When HOFer Goose Gossage revisited his experience of being a penniless rookie during the 1972 MLB Strike

Back in 2014 while discussing the players' strikes, Hall of Famer Goose Gossage talked about how the MLB strikes have affected the player's lives in the past.

He discussed the 1972 lockout that caused a crisis early on in his career when he had relatively little money.

Goose Gossage is regarded as one of the greatest relievers of all time. He started off his career with the Chicago White Sox and went on to play for various teams, including the New York Yankees, where he had his most successful spell. His eight selections to the All-Star team was a record that stood for a relief pitcher until it was broken by another Yankee, Mariano Rivera.

For someone who is one of the few pitchers to have recorded 1,000 games, Goose Gossage never had an official retirement. That was because of the 1994 players' strike that stopped the playoffs and the World Series from taking place that season. Someone who had survived eight lockouts in the past couldn't survive this final one.

Gossage spoke extensively in an interview with Bob Nightangle about how the player lockouts were different in the past. When he started off, players didn't enjoy many priveledges and most of them would be penniless if their work halted.

That happened during the 1972 strikeout, when the former White Sox rookie had to live on the streets.

"I remember getting to Chicago, opening day was the next day, and we went on strike. I was just a kid. I didn't have a credit card. I had no place to stay. No money for a hotel room. I remember going to Joe Pepitone's bar. He bought me some beers, and I wandered the street all night. That's what it was like back in those days,'' Gossage said.

Goose Gossage pondered on what might had been if the 1994 strike didn't take place

The 1994 MLB players' strike brought with itself a plethora of early retirements, something that players didn't even consider back at the time.

Gossage pointed out that things might have been different if the incident never took place:

"It makes you kind of sick to think about everything that could have been,'' said Gossage.

"It wasn't that I wanted to go out on my own terms. I'd rather make an ass of myself try to play another year or two than ever leave the game early. I wanted keep playing this game until they tore my uniform off. The strike tore it off for me.''

Regardless of early retirement, Goose Gossage's name in baseball history will be forever etched in golden ink.