Brush with greatness: Eric Gagne

Eric Gagne is the only Dodger player I have interviewed, or at least the only one who was a member of the Dodgers at the time of the interview. And it was quite the crazy scene, from what I recall.

It was August of 2002. The Dodgers were in Montreal for a three-game series. I had tickets to the second game. But I went up for the first game because Gagne has relatives who live in the coverage area of our newspaper, and I thought it would make a good story. So, the first game was business, the second game pleasure. This was Gagne's first year as L.A.'s closer and he was a sensation, piling up saves at a record pace. He had 39 saves at the time, and there was talk of him breaking Bobby Thigpen's record of 57 in 1990 (K-Rod, of course, broke that last year).

Gagne's arrival in Montreal was a big event. Gagne is a native of a town just north of Montreal, and this was just his second appearance in Montreal since he became a major league pitcher. And with all the fanfare over his success, this was a lot bigger deal than his first appearance. The Expos couldn't bribe people to come to their games by that point, so the fact that they averaged 13,000 fans for the three-game series (a huge attendance jump for the team then) could be attributed directly to Gagne.

I was on the field at Olympic Stadium with a bunch of other reporters, waiting for Gagne to speak after pregame workouts. It was a collection of reporters like I've never seen. There were some writers from the U.S., lots of English-speaking Canadian writers and broadcasters, and a ton of French-Canadian writers and broadcasters. When Gagne finally showed up to speak, it was an odd 20 minutes. He would switch between talking in English and French. The French-Canadian press would get annoyed if Gagne spoke too long in English, pleading "en francais!," and Gagne would switch immediately into French. I didn't understand half of what he said. And I was lucky to get in a couple of questions about his family.

Gagne was accommodating and professional. You could see he had come a long way from the kid who couldn't speak any English (if you've read any stories about Gagne's progression from Montreal to Los Angeles, you've come across the tale of Gagne playing ball at a junior college in Oklahoma. He didn't know a word of English and learned the language by watching American sitcoms and the hockey movie classic, "Slapshot," over and over). You could see Gagne's proud dad walking over by home plate, wearing a Gagne Dodgers "Game Over" jersey and fielding a couple of interview requests.

Gagne didn't do too well that first game in Montreal, giving up a home run to Troy O'Leary in the eighth inning and getting the loss. But he saved the next game that I went to, a 5-2 Dodgers win, and he saved the final game, a 1-0 victory.

I always got the feeling that Gagne put too much pressure on himself. You could tell from that series and throughout his career that he is super competitive. I think that's the reason he didn't do very well as a starter. He'd have a bad inning in the fourth or fifth and just fall apart. I think that's why he blew the All-Star Game in 2003, because he tried to overpower Hank Blalock instead of pitch to him, and Blalock took him out for a two-run homer.

I also think that may have led him to being named in the Mitchell Report. He's never talked specifically about it (he issued a vague apology a year or so ago). But he fits the model of a lot of players that were listed on that report -- players who have struggled with injuries or struggled to make their mark, desperate for a way to hold on to their career (I think people like Bonds and McGwire are sort of the exception when it comes to players who are suspected of juicing). I even said in my story, years before the Mitchell Report came out, "Gagne, 6-foot-2, has bulked up from a listed 195 pounds in 2001 to 230 this season."

I felt for his aunt and uncle, when I heard that Gagne was on the list. I talked to both of them, and they are nice, humble French-Canadians and proud of their nephew.

Gagne was the most dominant closer I have ever seen pitch for the Dodgers. Maybe the most dominant I have seen for any team when you take his 2003 Cy Young season into account. Even after his pitching fell apart and bounced from team to team, I still rooted for him. He has had a lot of struggles in his career, starting with learning a completely new language. Yes, being a Mitchell Report guy is not good. I probably should dislike him for that. But somehow, knowing what I do, I still can't root against him.