Story by Clark Spencer

This is the story of an obscure big-league baseball journeyman from a half-century ago and the Preakness Stakes (G1) horse that bears his name.

Jim Gosger is the former ballplayer, now an 82-year-old Michigan man who bounced around the Majors in the ‘60s and ‘70s with six different clubs, was the last batter to face pitching immortal Satchel Paige, and who was once declared dead by the New York Mets.

Gosger the horse is a gray colt named for the largely forgotten player, the result of a random Facebook connection with Donna Clarke, a lifelong Mets fan whose family bred and owns the Preakness contender.

“It’s amazing,” Gosger said. “I’m so darn excited about something like this. I had a good career playing ball. I was very fortunate. But this ranks right up at the top.”

Only die-hard baseball fans of a certain age might remember Gosger, a mostly part-time outfielder who hit just .226 over a career spent with the Boston Red Sox, Kansas City and Oakland A’s, Seattle Pilots and Montreal Expos – and, of course, the Mets – from 1963-74.

How the lightly raced contender in a Triple Crown race came to be named for a former Major Leaguer unknown to most is a bloom of happenstance that even Gosger finds hard to believe.

“He gets teary-eyed when we talk about it,” Clarke said. “He gets choked up when I talk to him about this.”

Gosger’s baseball career was nothing extraordinary.

Born and raised in Port Huron, Mich., where Gosger’s father taught him to throw and catch a baseball in the front yard of their family home – the same home where he continues to live – simply reaching the majors was an achievement.

Gosger broke in with the Red Sox in 1963, was traded several times, and managed to stick around for 10 seasons. While playing for the Red Sox in 1965, he became the answer to a trivia question when he became the last batter to face Paige.

At age 59, Paige was brought out of retirement by Kansas City A’s owner Charlie Finley as part of a publicity stunt to draw fans. Though he hadn’t pitched in 12 years, Paige somehow managed to deliver three scoreless innings, holding the Red Sox to one hit – a Carl Yastrzemski double.

 “I was the last man to bat off him,” Gosger recalled. “I grounded out, and as I was running by him to grab my glove, he grabbed my arm and it scared the [heck] out of me. He looked at me and said, ‘Good luck, young man.’ And that’s something I will never forget.”

Gosger eventually found his way to the Mets toward the end of the 1969 season and was used primarily as a late-inning defensive replacement. He batted just 15 times and was left off the postseason roster by manager Gil Hodges.

“I said, ‘Gil, that’s fine. I had nothing but five weeks of nothing but pure pleasure,’” Gosger said.

The “Miracle Mets” went on to win the World Series and Gosger received a $100 check – his Series share.

“I signed the check and sent it back to Ed Kranepool, who was the player representative,” Gosger said. “I said, ‘Keep this and buy yourself a case of beer.’”

What most angered Gosger – and continues to upset him to this day – is that he wasn’t given a World Series ring.

“It’s something that I always wanted,” he said.

Then came one final insult. In 2019, the Mets celebrated the 50^th anniversary of their 1969 championship and invited back the surviving members of that team. Gosger didn’t attend, but found out later that his name was among those displayed in a “We Remember” video on the ballpark scoreboard tribute to those no longer living.

“They declared me dead, honest to God,” Gosger said.

A team official called him later that night to apologize.

“I said, ‘[Expletive] you and hung up,” Gosger said.

Gosger played the 1973 and 1974 seasons for the Mets, retired, and returned to Port Huron.

The story would have ended there if not for Clarke, whose late husband – Harvey Clarke – ran the family’s Thoroughbred operation.

Donna Clarke grew up a huge fan of the Mets.

“I was 9 years old in 1969 and I had a big crush on Ken Boswell,” she said of the Mets’ second baseman that season.

When it came time to name the colt racing in Saturday’s Preakness, Scott Clarke thought he would surprise his mother by naming it Boswell. But that name had been taken, and they had to think of a new one.

Donna Clarke had discovered Gosger on Facebook a few years earlier. They friended each other and began corresponding.

“He actually answers things,” Clarke said. “So I told my son, ‘I’m Facebook friends with the nicest guy in baseball. Let’s name him Gosger because this man is just so nice, just your regular Joe.’”

Gosger the horse didn’t win his first race until Feb. 15 at Gulfstream Park. But after winning the Lexington Stakes (G3) last month by two lengths, the decision was made to run him in the Preakness. When Donna Clarke called Gosger to inform him of the decision, he was ecstatic.

“She contacted me a few days ago and said, ‘Guess what? He’s in,’” Gosger said. “I said, ‘You’re kidding!’ I was so excited about it.”

She invited Gosger to travel to Baltimore to watch Saturday’s race in person. But he declined, saying he needed to remain in Michigan to care for his six pets (five cats and a dog) and has trouble getting around due to two hip surgeries. He will watch the race from home, along with about 10 friends and neighbors. “I won’t be doing much jumping up and down because my hip is really bad,” Gosger said. “But I’ll be screaming.”