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Will Mariano Rivera join Bruce Sutter or former Yankee Goose Gossage?

By Walter A. Nesbeth III

A long standing wrong has been righted. Bruce Sutter is now a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. That said, in correcting that wrong, the Baseball Writers Association prolonged the existence of another related injustice. This was the year that Rich “Goose” Gossage was supposed to join his contemporary Bruce Sutter as newly christened Hall of Fame ballplayers. The day when they both could write HOF as they signed their names to the various pieces of memorabilia that was sure to be thrust their way.

What went wrong? Didn’t the writers get the memo? Relievers as an entity over the history of baseball have fought for their place in baseball’s pantheon of heroes. Yes, the names of Luis Arroyo, Jim Konstanty, Mike Marshall, and other inspire nostalgic thoughts of great single seasons, but these men were not able to carve out stellar careers from a position that for pitchers was once the last step before exiting baseball.

What pitchers like “Goose” Gossage and Tom “The Terminator” Henke and later Mariano “The Great” Rivera did for the closer position is turn it into a weapon. They stood out in their bullpens, far away from the activity at home plate, but their respective presence cast a foreboding shadow over any game that was close in score. They gave hope to their teammates while simultaneously instilling fear in their opponents. What was technically a game of nine innings becomes a fight for preservation after six or seven innings. Each out was converted to a precious commodity that was not to be wasted for fear of inviting one of these men to claim the rest.

When as a ballplayer, your name immediately and repeatedly comes up in the conversation of “Who is the best at the position…?” you deserve a better fate than that which Gossage has been made to continually suffer since his first year of eligibility. George Brett notwithstanding, can anyone really argue that Gossage does not belong in the Hall. He is one of the rare players whose argument can be made on sheer reputation alone, without numbers (which are impressive in their own right), to come to his defense. In an era where our baseball idols have been made to show their feet of clay, a true icon whose accomplishments stand tall against the test of time has been made to once again dim his star due to the oversight of others.\
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