This could be year of Goose in Hall voting

Reliever Goose Gossage has fallen short eight times in Hall of Fame voting.

NEW YORK (AP) — Goose Gossage is filled with confidence. Always has been.

“I came into situations that God couldn’t get out of, and I got out of them,” he said. “I’m not blowing my own horn, but this is just fact. Nobody did it like me.”

After falling short eight times in balloting for the Hall of Fame, the Goose could make it in when this year’s results are released Tuesday. Only four pitchers who were primarily relievers have been given baseball’s highest honor: Hoyt Wilhelm (1985), Rollie Fingers (1992), Dennis Eckersley (2004) and Bruce Sutter (2006).

Last year, when Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn were voted in, Gossage’s percentage increased from 64.6 to 71.2 and he fell 21 votes short of the 75 percent needed for election.

“Goose and Rollie Fingers created the model for closers of the future,” Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “Fearless, intimidating, hard throwing, and would take the ball every day and go as long as needed. Later would come Eckersley, Lee Smith, Jeff Reardon, Steve Bedrosian, and others all the way to Mariano Rivera.

“The great closers need to be represented more strongly in the Hall, as they are vital to a team’s success. Trevor Hoffman has been mentioned as a Hall of Famer, but before that can happen Lee Smith and Goose must get the nod.”

It would be appropriate for Gossage to make it in on the ninth try. He was taken by the Chicago White Sox in the ninth round of the 1970 amateur draft.

Now 56, the right-hander pitched in the major leagues for nine teams from 1972-94 and became a nine-time All-Star. He got the final six outs of the Yankees’ second consecutive World Series title in 1978, retiring Ron Cey on a foulout to win it.

Back when he pitched, closers frequently entered in the eighth inning and occasionally in the seventh. Wilhelm averaged 1.84 innings per relief appearance, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, with Fingers at 1.66, Gossage at 1.61 and Sutter at 1.58. Eckersley made closing a three-out business, averaging 1.14 outs. Rivera is at 1.16.

“For anybody to say that Mariano’s the greatest relief pitcher ever — maybe of the modern era, certainly, now that could be argued — but please don’t compare what we used to do with what they do today,” Gossage said. “Apples and oranges.”