The Goose Is Loose : An Autobiography

Every baseball fan knows Goose Gossage as one of the great relief pitchers of all time. But in his amazingly rich memoir, Gossage reveals that he is also one of the best--and funniest--writers in sports. Wisecracking, warmhearted, endlessly entertaining, Gossage has a million hilarious stories, and in The Goose Is Loose he tells them all with incomparable wit and style.

Goose Gossage's major league career commenced inauspiciously in 1972 when the skinny twenty-year-old kid from Colorado nearly decapitated Chicago Cubs legend Ernie Banks. Twenty-two years later, the Goose--a veteran of nine ball clubs--had become a legend himself: a dominating relief pitcher whose live fastball registered at the upper limit of the radar gun. But Goose also emerged as a genuine character with his trademark Fu Manchu mustache, unflinching stare, and the ecstatic shouts of "GOOOOOOSE!" that greeted him whenever he took the mound.

Now Gossage recounts the highs and lows of those twenty-two incredible years. Here are his encounters with legends like Ernie Banks, Dick Allen, Mickey Mantle, Carl Yazstremski, Nolan Ryan, and Ken Griffey, Jr. Here is the story of how the Goose became a hot property at the age of twenty-six, only to stumble badly when he started playing with the Yankees. But Gossage bounced back and rose to the heights of Yankee stardom during the wild and crazy "Bronx Zoo" years of the late seventies and early eighties.

It's all here. Shower fights with Cliff Johnson; the running feuds with Billy Martin and George Steinbrenner; the big move from the Yankees to the Padres; the notorious "beer in the clubhouse" showdown with Padres owner Joan Kroc; the constant antics with fun-loving teammates like Terry Forster and Thurman Munson. Baseball's lore, gossip, and salty tales come alive with an insider's savvy and a stand-up comic's flawless sense of timing.

What a piece of luck for readers and sports fans alike that baseball's unrivaled relief pitcher should also have perfect aim as a writer.

Russ Pate is a Dallas-based writer and author who has previously collaborated with Cynthia Cooper, Mike Singletary, Bob Watson, Robert Landers, and Doug Sanders.