Name: Goose Gossage
Position: P – Closer
Team: NY Yankees
Age: 57 years old
Best Season: 1981 when he went 3-2/20 saves/0.77 ERA/ 0.77 WHIP in a strike shortened season. He was 9th in MVP voting and 5th in Cy Young voting.
Set it’s from: 2002 Topps Finest
How obtained: eBay auction
Why this Card?: One of my favorite players growing up, I had to have this autograph, especially on the year he went into the Hall of Fame. I got it for a song on eBay just before the results of the voting for the Hall of Fame were done. He was as dominant as any closer of that generation. He was an automatic win when he came in. Don’t forget he was pitching 2-3 innings per appearance back then. His 310 saves put him 18th overall in career saves. I always thought he was a classy guy and have gotten a few in person autographs from him. Also check out the signature, how sweet is that? Obviously someone who really worked on his autograph over the years and took pride in making it look good. Plus the card just looks fantastic, I wish all signature cards were like this. The autograph is on the card and looks great.
But What About the Set?: 2002 Finest is a high quality but expensive set. The boxes on eBay will run you about $140. Each box will yield a PSA graded rookie card, 2 autographed cards and 3 relic cards, plus a sequentially numbered rookie card. These are tough to find but they are out there. Obviously there are some solid signatures in there.
Beckett’s Value: $25.00
eBay Value: I got it for $2.75
Nice pick-up for 1/20th. of a Lance Allworth!
Gossage does a TON of appearances. And anytime I’ve seen him, he has always been pleasant. It really changed my view of him. I didn’t like him as a player (because he was always on teams I hated).
Very nice for only $2.75…If he was shown in a Padres uniform, I probably would have tried to bid.