Beard Shavings - July 27 2008

Greetings, dear readers! Today's Beard Shavings entry will be brief, as the Rockies are closing their series in Cincinnati today, and I wish to be there to do everything possible to ensure a victory. For those who may not have noticed, the Rockies are playing very well of late. Their offense has been a joy to watch, and their starting pitching has been excellent. I still expect at least one trade deadline move (either Fuentes or Taveras, and possibly Barmes), but the Rockies are far from being out of contention. If the remainder of this road trip goes as I expect it will, they will be in an enviable position... namely, a handful of games back in the sorry NL West.

However, today's focus is not on the Rockies and their recent string of exciting play. Today, on behalf of the entire baseball-loving galaxy, I wish to extend my congratulations to Mr Richard "Goose" Gossage, as he is enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Gossage was the owner of one of baseball's all-time best fastballs. He retired fourth all-time in saves, and his 115 wins in relief ranks third all-time. Not only was Mr. Gossage one of the early prototypes of today's dedicated closer, he was also (along with fellow HOF reliever Rollie Fingers) a champion of truly outstanding facial hair.

His 310 career saves do not place him in the top 15 all-time saves today (which helped lead to a frustratingly long wait for his HoF induction), but his role was very different from today's one-inning closers. For example, 193 of Gossage's 310 saves required him to record at least four outs, compared to 98 for Mariano Rivera and 55 for Trevor Hoffman. Of those, Gossage recorded seven or more outs to save a game 52 times, while Hoffman has done this twice, and Rivera but once. The time it took for Gossage to be elected into the Hall of Fame (as well as the continued absence of Andre Dawson and, to a lesser extent, Jim Rice) demonstrates the flaws in the Hall of Fame election process, but his election offers hope that those flaws can be overcome.

So Beardly congratulations to you, Goose Gossage! A mustache and a baseball Hall of Famer.