Dwight Gooden

Dwight Gooden (born November 16, 1964, Tampa, Florida, U.S.) was a phenomenal right-handed pitcher who helped rejuvenate the New York Mets in the 1980s and lead the team to the World Series championship in 1986. Fans and players alike marveled at Gooden’s array of powerful pitches and his pinpoint accuracy. His career, however, was plagued by substance use.

Gooden was the youngest child born to Ella Mae Gooden, who worked at a nursing home, and Dan Gooden, who worked for a global food company, coached youth baseball, and played semipro baseball. The family lived in Tampa, Florida. Dan Gooden passed his passion for baseball to his youngest son, whom he began taking to games at age three and who learned to throw a curve ball when he was seven years old. By the time he was 14 years old, Dwight Gooden was so superior to his contemporaries that a local writer nicknamed him Doc after Julius Erving, explaining that “what Dr. J is to basketball, Dwight Gooden is to baseball.” Gooden graduated from Hillsborough High School in 1982. Having been scouted by the Mets, the Cincinnati Reds, and the Chicago Cubs, he was the Mets’ first-round pick (and the fifth player chosen overall) in the 1982 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft and signed a $40,000 contract with a $85,000 signing bonus.

In 1984, after playing one and a half seasons in the minor leagues, Gooden exploded into the majors with a stunning rookie-year performance. His average of 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings shattered the previous major-league record for rookies of 10.71, and his 32 strikeouts in two consecutive games tied a National League (NL) record. His nickname became Dr. K (K is the baseball scorecard symbol for strikeout). Gooden’s win–loss record was 17–9, and he compiled a 2.60 earned run average (ERA) that ranked second in the majors. He also made the first of several appearances in the All-Star Game and by season’s end had been voted NL Rookie of the Year. Moreover, he led the NL with a rookie record 276 strikeouts.

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In 1985 Gooden had one of the most impressive seasons ever for a major league pitcher. He led both leagues with a 1.53 ERA, 268 strikeouts, and 24 wins (against 4 defeats). He won 18 of his last 19 outings, and he became the youngest pitcher to win 20 games in a season as well as the youngest to win the Cy Young Award.

With a 17–6 record in 1986, Gooden was the star pitcher on the Mets’ NL championship team, which advanced to defeat the Boston Red Sox in the World Series four games to three. But by the early 1990s Gooden’s career had begun to decline. In 1992 he suffered his first losing season, earning 10 wins against 13 defeats. Two more losing seasons followed. In 1994 he was suspended from the major leagues for drug use and was let go by the Mets. He was banned from playing baseball in the majors for the entire 1995 season for repeatedly violating the league’s drug policies.

After this enforced hiatus, Gooden signed a two-year deal with the New York Yankees in February 1996. After a rough season start, he pitched the only no-hitter of his career in a game against the Seattle Mariners on May 14. This capped a remarkable comeback for Gooden, but by August he was beginning to tire. He was left off the Yankees’ postseason roster, and he did not play when the Yankees won the 1996 World Series. He left the Yankees after the 1997 season and, in a move that took him out of New York for the first time in his major league career, signed a contract with the Cleveland Indians (now Guardians), for whom he pitched in 1998–99. He retired from playing baseball after spending the 2000 season with the Houston Astros, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (now Rays), and the Yankees.

Although Gooden continued to struggle with drug and alcohol addictions after his retirement, he received accolades for his playing career. In 2010 the Mets inducted him into their Hall of Fame, along with three others who contributed to the club’s 1986 World Series title. In 2023 Gooden was also inducted into the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Hall of Game, as were four other legendary Black pitchers: Vida Blue, Al Downing, Mike Norris, and Dontrelle Willis. That year the Mets announced that the team would retire Gooden’s number, 16, during the 2024 season.

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