Rich "Goose" Gossage seemed to have left a few things unsaid during his expletive-laden rant last week when he called Jose Bautista a "f--king disgrace to the game" and accused "nerds" of ruining baseball. In a new rant, Gossage added instant replay to his list of things that are wrong with today's Major League Baseball.
At the New York Yankees' George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla., yesterday, the Hall of Fame relief pitcher said instant replay is restricting managers from arguing with umpires and is taking the human element out of the game. He argued that instant replay has not cost anyone their life and therefore wondered why MLB was so dead set on implementing it.
"No manager can run on the field anymore and kick dirt on the umpire,'' Gossage said. "That was exciting. That was part of the game. That woke everybody up and everybody loved it.... Now you sit there for five minutes and wait for a f--king replay. And half the time, you can't even tell."
He continued: "Who's died in the last 100 years because of a bad call? They say, 'Well, they lost a World Series and the kid lost his perfect game.' I said, 'Who died?' Leave the human element in the game. You cannot take the human element out of baseball because it is the fabric of the game."
Gossage was first quoted railing against Bautista in a radio interview prior to ESPN: The Magazine publishing an article featuring Bryce Harper calling baseball's unwritten rules "tired." Gossage took Harper to task after the article was released, calling into question the reigning NL MVP's respect for the game and overall knowledge.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and manager Joe Girardi reportedly met with Gossage to discuss his outbursts and publicly clarified his comments. He did not apologize on either occasion and instead explained he "kind of lost [his] mind there for a minute."
His recent comments indicate he has not let go of the issue he initially brought up, which was disagreeing with Harper's assertion that MLB should encourage players to be more expressive.
"It's a shame, it breaks my heart to see the direction this game is going," Gossage said. "What, do we want a bunch of Cam Newtons running around?"
Gossage added: "So, if no one keeps it in check, which there is no one keeping it in check, first of all, no one wants to bite the hand that fed them or the hand that feeds them today. The only liaison we had was Joe Torre. It's like Washington, D.C. Everybody starts out with good intentions. You can't beat them, join 'em."
