Word has come this week that Eric Gagne has officially decided to call it a career. The former Cy Young Award winner tried one last gasp to stay in the majors, but the Dodgers had no room for him after Spring Training.
While this news was pretty much a given since his release, it still got me thinking about Gagne’s career. One question keeps running through my head: How should he be remembered? On one hand, he was the man who in many ways single-handedly brought excitement back to Dodger Stadium from 2002-2004. On the other, there’s the Mitchell Report, and the subsequent nosedive his career took after the injuries starting piling up in 2005.
There’s no denying just how important he was to the Dodgers’ franchise during that three-year window of 2002-2004. The old days of Dodger fans “coming late and leaving early” was at least slashed in half to “coming late and staying for Gagne.” That was no easy task!
Let’s remember just what type of team the Dodgers were back in 2002. At the time, they hadn’t even won a playoff game since finishing off the Oakland A’s in the 1988 World Series. Heck, they hadn’t even been to the playoffs since getting swept by the Atlanta Braves in the 1996 NLDS.
Tommy Lasorda had been retired for six years, Mike Piazza was long gone, Gary Sheffield whined his way out of town, the Kevin Brown megadeal was a disaster, and the buzz surrounding Hideo Nomo had fizzled out. The franchise was desperate for a winning formula, and a reason to make fans not only come, but stay.
Enter Eric Gagne. Not only did he make his presence felt, but he became a larger-than-life character. What other franchise would have the confidence (or arrogance, depending on your view) to blast “Welcome to the Jungle” while flashing “Game Over” on the video board if they couldn’t back it up? The Dodgers did, and Gagne made them look good.
With Gagne in full effect, he helped lead the Dodgers up the standings by a spot each year, eventually helping them get their first playoff win in 2004 (the Jose Lima game against the Cardinals in the NLDS). Perhaps most impressively, Gagne not only accepted, but thrived in the late-game role. He built his reputation as a clutch player, and he lived up to it each time he took the mound.
So there’s the good part about Gagne’s career. I wish I could go on and on about how he became the all-time saves leader, a hall of famer, and lead the Dodgers in saves for years to come. Unfortunately, reality stepped in, and it was all downhill after the 2004 season.
How exactly did his career tank so fast? Well, many theories exist. What we do know is this: he had Tommy John surgery in 2005, back surgery in 2006, and surfaced in the Mitchell Report in 2007.
It took until February of this year, but Gagne finally admitted to taking HGH. But, he claims it was to help him get over knee problems, and never said anything about helping him get stronger. For those of you that remember, Gagne was one of the bigger players in the league, and that wasn’t the case when he first started pitching in ’99. Coincidence? It’s hard not to think that way.
And that’s the problem with being one of the main players linked to the Mitchell Report. We may not know what to believe, but if pressed, we think guilt first and innocence later. Had Gagne not been so incredibly good during his heyday, we might take his word for it. But it’s only natural for people to think that his career is tainted.
How will I remember Gagne? Unfortunately, as another sad case of a baseball star from the “Steroid Era” who has too many question marks to believe in. Don’t get me wrong – I’ll never forget all of the fun and big moments he brought Dodger fans.
It’s such a shame that in the end, those question marks have forever ruined his reputation.
