is a (expletive) steroid user. He gets a standing ovation on Opening Day in Milwaukee. How do you explain that to your kid after throwing people under the bus and lying through his (expletive) teeth? They don’t have anyone passing the (expletive) torch to these people.
“If I had acted like that, you don’t go in that (expletive) dugout. There are going to be 20 (expletive) guys waiting for you.”
Well, then.
Thumbnail photo via Anthony Gruppuso/USA TODAY Sports Images
