MLB lockout continues, many are frustrated with the league and its Commissioner, Robert Manfred. In particular, Hall of Fame pitcher Goose Gossage feels some way about Manfred and wants to put hands on the MLB Commissioner.
“I hate that mother (expletive),” Gossage told USA Today. “You know how much I hate him? I called (Hall of Fame chairman) Jane Forbes Clark before the induction last year and said, ‘Jane, I don’t know where you stand with this guy, but I may punch Rob Manfred right in the (expletive) nose and spatter his (expletive) nose all over his (expletive) face right in the lobby of your hotel.”
Ouch!
According to reports, Gossage revealed that he’s wanted to punch Manfred since last year’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
However, Major League Baseball is in crisis.
If the players and team owners cannot agree on the terms and conditions of a new collective bargaining agreement by next week, the 2022 regular season will more than likely not start on time.
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Locked Out
Since Dec. 2, MLB franchise owners have locked out the players. It is the sport’s first work stoppage since the 1994 strike, and for the past several months, talks between the two sides have been stale.
“It breaks my heart to see what has happened to this game,” Gossage said. “They tore my heart out and cut it up. They ruined the game. I can’t even watch a baseball game.”
For Gossage, Rob Manfred is the one man to hold responsible for stopping the game. However, it indicates what he feels is a degradation of the sport.
Today in Goose Gossage non-news: pic.twitter.com/xLsmgbD26T
— Jay Jaffe (@jay_jaffe) February 22, 2022
A Bad Pattern
When David Ortiz was announced to be inducted into the Hall of Fame despite his use of PED in 2003, Gossage felt it sent the wrong message about those who cut corners in professional baseball.
“They’re all phonies to me,” Gossage said of those who used PED during their careers, including Ortiz, Roger Clemens, and Barry Bonds.
Gossage said many factors have ruined the game of baseball, and he expressed them all in snippy superlatives. From calling league management “puppets” and the team coaches “glorified babysitter(s),” to criticizing today’s players’ lack of core fundamentals.
The Pivot
This week has been pivotal, with an unofficial Feb. 28 deadline set to get a deal done in time for a March 31 Opening Day.
However, the MLB can’t allow its teams to attend spring training camps or resume playing a baseball season until respective club owners lift the lockout or reach an agreement.
A lockout this offseason seemed inevitable for years now. A new collective bargaining agreement is what the union needs to stop the average player’s salary from staying the same or decreasing.
By Any Means Necessary
However, revenue has skyrocketed in baseball while players’ salaries have not increased as quickly. They are only making a fraction of what the club owners are making off of their services.
Gossage may be the only hope of ending the lockout with a knockout. After all, veterans of other sports are getting into boxing.
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