Padre Players Don’t Boycott but Ask for Gossage’s Reinstatement

MONTREAL â€”  San Diego players decided not to boycott Saturday’s doubleheader with the Montreal Expos and instead asked the Padre front office to “reinstate Rich Gossage immediately.â€�

Meanwhile, Gossage, who had continually criticized his bosses this season and who Friday was suspended without pay for the remainder of the season, will meet with team President Ballard Smith Monday in San Diego. “My goal is to play again this year,� Gossage said.

But Smith asked that Gossage make a public apology for his unkind words about owner Joan Kroc, whose late husband, Ray Kroc, had founded the McDonald’s food chain. (“She’s poisoning the world with her hamburgers,� Gossage had said of Kroc).

Gene Orza, general counsel of the Major League Players Assn., said of the situation: “I will want to talk to Jerry Kapstein (Gossage’s agent) after Monday’s meeting. But I don’t see a situation where our grievance can be avoided unless he (Smith) reinstates him without loss of pay. But I’m not too sanguine about Ballard reinstating him on Monday because (Smith is) the type of person that gets his feet set in concrete. We’ll file a grievance and ask for an expedited decision.

“I just feel fairly certain Ballard will take the position that the suspension stands. And we’ll fight it. He (Gossage) will get his full pay for the balance of the season.�

Gossage originally had planned to ignore the suspension and show up to play ball Saturday, but Orza told him Friday night that “there’s no sense in causing a confrontation.� So Gossage stayed behind at the hotel while his teammates held a 40-minute meeting in the clubhouse training room at Olympic Stadium.

Pitcher Dave Dravecky, the Padres’ player representative, emerged and read a statement that said in part:

“Yesterday (Friday), in an unprecedented action, the organization suspended Rich Gossage because Rich said what he believes. Some of us may not agree with what Rich said. Some of us may agree with this, but not the way he said it.

“But all of us agree that he has the right to say what he believes, particularly when baseball virtually demands that players make themselves available to the press and answer its questions and particularly when the comments are offered only in response to what previously has been said and done by the club. . . .

“We call upon the organization to reinstate Rich Gossage immediately.�

First baseman Steve Garvey said: “Obviously, the biggest concern is the abuse of the First Amendment right of free speech. That’s the prime focus of this incident. Our concern is with freedom of speech. This could be a precedent-setting situation. . . . Obviously, this is quite a serious situation. His (Gossage’s) rights have been taken away.�