There have been Mets rookies who had a positive effect the moment they took the field, such as Tom Seaver. There were others who took time to develop, like Jose Reyes. But there’s never been a player with the impact of Dwight Gooden. “Doctor K” won the hearts of Mets fans from day one with promise, potential and a God given talent rarely seen on a baseball diamond. As someone who witnessed Doc first hand in his prime, it was hard to fathom that a guy this good, this great, was on our team. On my team.
When Doc took the mound, you didn’t just expect a victory. You expected a shutout. We were all surprised when the opposing team somehow even managed to get a hit off of him, much less a run.
Born in Tampa, FL on November 16, 1964, Gooden was drafted by the Mets in the first round in 1982. After spending just one year in the minors, he debuted on 4/7/84 when he earned his first ‘W’, a 3-2 win in the Astrodome. He allowed just 1 ER and 3 hits while fanning 5 in 5 IP.
For the first time in nearly a decade, the Mets were in a pennant race. We had Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling and Darryl Strawberry for their first full seasons along with a new manager in Davey Johnson. But it was 19 year-old Gooden who was to be the foundation the Mets would build their empire upon.
Doc wasted no time in entering the record books. He was selected to the All-Star team, the youngest player ever, and he delivered by striking out the 3 batters he faced. He broke the record for most K’s in a rookie season set by Herb Score in 1955. By the time the 84 season ended, Doc went 17-9 with a 2.60 ERA. He walked only 73 while striking out 276 batters in just 218 IP. He became the 4th Met to win Rookie of the Year.
As great as Doc was as a rookie, it was nothing compared to1985 when he put together a year of almost mythical proportions. This was not just the best single season in Mets history, but one of the best ever. K’s were hung up in ‘The K Corner’ at Shea every time he sent an opposing batter back to the dugout. Penn Station had a huge mural of Doc that kept a running total of his strikeouts. Gooden went 24-4 that year. In 276 innings he struck out 268 while walking only 69. He also recorded 8 shut-outs. Attendance at Shea rose by 7,500 when Doc started. He won the Pitching Triple Crown leading the NL in wins, strikeouts and ERA. Gooden’s ERA for the season was a miniscule 1.53. Numbers like that had not been seen since The Dead Ball era. Going all the way back to 1915, only 3 pitchers had compiled a lower ERA (Gibson: 1.12 in 1968, Johnson: 1.27 in 1918 and Alexander: 1.22 in 1915.) Doc became the youngest pitcher to ever win the Cy Young Award.
Gooden did have one flaw, one Achilles heel. He never had the ability to hold runners close. Base runners were able to get a bigger than usual lead against Doc. But that was simply due to the fact that throughout his career, base runners were not something he had to frequently deal with.
Doc followed his 85 season with a solid performance in 1986. He went 17-6 with a 2.84 ERA, 200 strikeouts in 250 innings. By the time the 86 season ended, Mets fans were already making plans for a trip to Cooperstown to see one of our own enshrined in Baseball Immortality 25 years down the road. And why not? After just 3 season in the majors, Doc had garnered truly incredible stats. His record was an incomprehensible 58-19, a 2.32 career ERA and he had whiffed 744 batters in 744 2/3 innings. And he was just 21 years old. It seemed very plausible that Gooden, being so talented and so young and on such a powerhouse team as the Mets, could very well wind up with 400 career victories, a mark no one ever thought would be approached again. Even averaging 17 wins for 20 years, both very possible for a pitcher that gifted, would give him 398 wins, 3rd all-time.
The Mets juggernaut would quickly come to a halt, however. Just hours after Jesse’s joyous leap in Game 7, the Mets were honored by the city of New York with a victory parade. Number 16 was obvious in his absence. Although it was reported that Gooden had overslept, it was learned later that he had been out all night on a cocaine binge. Spring Training rolled around and the World Champion Mets were preparing to defend their title. However, Doc was suspended for drug abuse. He did not make his first start of the season until June 5, but still managed to lead the team in wins with 15. This was the beginning of the end. Dwight Gooden had become the poster child for the Dynasty That Never Was.
There has been much speculation over the cause of Gooden’s meteoric decline. Perhaps, it was simple overuse. From 84 to 86, he had tossed 35 complete games. Some have guesstimated that from 83-85, Gooden had fired 11,000 pitches–all before turning 20. Some have pointed a finger at Mets pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre for altering Doc’s delivery in an attempt to prolong his career. He suffered shoulder injuries in 89 and 91. Or, sadly, it could have been the drug abuse.
The arrests piled up quicker than the strikeouts. Gooden was arrested countless times for drug related charges, DWI, driving on a suspended license as well as assault on his girlfriend and even rape (though the rape charge was dropped.) In 1995, Gooden was suspended for drug abuse yet again and would miss the entire season. The next day his girlfriend found him in the bedroom with a loaded gun to his head.
In the summer of 2006, the Mets seemed to be on the verge of another Championship. The 06 club was similar in many ways to the 86 club. That summer, many of the heroes of 86 returned to Shea. Doc Gooden was a no show. As the Mets rolled over the National League, much like they did 2 decades earlier, Doc was spending that summer sitting in a prison in Florida for probation violation
In the midst of injuries, arrests and rehabbing, Doc would pitch until 2000 for the Yankees, Astros, Indians and Devil Rays. He retired after being cut by the Yankees in 2001 at age 36. He ended up winning 194 games while losing 112. More than half of his victories came before the age of 25.
