Thrill of MLB All-Star Game Was ‘Out of Body Experience’ for Hall of Famer Gossage

Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Rich “Goose” Gossage isn’t shy about sharing his emotions when it comes to discussing being selected for nine MLB All-Star Games.

In less than two months, one of MLB’s “crown jewel” events of the season will take place at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park. The Midsummer Classic—the 2026 All-Star Game—returns to “The City of Brotherly Love” for the fifth time in the National League franchise’s history.

Fifty years ago, baseball’s best were showcased during America’s Bicentennial in 1976. Fast-forward to this season and America’s celebrating her Semiquincentennial birthday, and it is fitting that the All-Star Game returns to where the U.S. Constitution was ratified 250 years ago.

On July 13, 1976, at the then 5-year-old Veterans Stadium, the All-Star Game roster of coaches, players, and a manager had 16 in uniform that day who would become permanent residents of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown.

Rich “Goose” Gossage, who would be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008, was then in the midst of his fifth season pitching for the Chicago White Sox, and the lone representative for the ball club. Still shifting from a starter’s role and relieving for Chicago’s skipper Paul Richards, Gossage was surprised that his name was added to the All-Star roll call.

“I couldn’t believe that I made it as a reliever,” Gossage told The Epoch Times on Tuesday from his home in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

“Being selected for a second All-Star Game was totally overwhelming. I guess the American League needed a rep from the White Sox and I was it. Believe it or not, I got more nervous being in an All-Star Game than I did playing in a World Series. The whole experience being around the game’s best players was like an out of body experience.”

For Gossage, spending a few days away from Chicago’s regular season woes in the summer of 1976 in Philadelphia couldn’t come at a better time. At a time when MLB had only two divisions, East and West, the White Sox would finish the season 64–97: dead last in the six-team Western Division. So, the young hurler declared, he was left starstruck just being in the presence of Rod Carew of the Twins, Carlton Fisk from the Red Sox, and “Catfish” Hunter representing the Oakland A’s. The greats of the American League who were regularly opponents would be his teammates for a couple days.

“Just being in the same clubhouse as those guys was intimidating. I was scared to death. Back then, there was a lot of pressure to win it. There was no interleague play. We only saw some of the National League teams during spring training and in the World Series. I can honestly say, we [American League players] hated them, and they [National League players] hated us. There was a rivalry there.”

One moment prior to the 47th MLB All-Star Game that still resonates clearly with Gossage is when he met President Gerald Ford, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch before a crowd of 63,974. His picture snapped with the 38th president is a keepsake from the 1976 MLB All-Star Game that Gossage treasures. Although he wasn’t one of the four pitchers Boston’s manager Darrell Johnson called on in the game, Gossage recalls sitting in the bullpen by the first inning.

“I don’t know how the other players felt, but for me being in an All-Star Game was like a 10-year-old kid going to Disney World, and waiting on line for his favorite ride that’s going to last for a few minutes. Well, that ride for me lasted 22 seasons, including my nine all-star appearances,” Gossage says, who last pitched for the Seattle Mariners in 1994.

With the 96th MLB All-Star game coming up, just as Gossage was impressed watching the sport’s best of the best together for one game 50 years ago in Philadelphia, today’s participants and fans will no doubt feel similar. Probable players like Munetaka Murakami from the White Sox, Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers, Brandon Lowe from the Pirates, and hometown Phillies Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber have all the tools to give the stadium crowd and the FOX viewing audience a night to remember. One star will stand out among the pack, and an MVP will be chosen for the game.

Gossage recalls that Mark “The Bird” Fidrych was the losing pitcher for the American League in the 1976 game. The rookie Detroit Tiger hurler had a charm about him that to this day brings a smile to the Hall of Famer’s voice.

“He [Fidrych] was a character. I got to know Mark pretty well when we made appearances together. What a genuine, beautiful person he was. Baseball today needs characters like Mark. The way he was on the mound, man, the crowds loved him.”

Last year’s All-Star Game in Atlanta saw the National League eke out a 7–6 win over their rival American League opponents. The American League holds a 48–45–2 advantage in All-Star Game play.