Gossage Tells Joba to Act Like a Yankee

In my post about Cashman and Girardi defending Joba’s fist pump yesterday I ended it by writing, “OK, I'm down talking about this fist pump nonsense. . . Well, at least until the next idiot complains about it.”

Well, we’ve found our next idiot; former Yankees and soon to be Hall Of Famer Goose Gossage.

From Bob Klapisch:

"I'm on Dellucci's side. That's just not the Yankee way, what Joba did. Let everyone else do that stuff, but not a Yankee," Gossage said by telephone on Saturday. "What I don't understand is, the kid's got the greatest mentor in the world in Mariano [Rivera]. He's one of the leaders of the team, so you'd think it wouldn't happen on that team.

"But there's no one to pass the torch anymore, no one to teach the young kids how to act. The Mets did a lot of that [celebrating] last year, and look how it came back to haunt them."

Did he happen to notice that Jose Reyes hasn't been the same player since Randolph told him to stop celebrating so much? Sometimes players need to be themselves, Joba is one of those players. He's 22 and he's got a bold personality, that's the type of person he is, don't change him.

"Today's players, everyone tiptoes around each other, afraid to say what they really think. I'm sure some of the [Yankees] thought Joba was wrong to do what he did, but they're afraid to say so."

"I'm trying to think of what would've happened if I did what Joba did, especially if I was a rookie," he said. "The veterans would've sat me down so fast, it would've never happened a second time. Truthfully, there would've never been a first time."

Yes, Gossage may be right; had he done this back when he was a rookie the veterans on the team probably would have sat him down and told him not to do it, but this isn't 1972, it's 2008, and this is how the league is today. Players show a lot more emotion on the field than they did years ago, get over it and let's move on.

Klapisch himself wrote something that bothered me as well:

Chamberlain has a chance to be an elite-caliber pitcher for years to come, but if there's anything that might hold him back, it's his immaturity and stubbornness.

Perhaps the kid will outgrow the antics. Maybe he'll learn the hard way. Gossage said, "The last thing you want to do is stir up the other team. You do that enough times, it'll come back to you. Eventually everyone gets humbled, believe me."

How have fist pumps hurt K-Rod, or Jonathan Papelbon, or Dennis Eckersley, or any of the other countless players who showed emotion on the mound and were very successful?

Fist pumps are not going to suddenly make you a worse pitcher. If Joba continues to throw 98 MPH heaters with that filthy slider, dropping in the occasional curve, he could do cartwheels on the mound and hitters would still have trouble hitting him.

Another former Yankee who doesn’t like the way some current Yankees act is Roy White, he has a problem with the way Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano celebrate after a HR or a win.

"I saw that 360-thing he did with [Robinson] Cano at the end of one of the games and I was shocked. I was like, 'Are you kidding me?' " White said by telephone. "I'm sorry, that's just too much. I'm guess I'm old school, but there's a professional way to play baseball, there's a Yankee tradition, back to [Joe] DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.

"You hit a home run, act like you've hit one before, not like it's the first time in your life."

I can understand where White and Gossage are coming from, but they need to understand that this isn't the 70's, and this is how the game is today, so once again, get over it and move on.