Gossage came off a stellar season in the pen to put in a season as a starter that would be chalked up as forgettable at best. That season put him back in the pen.
Over his 11 season peak, that 1 season starting he put up a 3.94 ERA and 1.36 WHIP. The other 10 relief seasons were all great.
This is also an era where a "closer" being asked to work 1.something innings rather than just 1 inning or rarely 1.1 or more IP.
The entire role of a "closer" wildly changed from it's emergence in the late 70s, to the early/mid 80s, to what we've been doing with the role the past 40-ish years.
Though it's relatively new, we've been doing it long enough that career longevity is a thing. The pickings of those who got a full career out of it and doing with consistent greatness is still thin over this past 40 years. We've had lots of greats, and very few greats with an entire career to show for it.
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