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Gossage honored at 2010 Legends for Youth Dinner
Hall of Fame reliever receives Lifetime Achievement Award
Posted Nov 10, 2010 by MLB News
The past, present and future of Major League Baseball took center stage at the New York Hilton on Friday night, when the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association handed out its Achievement Awards. Four Hall of Famers were in the building, as were dozens of former players, who signed autographs and shook hands with the fans in attendance.
Brooks Robinson, 16-time Gold Glove winner and the president of the MLBPAA, was on hand, and so were fellow Hall of Famers Goose Gossage, Orlando Cepeda and Paul Molitor. The former players occupied the elegant Trianon Room at the Hilton, mingling with the public for an hour and then reconvening for dinner and the awards ceremony in the ballroom.
"One of the nice things about dinners like tonight is I've seen players I haven't seen in 20, 25 years," said Robinson.
Players he hasn't seen, and people who have watched him for his entire career. Robinson spent the early part of his evening feverishly signing autographs, besieged by fans who wanted to meet him. Molitor did as well, but he took a few moments before dinner to stop signing and to speak about Gossage, the man of the moment and one of his former competitors.
"Goose is one of my favorites," said Molitor of the night's honoree. "I couldn't say that when I was playing, but I've got a lot of respect for Goose. The Major League Baseball Players Alumni [Association] does a lot of good things to help a lot of people out, and when they decide to honor people, when we can, I think, everyone tries to be there. It's not always feasible. It worked out for me this year. It's my first dinner in a while. I'm glad to be out here and to be out here for Goose."
The MLBPAA was there not just to honor a former player but to raise funds for future generations. Gossage was given a lifetime achievement award, and the dinner took place in conjunction with an auction for sports memorabilia.
Jim Hannan, a former player and the chairman of the board of the MLBPAA, offered some fitting opening remarks early in the evening.
"The question is often asked, 'Where does the money go from this dinner?'" said Hannan. "The money from this dinner goes toward putting on free clinics for the kids. One hundred percent of the money goes to those clinics. This past year we've had over 40 of them. Brooks has done them, I've done them and many of the players who are here tonight have done them.
"Some of them are done on the Major League field, and some aren't. But in Washington we do one at the Nationals' park, and it's great to see kids with their eyes open and to see where they are. I always tell them, 'Remember where you are. When you get older, when you have a family, you can look up and say, I played on that field, and I played with Major Leaguers.'"
The MLBPAA also announced its year-end awards, with CC Sabathia and Roy Halladay named the American League and National League Pitchers of the Year, respectively. Sluggers Josh Hamilton (AL) and Joey Votto (NL) were named the Players of the Year, and Gossage was given his lifetime achivement award for his work both on and off the field.
Gossage was preceded on the stage by Yankees teammates Graig Nettles, Rick Cerone and Chris Chambliss, each of whom said a few words in tribute to one of the game's best relievers. A little later in the evening, Gossage delivered a heartfelt testimonial, in which he laid bare his motivations as a player and his reflections upon leaving the game.
"In 1970 I signed a contract with the White Sox only wanting to put on a big league uniform one time," Gossage said. "And to play 22 years in the big leagues and then get elected to the Hall of Fame -- first of all, to have that kind of career and second, to get into the Hall of Fame -- is something I can't comprehend. It's way over my head. I'm waiting for it to sink in, but it hasn't sunk in. We don't always stop to smell the roses while we're playing because we're only really as good or as bad as our last outing.
"[Former manager] Chuck Tanner told me [something] a long time ago. He poked his finger in my chest, and he was the toughest manager I ever played for. This is my first year in the big leagues and pretty much my first day in the big leagues. He said, 'Son, you make sure they tear that uniform off.' Well, I did. I didn't retire, I just faded into the sunset."
Larry Dierker, who pitched in the big leagues and also managed, lauded Halladay -- who also won the evening's Heart and Hustle Award in a double-dip -- for his focus and determination. And right before announcing the winner of the award, Dierker offered an interesting analysis of the game today and how it compares with when he was playing.
"Guys will say, 'Back in the day,' and what they really mean is 'Back when I was young,' " said Dierker. "Many of you are different ages, and if you were young in the '50s, you'd say, 'That was the day.' We all could say that. But my opinion is, the day is now. The players that play now are just as good if not better than we were, and that doesn't diminish anything we did."
Former manager Sparky Anderson, who passed away on Thursday, was prominent in the thoughts of many in attendance. He was mentioned early in the pre-meal benediction, and one of his former players -- George Foster, who played for the great Big Red Machine and was named Most Valuable Player in 1977 -- offered a fitting remembrance.
"When he had first taken over, he was 35 years of age and he looked as though he was 55," said Foster. "He had gray hair at the time, and we didn't realize that he could be our older brother, so to speak. He had a lot of gray hair, a lot of knowledge, and people thought he was a professor, but he knew how to deal with players.
"You talk about Sparky Anderson and you talk about other [Hall of Famers], and it's great to be in the presence of a guy like him, an icon and a legend. You just marvel at them, like Molitor or Goose being in the Hall of Fame. You played against these guys and don't realize how good they are until you look at their stats."
"In baseball, every year there's highs and lows," added Molitor. "It was a great year for a lot of things -- San Francisco and Texas, new faces. But we usually lose some of our great people and great ambassadors. That's just kind of the nature of the game. Sparky was great to me. I played against him for a lot of years in Detroit and got to know him very well in the Hall of Fame over the past several years. We'll miss him, and we know he's in a better place, but no question, that's a big loss for baseball."
The most entertaining part of the night came at the end, when several of the former players took the stage for a group interview. This part of the event -- and much of the evening -- was emceed by broadcaster Gary Thorne, who asked each participant one question, moving along the line and edging the conversation toward that particular player's expertise.
Eventually, the microphone went to Jim "Mudcat" Grant, a two-time All-Star during a 14-year career. Grant was asked his opinion of the state of pitching today, and he offered an appraisal that could only come from a former pitcher.
"I see hitters taking a lot of pitches today. I wish that they took a lot of pitches when I was pitching," said Grant. "I think the difference in the starting pitcher now is the preparation to pitch deep into the game. I like what Nolan Ryan is doing out in Texas. Everybody doesn't have to do it, but he insists that you teach your arm to pitch late in the game. Therefore you're going to throw more pitches, and in Spring Training you're going to work on throwing more pitches so you can develop arm strength."
The next man in line, former pitcher and current broadcaster Al Leiter, couldn't help but agree.
"There's protection among these organizations that give these draft picks a lot of money," said Leiter. "There's not only protection, there's concern that they get hurt. Somewhere along the line, these pitch counts have become in vogue to where we discuss it in the third inning. ... There's a difference between babying a guy and abuse, and it's somewhere between throwing 162 pitches in a nine-inning game and worrying about a guy that can't even throw 100 pitches. And I think it's part of player development when you have pitchers that aren't even taught to win in the Minor Leagues. They're taught to get their work in."
Chambliss, recently named the hitting coach for the Seattle Mariners, offered some inside information of his own. He said that he'd take a different tack with Ichiro Suzuki, for instance, than he would with an anonymous rookie.
"When you're working with hitters, there's a distinct difference between a guy that knows what he's doing and between guys that are learning," said Chambliss, who was part of two World Series-winning teams. "In this day and age, a lot of the young guys in the Minor Leagues are being pushed very fast because they're being paid a lot of money, and organizations are pushing guys into the big leagues with more talent than with skills and with knowing how to play the game. When I was coming up, you had to play the game before you could play in the big leagues. That takes more than just talent. That takes knowledge."
By Spencer Fordin / MLB.com
This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.