COOPERSTOWN — Hall of Famer Goose Gossage remains adamant about keeping steroid-stained stars such as Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire out of baseball’s most hallowed halls.
He wants to go one step further.
Gossage would love to see the pre-steroid era home-run records re-established.
Bonds holds both the all-time home run mark with 762 (Hank Aaron is second with 755) and the single-season mark of 73, set in 2001.
Roger Maris, who hit 61 in 1961, was the record holder until the numbers exploded beginning in 1998. That season, McGwire shattered Maris’ mark, hitting 70 home runs.
Maris’ 61 home runs stands seventh on the all-time single-season list behind a combination of Bonds, Maris and Sammy Sosa single-season totals.
“Two of the greatest records were manipulated by steroids, and I think the [pre-steroid era] records need to be reinstated,” Gossage told The Post. “If Bud Selig wants a legacy, he ought to reinstate those records and recognize the damage these guys did to the game.
“If you really want to make a statement, reinstate the records that McGwire and Bonds broke. That would take some guts and I would back the commissioner 100 percent.”
An impassioned Gossage then added, “Why recognize these guys?”
“And then we are going to reward these guys with an election to the Hall of Fame,” the former Yankees closer said. “Are you [expletive] kidding me? If they do that they might as well open up the floodgates and let everything ride. Let them do whatever they want to do and our kids are watching and see that they are rewarded for this.
“What does the tell our kids? That’s the crux of trying to get rid these guys so our kids can come up and try to play this game on a level playing field.”
“Ken Griffey Jr. is the guy who was supposed to break that [home run] record. He didn’t do steroids, I’d bet on my mother’s grave that this guy was as clean as clean can be, and he didn’t make the end of the race,” Gossage said. “He broke down like age breaks you down. You don’t get better the older you get. This game has a way of leaving you behind. You play as long as you can and that’s it.”
“We fade in and we fade out.”
McGwire was 34 when he hit 70 home runs, while Bonds was 36 when he hit 73.
“Bonds has some of his greatest years towards the end of his career,” Gossage noted.
Gossage had nothing but praise for the incoming class of slugger Frank Thomas, pitchers Tom Glavine, Greg Maddox and managers Joe Torre, Bobby Cox and Tony La Russa.
“This is a great group, I’m happy for all those guys,” Gossage said.
What a find: In Joe Torre’s family home, a 1965 All-Star Game autographed baseball recently was found. The only two missing signatures, Torre said, were Hank Aaron’s and Torre’s.
Torre signed the ball and had Aaron sign it at last year’s World Series.