Mother Goose
“I said GET OFF MY LAWN!”
So, apparently the fact that Joba Chamberlain did a little buggin’ after striking out David Dellucci is a big old hairy deal now, to the point where Goose Gossage feels compelled to share his These Kids Today perspective on the incident.
I don’t understand why it’s An Incident in the first damn place, honestly. In the grand scheme of things, I agree that Chamberlain’s reaction is not proportionate; for starters, Dellucci is not Albert Pujols or Wade Boggs. He’s not an active legend and he’s not particularly difficult to strike out as far as I know. For another thing, while Dellucci did hit a key homer off Chamberlain when last they met, I for one didn’t consider it a notably impressive piece of hitting. Nothing against Dellucci, he got the job done, but the guy is a dead-red hitter, and Chamberlain had had trouble with his control prior to the pitch Dellucci sent out, so he felt pressure to throw a strike. Which…he did. Grooved it right down the middle. Against major-league hitters, that choice sometimes has unpleasant consequences.
Dellucci’s response is perhaps snottier than his own semi-journeyman status might seem to warrant — although for the record I think he could have made some noise if he’d gone to a team that would play him every day — but I agree with his comment that it’s May baseball. Joba overreacted.
But seriously…who cares? And who asked Goose Gossage, anyway? “When I was in his position, I would never have acted up like that” — so what? So Joba’s young and perhaps lacks perspective; so he doesn’t have a Thurman Munson to chew his ass for appropriating emotions that properly belong to veterans. Do we have any proof that the freshman-hazing attitude of baseball days gone by had any positive effect? Or does Gossage just want every other rook to eat the same shit he did? (And…didn’t Gossage just get elected to the Hall Of Fame his own self? He’s on and on about how Mariano Rivera should tell Joba to shut it — does it strike anyone else that maybe Dennis Eckersley or someone should tell Gossage to pipe down ’til he’s got a few years in Cooperstown under his belt?)
Between that and the “this isn’t the Yankee way” nonsense, my eyes rolled all the way back and down into my neck. Whenever anyone equates the Yankee home pinstripes with a clerical collar or the Oval Office or some other exalted “the job is bigger than the man” position, I want to puke, and on top of that, didn’t Gossage play alongside Reggie Jackson? Did Reggie seem humbled by the uniform? Did Reggie seem humbled by anything? No. It’s part of what made him great, and exciting to watch.
Joba got a wild hair. It happens. Not everyone is going to behave like Derek Jeter, Even-Keeled Company Man, and if the organization wants Joba to mature, to become seasoned and to take a long view, then they need to stop treating him like The Boy In The Eighth-Inning Bubble and let him take his lumps. The Dellucci homer is part of that; learning when a strikeout is genuinely meaningful is part of that. And ignoring Goose “Back In My Day” Gas-sage is part of that too, so let’s all set an example for young Chamberlain and not ask Mother Goose what he thinks. Not that he’d wait for an invitation.
Tags: news
I love it when you talk baseball. I learn a lot, actually. It’s very cool.
But the pic & caption at the top is making me giggle like a hyena! That caption is PERFECT for that look on his face.
Thanks for brightening my snowy wet gloomy workday!
Eckersley should totally feel free to chew out Gossage. He might have already, actually. I haven’t seen the NESN pregame show in a couple of days. If it did happen, I am sad that I missed it. It’s hard to find something more entertaining than Eck on his soapbox.
Goose needs to relax a little bit. I read the autograph collectors’ forums a lot, and from what I hear, Goose used to sign through the mail for free until the HoF vote came out. Then he started charging $25 to autograph TTM. (That’s a per-card fee.) He hasn’t even been put in the Hall officially yet, for crying out loud. I realize his volume of mail must have increased and many HoFers do charge for one reason or another, but that’s quite the price bump, IMO.
“If a hitter did something like that, it’d be bush.”
Now, all giggly third-grade heeheeing aside, that’s a BURN. I think I’ll see how that goes over w/the other moms at playgroup. “Emily, if you pinch Sam again, that’s bush, and I’ll hafta bench ya.” Hee.
I mean, I know it’s a reference to bush-leaguers, but it just works so well as a truly effective putdown, that it goes beyond its immediate context.
The 10 pm edition of Baseball Tonight reacted to this, too. It was the fan write in question of the night: “Who do you think has a celebration that ‘crosses the line’?” Oy. For the most part, I’m with you. I prefer it when guys show up, do the work, and leave the field without screaming like Howard Dean, but it’s really not that big a deal. Just the same, there are still times that the guy who just hit the home run doing the slow, cocky walk towards first base while admiring his work thing sort of gets on my nerves.
John Kruk was all, “Kids today, but, really, what are you going to do? I’ve stopped paying attention,” but he did make the astute (!?!) point that if a batter’s going to do the kind of thing I described above, we really shouldn’t be holding a pitcher to some intagible higher standard that prohibits them from showing any emotion whatsoever.
I agree with Amanda- I’d listen to Eck expound on anything. The more worked up he gets, the more hilarious he is. Plus, he’s got HOF cred.
There are few feelings more important than hoping for Eck on Extra Innings and getting stuck with Jim Rice.
Whoops, by important, I meant disappointing. Don’t ask.
*Still* cracking up over that caption. Heh.
Here’s Crasnick on other notorious celebrations: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist =crasnick_jerry&id=3395031&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines
Looks like Eck really should tell Gossage to shut it. Using a left jab. Heh.
Also, how could I forget that “the Yankee way” included Paul O’Neill? Loved that guy, but ask the front office how many busted water coolers they had to replace while he was in the Bronx.