Goose Gossage on Bryce Harper: Kid has no respect for baseball

Former MLB pitcher Goose Gossage said Nationals rightfielder Bryce Harper has no respect for baseball.

Former MLB pitcher Goose Gossage told ESPN Chicago radio that Washington Nationals rightfielder Bryce Harper has no respect for baseball.

“What does this kid know? This kid doesn’t know squat about the game, and [has] no respect for it,” Gossage said.

Gossage’s comments come in response to a recently released ESPN The Magazine profile, in which Harper, the reigning National League MVP, calls baseball “a tired sport,” adding that it needs more fun personalities on the field.

“Baseball’s tired,” Harper said in the profile. “It’s a tired sport, because you can’t express yourself. You can’t do what people in other sports do. I’m not saying baseball is, you know, boring or anything like that, but it’s the excitement of the young guys who are coming into the game now who have flair. If that’s Matt Harvey or Jacob deGrom or Manny Machado or Joc Pederson or Andrew McCutchen or Yasiel Puig—there’s so many guys in the game now who are so much fun.

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Harper, a three-time All-Star, batted .330 with 42 home runs and 99 RBIs last season for the Nationals. In his four MLB seasons, he is a career .289 hitter with 97 home runs and 248 RBIs.