Gossage Suspended Rest of Season for Criticizing Bosses

Pitcher Goose Gossage continually criticized his bosses, and the San Diego Padres finally responded Friday by suspending him without pay for the remainder of the season.

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

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

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

Calmly leaning against a wall in the team hotel here, Gossage said: “I think it’s absurd, and Ballard must be under a lot of pressure to do something like this. 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 not out of the question, though Gossage’s $1.25 million annual contract could be a stumbling block. Smith said: “It (a trade) depends if we can find somebody that will take him and give us something in return. I’ll tell you, they’re not standing in line. A lot of clubs say they have no interest at all.”

The Padre players, meanwhile, might boycott tonight’s doubleheader with the Montreal Expos, a source close to the team said.

Few players would comment for the record, but the source said: “Upon disclosure of the club’s action, the team discussed the possibility of not playing in the weekend’s games.”

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 (about 18) who were at the stadium early sat down and discussed a boycott. Another meeting is planned before today’s games.

“We will be discussing this entire situation tomorrow (Saturday),” said Dave Dravecky, team player representative. “Today, we discussed what was done with Goose, the reasons why and informed the players that they had every opportunity to discuss the situation with Ballard. All the meeting was for was to inform them. Right now, we have come up with no conclusions.”

The Major League Players Assn. is getting involved, too. General Counsel Gene Orza said: “First, we have to put out some fires. The players are very, very upset about this, and we’ll talk to them soon (via telephone). 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. He (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, like 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. Who does he think he is? He’s only the president of a baseball club, not president of Yale. Ego? He has an ego. It’s one thing to have an ego, but to have a small mind with it?”

Yet, the real question here is whether a team has the right to suspend a player for criticism or for what the Padres call “insubordination.”

Gossage has been unruly this year. Earlier in the season--after Gossage blew a save opportunity--Manager Steve Boros defended him, saying: “Goose is tired.” Members of the media asked Gossage if this were true, and Gossage snapped: “I’m not tired. Who said I was tired?” Gossage then led a group of writers into Boros’ office, told Boros he wasn’t tired and said: “I don’t want anyone making excuses for me. Not even you (Boros).”

After the beer ban, Gossage not only criticized Smith, but said of owner Joan Kroc--whose late husband is Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s--”She’s poisoning the world with her hamburgers.”

The next day, Smith met with Gossage, told him he was upset over the accusations and 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.”

Then, just last week, Smith said that from now on he would offer only one-year contracts and that it would stay that way until there was a drug agreement with the players’ association. Gossage objected and he had another meeting with Smith.

Nonetheless, 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. 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,” Gossage said. “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 first heard those comments, he laughed. But he said he slept two nights on it, 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.

“Wholeheartedly,” Smith said. “And I think he should apologize publicly to her, but that (his comments about Kroc) is not our reason for doing this. It’s just part of the overall picture.”

Smith also called Barry Rona of the 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 said hedid not 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.”

There’s more: “A player suspended by a club or league for a period longer than 10 days shall have the right of appeal through the commissioner, who is given authority to order his reinstatement and afford adequate redress if he holds that the punishment is obsessive or not merited.”

Orza said Friday that “Rule 13” won’t stand up. First, he said major leauge rules are subject to the basic agreement and because Rule 13 isn’t consistent with the basic agreement, it “doesn’t apply.”

Orza said: “Listen, he (Gossage) just exercised his First Amendment right to be critical. He hasn’t shown insubordination. He commented upon something in the public domain. To do what the Padres did is absolute poppycock.”

Smith had not yet spoken with Gossage--as of early Friday evening. Instead, he had Boros go to Gossage’s room in the afternoon and inform him of the suspension.

“He (Gossage) was surprised first, and then upset, which is understandable,” Boros said. “Yes, he was upset. I spent maybe 10 minutes talking to him . . . basically as a sounding board.”

Smith’s secretary, Jane Norberg, also called Gossage to read to him what the Padres were releasing to the media. Gossage and one of his agents, Bob Teef, called Smith’s office for a personal explanation but Smith was out.

Smith said later: “I really have nothing to say to him. I don’t feel I created this situation. I felt (that) for the morale of the club--from top to bottom--I had to do something. Take a step back and think if you were running a company, would you take comments like that from an employee? You can’t take it. I’ve had numerous conversations with him, but there’s no indication he’ll change. He may think he can say what he wants, but he’s not gonna say what he wants and be on this ballclub.

“See, we have a total philosophical difference. He happens to be right about our philosophy (Gossage has said the Padres don’t want to win at all costs). He doesn’t agree with it, and that’s unfortunate. No, I do not believe in winning at any cost. We’re talking about a game here. It’s just a game. And whether Rich Gossage wants to accept it or not, he is a role model in the community. And winning at all costs is not our message. We’ll win under the rules.

“He keeps saying we don’t care about winning. Well, that’s crazy. Why would someone running a club not want to win? We’ve been in the planning stages for several months. We have plans for next year. We want to win, but do it in an atmosphere that makes the family want to come to the ballpark. This (Gossage’s negative remarks) has been going on a long time, and it’s not going on any longer.”

The Padres are acting swiftly. Boros said Lance McCullers is “our new stopper in the bullpen. I’ve talked to him about it already. Starting tomorrow (Saturday), you’ll see him in the eighth and ninth innings to save our games.”

Gossage, meanwhile, refused to assail Smith Friday. He was pleasant. Players surrounded him in the hotel lobby. Steve Garvey put his arm around him. Reliever Gene Walter said: “How can I survive in the bullpen without you?”

And Graig Nettles, a longtime friend, said: “C’mon, Goose. Let’s get a drink.”

Gossage, though, had one more thing to say: “I guess if it (a suspension) can happen to me, it can happen to anybody.”

He and Nettles left.

Padre Notes Tonight’s pitching matchups: LaMarr Hoyt (7-8) and Andy Hawkins (9-8) vs. Bob Sebra (3-2) and Bryn Smith (8-8). . . . Manager Steve Boros said a minor league relief pitcher will be called up to replace the suspended Goose Gossage on Monday--when the team is allowed to increase its roster to 40 players. . . . Pitcher Eric Show, on the disabled list with an injured elbow, did not make the trip. But Show said the injury won’t prevent him from portraying Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson in a forthcoming movie because filming won’t being until the fall, 1987. “I still haven’t taken acting lessons yet,” Show said. . . . Padre President Ballard Smith and his wife, Linda, were host to a fund-raiser last Saturday for a San Diego school for autistic children. Steve Garvey missed the Monkees concert that day to attend and showed up wearing pink tennis shoes with his white ducks.