Cooperstown can wait. Rich “Goose” Gossage, considered the greatest baseball player the state of Colorado has ever produced, failed today to make the Hall of Fame.
In his seventh year on the ballot, Gossage received 64.6 percent of the vote, painfully shy of the 75 percent required for election.
Two slivers of hope emerged from Gossage’s latest disappointment. There is a growing appreciation of dominant closers as witnessed by Bruce Sutter’s election today, making him only the fourth reliever enshrined. And players who have received at least 60 percent of the vote have eventually been elected 75 percent of the time, according to New York Times research.
Gossage braced for bad news Monday when discussing his chances, knowing he had to break Luis Aparicio’s record for highest percentage gain to election (17.2 percent) in one year to get in.
“I try not to set myself up for a big fall,” Gossage said.
Gossage, born and raised in Colorado Springs where he starred at Wasson High School, led the American League in saves three times (’75, 78, 80), was named to nine All-Star teams and finished with 124 victories and 310 saves.
Sutter received 76.9 percent of the vote from baseball writers. Sutter won the 1979 Cy Young award, part of stretch when he led the league in saves for five of six years.
The other top vote getters in order included sluggers Jim Rice (64.8) and Andre Dawson (61.0) and pitcher Bert Byleven (58.3)
Staff Writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-820-5447 or trenck@denverpost.com.
