Mets Card of the Week: 1967 Greg Goossen

1967 TOPPS GREG GOOSSEN

Back in the 1970s, when I collected cards with my brother Gary and things weren’t as immediately available as they are now, we were looking for a Tom Seaver rookie card. The checklists of the day wouldn’t list who was on the card; it would just say Mets Rookies. We found the listing for the 1967 Mets Rookies and ordered card #287. When it was delivered, it didn’t have Seaver. Instead, it was this Greg Goossen–Bart Shirley card. At the time we thought that Topps just didn’t print a Seaver rookie card, which wasn’t an unreasonable assumption on our part. Somehow, we both missed card #581. It was an expensive mistake to rectify later.

Goossen was a funny name, so it wasn’t a complete loss. And, if memory serves, in The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book – whoever has my copy please return it! – there was an entry that said Casey Stengel was talking about two young Mets prospects and that in 10 years, he thought Ed Kranepool had a chance to be a star and in 10 years Goossen had a chance to be 30.

Whether it was that book or read somewhere else, it couldn’t have been said like that. I’ve seen the quote elsewhere with the ages for Goossen to be 19 and 29. Regardless, it seems that Stengel did indeed diss Goossen in this way.

The other thing about Goossen that stands out is that the Mets shipped him to the Seattle Pilots, where he was a teammate with Jim Bouton and made appearances in Bouton’s Ball Four. Bouton tells the story about when they were both in the minor leagues on opposite teams. Goossen was behind the plate and the batter attempted a sacrifice bunt. Goossen came out yelling “first base, first base,” but the pitcher instead tried to get the lead runner at second and failed. Goossen was left shaking his head.

From the dugout, Bouton witnessed this and yelled out, “Goose, he had to consider the source!”

Years later, when they were teammates with the Pilots, Goossen went up to Bouton and said, “Consider the source?!?”

After a brief career in the majors, Goossen had a career in the movies, with his biggest role being the stunt double for Gene Hackman in several movies. While it may not be as glorious as Gabe Kaplan’s career – standup comic, Welcome Back Kotter, Fast Break, Battle of the Network Stars and professional poker player/commentator – a career in MLB and movies is pretty good.

Still, my guess is that he would have preferred to be on the 1967 rookie card with Seaver.