Rich Gossage

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 3 in · 180 lb

BornJuly 5, 1951 · Colorado Springs, CO, USA

MLB debutApril 16, 1972

Final gameAugust 8, 1994

Seasons22 (1972–1994)

Chicago White Sox 1972–1976; Pittsburgh Pirates 1977; New York Yankees 1978–1983; San Diego Padres 1984–1987; Chicago Cubs 1988; New York Yankees 1989; San Francisco Giants 1989; Texas Rangers 1991; Oakland Athletics 1992–1993; Seattle Mariners 1994

Percentile snapshot

1976 season — qualified pitchers

12.6

24.1

1.1

75.9

79.3

SHO

214

11.5

12.6

135

70.1

33.3

224.0

ERA

3.94

9.2

WHIP

1.357

17.2

K/9

5.42

75.9

FIP

3.67

20.7

FIP-

103.0

26.4

ERA+

90.4

12.6

sWAR

1.2

11.5

of 88 qualified 1976 pitchers (min 161 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

125.5

94.4

sWAR

33.4

ERA+ measured against qualified careers (1,000+ IP), 1,334 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1972	36	17	16	0	0	0	0	0	11	.000	.000	.000	.000	-142.9	-100.0	.000	-0.7
1973	21	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-1.6
1974	39	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.4
1975	62	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4.8
1976	31	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.2
1977	72	25	23	0	5	1	2	1	8	.217	.250	.261	.511	33.1	37.2	.238	5.0
1978	63	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4.0
1979	36	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.5
1980	64	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.8
1981	32	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.1
1982	56	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.8
1983	57	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.5
1984	62	25	22	0	4	0	0	1	8	.182	.217	.182	.399	8.8	14.1	.195	1.9
1985	50	13	11	1	0	0	0	2	5	.000	.154	.000	.154	-45.9	-52.7	.115	2.4
1986	45	7	7	0	0	0	0	0	3	.000	.000	.000	.000	-125.8	-100.0	.000	-0.1
1987	40	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	-121.1	-100.0	.000	1.0
1988	46	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-132.0	-100.0	.000	0.0
1989	42	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-124.0	-100.0	.000	1.0
1991	44	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.6
1992	30	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.8
1993	39	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.3
1994	36	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.8

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1972	36	1	7	1	2	0	72	38	44	57	2	80.0	4.28	1.450	6.41	2.97	95.5	72.8	-0.7
1973	20	4	0	4	0	1	57	41	37	33	9	49.7	7.43	1.893	5.98	6.02	153.4	52.8	-1.6
1974	39	3	4	6	1	0	92	41	47	64	4	89.3	4.13	1.556	6.45	3.37	90.8	89.7	0.4
1975	62	0	9	8	26	0	99	29	70	130	3	141.7	1.84	1.193	8.26	2.59	66.9	209.6	4.8
1976	31	29	9	17	1	15	214	98	90	135	16	224.0	3.94	1.357	5.42	3.67	103.0	90.4	1.2
1977	72	0	11	9	26	0	78	24	49	151	9	133.0	1.62	.955	10.22	2.49	63.1	243.2	5.0
1978	63	0	10	11	27	0	87	30	59	122	9	134.3	2.01	1.087	8.17	2.97	81.1	182.2	4.0
1979	36	0	5	3	18	0	48	17	19	41	5	58.3	2.62	1.149	6.33	3.45	84.0	156.7	1.5
1980	64	0	6	2	33	0	74	25	37	103	5	99.0	2.27	1.121	9.36	2.49	63.1	173.3	2.8
1981	32	0	3	2	20	0	22	4	14	48	2	46.7	0.77	.771	9.26	2.00	55.9	465.0	2.1
1982	56	0	4	5	30	0	63	23	28	102	5	93.0	2.23	.978	9.87	2.10	52.4	179.7	2.8
1983	57	0	13	5	22	0	82	22	25	90	5	87.3	2.27	1.225	9.27	2.40	61.0	173.7	2.5
1984	62	0	10	6	25	0	75	33	36	84	6	102.3	2.90	1.085	7.39	3.00	84.0	122.9	1.9
1985	50	0	5	3	26	0	64	16	17	52	1	79.0	1.82	1.025	5.92	2.15	60.7	194.4	2.4
1986	45	0	5	7	21	0	69	32	20	63	8	64.7	4.45	1.376	8.77	3.43	93.5	82.3	-0.1
1987	40	0	5	4	11	0	47	18	19	44	4	52.0	3.12	1.269	7.62	3.27	82.3	127.5	1.0
1988	46	0	4	4	13	0	50	21	15	30	3	43.7	4.33	1.489	6.18	3.46	96.6	82.9	0.0
1989	42	0	3	1	5	0	46	19	30	30	2	58.0	2.95	1.310	4.66	3.73	106.6	119.7	1.0
1991	44	0	4	2	1	0	33	16	16	28	4	40.3	3.57	1.215	6.25	4.22	104.3	113.5	0.6
1992	30	0	0	2	0	0	32	12	19	26	5	38.0	2.84	1.342	6.16	4.79	126.9	132.8	0.8
1993	39	0	4	5	1	0	49	24	26	40	6	47.7	4.53	1.573	7.55	4.66	112.7	91.2	0.3
1994	36	0	3	0	1	0	44	22	15	29	6	47.3	4.18	1.246	5.51	4.76	98.3	115.8	0.8

sWAR is the season TOTAL for a player who both hit and pitched: the record book carries one figure per season, not a split, so the same number appears on both lines rather than being counted twice.

Career totals

Batting

1,003

RBI

.1059

OBP

.1461

SLG

.1176

OPS

.2637

Pitching

G (P)

1,002

16th-most career G (P)

124

412th-most career W

107

474th-most career L

310

27th-most career SV

SHO

1,809

SO (P)

1,502

236th-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

732

340th-most career BB allowed

ERA

3.009

177th-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.2319

264th-lowest career WHIP

K/9

7.47

145th-highest career K/9

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	H	2B	RBI	TB
1977-04-16	PIT @ STL Gameday	1	1	1	1	2
1977-06-20	PIT @ SD Gameday	1	1	0	1	1
1977-06-05	CHC @ PIT Gameday	1	1	0	0	1
1977-07-30	PIT @ ATL Gameday	1	1	0	0	1
1977-08-26	PIT @ SD Gameday	1	1	0	0	1

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1976-05-05	CWS @ BAL Gameday	8.0	5	2	0	3	10	0
1976-04-13	CWS @ MIN Gameday	9.0	3	1	1	2	9	0
1976-05-25	CWS @ LAA Gameday	9.0	6	1	1	4	9	0
1976-04-29	MIL @ CWS Gameday	8.0	7	5	5	2	9	1
1976-05-20	MIN @ CWS Gameday	9.0	7	2	2	0	8	0

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

Hall of Fame, 2008 (BBWAA)

9× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.