Gossage Is Suspended for Criticizing Bosses

Relief pitcher Goose Gossage persisted in criticizing his bosses, and the San Diego Padres finally responded Friday by suspending him without pay for the rest of the season.

Ballard Smith, team president, added that if Gossage doesn’t change his ways, he will never again play for the Padres.

“It’s up to him,” Smith said Friday from San Diego. “Under the present circumstances, no (he won’t play in San Diego again).”

Gossage, who had called Smith “spineless and gutless” when the team instituted a clubhouse beer ban in June and had said Tuesday that Smith was worse than New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, said Friday that he will not respect the suspension.

“I think it’s absurd, and Ballard must be under a lot of pressure to do something like this,” Gossage said. “I’m ready, willing and able to go to work, and that’s what I’ll do. I’ll show up for work as usual.”

But Smith, who plans to join the team in Philadelphia Monday, said: “He’s not going to be in the clubhouse or traveling with the team. No, he’s not.”

A trade is possible, although Gossage’s $1.25-million annual contract could be a stumbling block.

Gossage has a 5-7 record and 21 saves in 32 chances.

The other Padre players, meanwhile, may boycott tonight’s doubleheader with the Montreal Expos, sources close to the team said.

Actually, there hasn’t yet been a full team meeting. Friday’s game here was canceled because of a fire at Olympic Stadium, and the players who had been at the stadium early sat down and discussed a boycott. Another meeting is planned before today’s games.

The players’ association is getting involved, too. General counsel Gene Orza said Friday: “First, we have to put out some fires. The players are very, very upset about this, and we’ll talk to them soon. Then, we’ll file a grievance unless Ballard comes to his senses very soon. And after the grievance is filed, we will prevail, because you just don’t censor someone.

“No, this has never happened before in baseball. That’s because we’ve never had a Ballard Smith before. It’s outrageous, ludicrous. (Gossage) is being suspended for criticizing an otherwise distinguished president of a club.

“I mean, Smith maligns Tim Raines one day (Smith had said players who have a drug history, such as Raines, would never be signed by the Padres), and then he suspends a player for criticizing him. He had no reason to malign Raines, and then he responds to mild criticism from a superstar in the middle of a pennant race.”

It has been quite a season for Gossage. At one point, after Gossage had missed a save opportunity, Manager Steve Boros defended him, saying, “Goose is tired.”

Reporters asked Gossage if this were true, and Gossage snapped: “I’m not tired. Who said I was tired?”

He then led a group of reporters into Boros’ office, told Boros that he wasn’t tired and said: “I don’t want anyone making excuses for me. Not even you.”

After the beer ban, Gossage also said of owner Joan Kroc, widow of Ray Kroc, the man who made McDonald’s famous: “She’s poisoning the world with her hamburgers.”

The next day, Smith met with Gossage and told him he was upset over the accusations. They ended up shouting at each other.

“We had a fairly lengthy shouting match,” Smith said. “He knew exactly what I thought about his comments and it was not a pleasant conversation.”

Last week, Smith announced that the Padres would offer just one-year contracts until there was a drug agreement with the players’ association. Gossage objected, and he had another meeting with Smith.

Then on Tuesday, Gossage told a Newsday reporter that he missed the Yankees and that Smith only wants to sign choirboys. “I never sang in choir,” he said. “I didn’t know you had to go to church before you could play baseball. George (Steinbrenner) did some crazy things. He could wear you down. Things could get old there. But this, this is ridiculous.

“(Smith) just listens to what mom (Joan Kroc) says. . . . If we don’t sign some free agents, we’re going to be worse next year than we are now. And who’s going to sign here for a one-year contract . . . with no beer in the clubhouse? No one wants to play for a high school team again. We’re all past that stage.”

When Smith heard those comments, he giggled. But he said he slept two nights on them, saw the quotes in the paper and grew angry. He called Kroc--his mother-in-law, who was on a trip--and told her of his plans to suspend Gossage.

She agreed.

Smith called Barry Rona of the owners’ Player Relations Committee and asked him if the suspension would hold up. Rona told him it would, under Major League Rule 13 (Misconduct and Insubordination), which reads:

“A club may suspend a player for insubordination or other misconduct or for violation by the player of any regulation or other provision of the player’s contract. The club may impose a reasonable fine and deduct the amount thereof from the player’s salary or may suspend the player without salary for a period not exceeding 30 days (Smith didn’t know about the 30-day rule) or both at the discretion of the club. . . . During the period of suspension, the player shall be ineligible to play with any other club.”