VIDEO: Gossage Tells The Story of Gibson’s 1984 World Series Homer
We all know the story: Kirk Gibson was coming up to bat against ace closer Goose Gossage in the eighth inning in Game 5 of the 1984 World Series with runners on second and third and one out. Gibby had already hit a home run in the early innings of the game and had been dominant throughout the post season. The common sense thing to do would be to intentionally walk him.
The call came from the San Diego Padres dugout from manager Dick Williams as he held up four fingers to catcher Terry Kennedy. As Kennedy gave the walk sign to to Gossage, the Goose defiantly shook his head. Because of his prior success against Gibson, Gossage was convinced he could stike him out with ease.
A conference took place on the mound between Williams, Kennedy and Gossage. Williams knew it was a huge risk to pitch to Gibson, but he gave his star reliever the benefit of the doubt. Thanks to the managers on both teams being microphoned throughout the game, the drama of the moment has been captured in all its glory. There is no way to rewrite this moment’s history.
Two pitches later, Gossage’s fastball was in the rightfield upper deck — and Gibson was dancing around the bases in a warrior-like ritual. In an instance, the World Series was over — at least psychologically. There’s no way the Padres could recover from such a dramatic blow.
Below is video footage taken in February 2007 after Gossage’s acceptance into the National Baseball Hall of Fame had been formally announced. During the interview, Gossage tells his side of the story about the famous showdown with Gibson.
Much like the ever dooming Dontrelle Willis deal, the first few years given to the Verlander were not mandatory as he had not reached eligibility for free agency. In order for Dombrowski to avoid his first arbitration, and any bad feelings with the Verlander family, this deal had to be done quickly and with the proper terms from the beginning. The Felix Hernandez deal set a high standard that the Tigers had to follow for their 65-game winner, as the final deal ended with $2 million more heading to the Virginian.
The Ryan Doumit/Jason Jaramillo combination for the Pittsburgh Pirates at the conclusion of the 2009 season meant that Diaz would have to be sent down to AAA, and stunt another player’s development, or he would have to be let go.
But competition in each league and their divisions varies greatly. Right now, the weakness of the American League Central should mean that the 2010 Detroit Tigers have a decent chance of being in the thick of things come September.
The issue for Justin Verlander and his supporters is that he is looking for big money from a team still feeling the impact of long-term deals that didn’t pan out. Based on history, it is hard to blame the Tigers for looking to lock up Nate Robertson, Brandon Inge and Dontrelle Willis when they had the opportunity. In the case of Nate and Brandon, these deals followed a 2006 run to the World Series and it was important to have this known talent stay at Comerica Park. While pitching arms are extremely fragile, Verlander is a real force on the mound, something the Tigers haven’t really had since Jack Morris.
Let’s start with the obvious, the signing of Valverde has irked many supporters of Curtis Granderson, as it completely contradicts the notion that the Tigers are in a savings mode. Combine this deal with the heavily-refuted rumors about Johnny Damon and it seems that Tigers management cannot make up their mind about which direction to take this team. It’s good to see that they are not taking fan support for granted, but it’s time to take a direction and stick to it.
Jarrod Washburn - At first it looked like a done deal for Washburn to be the next former Tiger to join the Twins (see Mike Maroth). That was until he turned down a $5 million deal to join Minnesota. He thinks he’s going to get more money on the market, and it looks like Milwaukee, the NY Mets and Kansas City could be up for his services. If he were to sign with the Royals and regain his form, he could add a nice punch to an improving Royals rotation.
