Hall of Famer Gossage rants about MLB commissioner, wants to punch him in nose

Goose Gossage didn’t mess around with any offspeed pitches in his recent interview with USA Today, sticking with heaters directed at MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. 

The Hall of Fame pitcher slammed Manfred in the interview, going as far to say that he wants to punch him in an expletive-filled rant.

“I hate that mother [expletive],’’ Gossage told USA Today. “You know how much I hate him? I called [Hall of Fame chairman] Jane Forbes Clark before the induction last year and said, ’Jane, I don’t know where you stand with this guy, but I may punch Rob Manfred right in the [expletive] nose and spatter his [expletive] nose all over his [expletive] face right in the lobby of your hotel.”

Gossage, who played 22 seasons and is one of the game’s best relief pitchers of all time, made the comment when discussing his issues with the game today as well as the current MLB lockout. The 70-year-old was also unhappy that David Ortiz, who tested positive for performance-enhancing drug use in 2003 via an anonymous drug test, was voted into the Hall of Fame. Gossage said he likely won’t attend the induction ceremony this summer in protest. 

“If we start letting guys in that used steroids, you’re saying it’s OK for our kids to do it then because the stars did it,’’ Gossage said. 

He added that he’s glad Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens weren’t voted in, calling them “phonies.”

“That’s why Congress got involved in the first place because baseball wasn’t policing it. We never should let [Barry] Bonds or [Roger] Clemens in, either. These guys have already been rewarded monetarily. They’re laughing all of the way to the bank on something that enhanced their performance.”

If there’s a silver lining for Manfred, he wasn’t the only one Gossage threatened. The former Yankees reliever also said he wanted to dunk New York owner Brian Cashman in a trash can. 

“I was going to pick him up one day in the clubhouse, and throw him head-first in a trash can. All you would have seen is his feet. And there’s nothing he could have done about it,” Gossage said.

Overall, Gossage is unhappy with the state of baseball — from allowing Ortiz and others into the Hall of Fame to the lockout to the prospect of robot umpires. 

“It breaks my heart to see what has happened to this game,’’ he said. “They tore my heart out and cut it up. … They ruined the game. I can’t even watch a baseball game.”