My First Cards

This photo of Rich "Goose" Gossage, always looked sad to me. The tilt of his head and his sad eyes, remind me of the tragedy theatre mask. It's a fitting look for a Yankees card in '82, as they fell under .500, after being in 4 of the past 6 World Series.

Although, Goose had little to do with the fall from grace. He pitched 93 innings out of the bullpen to the tune of a 2.23 ERA and a 4.5 WAR in 93 IP. The ERA was best of AL relievers throwing more than 16 innings. He entered 34 games in a save situation, saving 30 of them.

His 4.5 WAR was the best on the Yankees in '82, which says a lot about how awful the team was. I mean, when a guy who's only in 93 innings, compiled more wins above replacement than anyone else, the team can't be that good. It's very rare for a reliever to lead his team in WAR.

I checked all the seasons from 1920-2009, for any relievers (relieved in 80% or more of their appearances) with a 4.0+ WAR to see if any of them led their teams, and found it's only been done 9 times—

If you don't count the ties with regular players or starters, it's only happened 7 times, and hasn't been done once since 1983! So this is very rare thing to achievement. Oddly it seemed to happen in bunches.

After blowing a game against the Mariners on April 30, 1982, Goose had a lengthy hot stretch lasting from May 2 through August 13, where he posted a 1.61 ERA, keeping batters off base by only allowing a .236 OBP which was kept low by racking up 83 K's over 72 2/3 IP. He saved 21 games and only blew 6. Even during the blown games though, he pitched pretty good... giving up 0-2 earned runs in all of them.

Then he hit a snag, facing the White Sox on August 15, he gave up 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th, blowing a 2 run Yankee lead. That game alone, added 42 points to his ERA.

After that game though, Goose didn't allow another earned run for the rest of the season, converting 7 of 8 save opportunities. During this period though, the Yanks went only 16-24 when Gossage didn't appear.