Dwight Eugene Gooden, nicknamed “Doc” or “Dr. K”, was born November 16, 1964 in Tampa, Florida.
Gooden’s career must be thought of as a “what could have been” story. When he was just 25 years old, he had won 100 games, and had his eyes set not on the 300-mark, but 400. Unfortunately, his bouts with substance abuse ruined what would have been a Cooperstown career, and by the mid-1990s, he was battling just to stay in organized baseball.
Welcome to the Baseball History Podcast: Featuring This Week in Baseball History, baseball dictionary and a tour of baseball cities. I’m your game announcer Bob Wright.
This is game 34 of the 2010 baseball season
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 3 week of August.
August 20
1985 Mets’ phenom Doc Gooden strikes out 16 Giants in a 3-0 victory over San Francisco becoming the first National League pitcher to strike out 200 or more batters in each of his first two seasons.
Dwight Eugene Gooden, nicknamed “Doc” or “Dr. K”, was born November 16, 1964 in Tampa, Florida.
Gooden’s career must be thought of as a “what could have been” story. When he was just 25 years old, he had won 100 games, and had his eyes set not on the 300-mark, but 400. Unfortunately, his bouts with substance abuse ruined what would have been a Cooperstown career, and by the mid-1990s, he was battling just to stay in organized baseball.
He was dubbed “Dr. K,” in reference to the letter “K” being the standard abbreviation for strikeout. It soon became shortened to “Doc”.
Gooden was drafted in the first round in 1982, the fifth player taken overall. He spent one season in the minors, in which he led the Class-A Carolina League in wins, strikeouts and Earned Run Average. He also had 300 strikeouts in 191 innings, a performance which convinced his manager, future Mets skipper Davey Johnson, that he was capable of making the unusual leap to the majors.
Gooden made his major-league debut on April 7, 1984 with the New York Mets at the age of 19. He quickly developed a reputation with his 98 Mile Per Hour fastball and sweeping curveball.
He went on to set a major league rookie record with 276 strikeouts in only 218 innings. He tied the major league mark for strikeouts in two consecutive games, with 32 in starts on September 12 and 17, which, combined with his September 7 start, gave him a record 43 in three straight games. Going 17-9 with a 2.60 Earned Run Average, he instantly became the Mets’ ace and made them overnight contenders.
He was the youngest All-Star ever, and he and Fernando Valenzuela combined to strike out six consecutive batters, between them breaking Carl Hubbell’s record.
In 1985, Gooden pitched one of the most statistically dominating single seasons in baseball history. Leading the league with 24 wins, 268 strikeouts, and a 1.53 Earned Run Average earned Gooden his league’s pitching Triple Crown. He led the National League in complete games with 16 and innings pitched. From his second start onward, Gooden’s Earned Run Average never rose above 2.00.
Even in the eleven games when Gooden didn’t earn a win, he was still dominant. In September, he pitched back-to-back 9-inning shutouts, but received no-decisions in both games. In his four losses, Gooden allowed 26 hits and 5 walks in 28 innings, with 28 strikeouts and a 2.89 Earned Run Average.
His rising fastball and snapping curve dominated National League hitters. Curveballs are referred to by some ballplayers as “Uncle Charley,” but Gooden’s was called “Lord Charles.”
An enormous photograph of Gooden in mid-motion that recorded his season’s strikeout totals as the year progressed greeted travelers descending the steps of the side entrance to Manhattan’s Pennsylvania Station. Likewise, those strolling the street’s of Manhattan’s West Side could gaze up at a multi-story Sports Illustrated mural of Gooden painted on the side of a midtown building, whose caption asked “How does it feel to look down the barrel of a loaded gun?”
He became the youngest-ever recipient of the Cy Young Award. There was even media speculation about Gooden’s Hall of Fame prospects. That November, Gooden turned 21.
The shy but poised Gooden was the toast of New York; the only fault that could be found with him was that his big motion meant he had trouble holding runners close to first base. But the Mets, trying to protect their young superstar’s future health, gave pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre the assignment of making Gooden less reliant on throwing hard.
1985 would prove to be the only 20-win season of Gooden’s 16-year career. Many reasons have been offered for his decline: early overuse, cocaine addiction, the league catching on to some of his pitches (notably a fastball that rose out of the strike zone, which hitters increasingly avoided), or the influence of Stottlemyre.
Whatever it was, Gooden after 1985 was never the totally dominating strikeout king he had been. He went 4-0 in April 1986, but the question in every newspaper’s sports section was “What’s wrong with Gooden?” after he surrendered a home run to the first batter he faced that year. No longer overpowering, he finished with a respectable 200 strikeouts in 250 innings, a 17-6 record, and a 2.84 Earned Run Average.
The Mets won the World Championship, but Gooden went without a postseason win. He took a tough 1-0 loss in the League Championship Series opener against the Astros with the lone run coming on a Glenn Davis home run.
Gooden pitched masterfully in the Mets’ Game Five victory, surrendering only one run in 10 innings in a matchup against Nolan Ryan; the Mets won in the 12th inning.
He didn’t pitch as well in the World Series losing two games; he has rarely pitched well on three days’ rest.
Following offseason problems in his hometown Tampa, that included a police beating of Gooden and his nephew Gary Sheffield, rumors of substance abuse began to arise. The suspicions were confirmed when Gooden tested positive for cocaine during spring training in 1987. He entered a rehabilitation center on April 1, 1987, to avoid being suspended and didn’t make his first start of the season until June 5. Despite missing a third of the season, Gooden went 15-7 with a 3.21 Earned Run Average after coming back, but the club blamed his absence in the first two months for the Mets’ narrow division title loss.
In 1988 Gooden declared that he wanted to be called “Doc” instead of “Doctor K” now that he was a different kind of pitcher. That season he recorded an 8-9 won/loss record and 3.19 earned run average as the Mets returned to the postseason. Again he pitched well, but not well enough to win.
In the first game of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Gooden was matched against Orel Hershiser, who had just finished the regular season with a 59-inning scoreless streak. He allowed just 4 hits and recorded 10 strikeouts, but left after seven innings trailing 2-0.
In Game Four, Gooden entered the ninth inning with a 4-2 lead and the chance to give the Mets a commanding 3-1 advantage in the series. But he allowed a game-tying home run to Mike Scioscia, and the Dodgers eventually went on to win in 12 innings.
He suffered his first injury in 1989, going down with a sore shoulder in the middle of the year — exactly the sort of injury the Mets had sought to prevent with their change of his pitching style. At the time, he was 9-4 with a 2.99 Earned Run Average and was the only consistently good starter in the Mets’ rotation. His loss doomed the team’s pennant hopes, although he came back briefly in relief at the end of the season.
However, Gooden’s major battles were with his off-season problems, specifically his abuse of hard drugs and alcohol. The Mets of the 1980s had a reputation for partying hard, especially after their World Series victory in 1986, and Gooden may have been the poster child.
The Mets’ front office tried to deal with the substance abuse problem, sending the right-hander to a rehabilitation institute, when he first tested positive for cocaine in 1987. But despite the comebacks and smattering of good years between 1987 and 1994, Gooden fell back into the cycle time and again, and was faced with punishment each time.
In September 1994, Commissioner Bud Selig suspended him for the rest of 1994, and all of 1995. At what had to be deemed a low point of his life, the day after receiving the second suspension, Gooden’s wife found him in his bedroom with a loaded gun to his head.
But with a year and a half off from organized baseball between 1994 and spring training 1996, Gooden persevered. He was given another chance when New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner signed the former fireballer to join the club in February 1996. Gooden made the most of the opportunity, pitching 170 innings and compiling an 11-7 record.
On May 14, 1996, the Doctor was back for one fleeting moment, hurling a no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners, as his fastball once again hit 95 miles per hour on the radar gun.
Even though he was left off the 1996 postseason roster, it seemed that Gooden was on the upswing; or maybe not.
A misdiagnosed hernia in 1997 cost Gooden much of the first half, and he returned for lackluster starts in the remainder of the season. The Yankees didn’t offer Gooden an extension, and he signed on with the Cleveland Indians as a free agent in December 1997. After floundering there, he signed with the Houston Astros as a free agent in January 2000. When he didn’t perform up to standards, the Astros traded him to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in April 2000 for cash.
He remained with the Rays only briefly, before the team from his hometown released him. The Yankees decided to take another shot at him, signing him to a minor-league contract halfway through the 2000 season.
Gooden was brought up to the major league club towards the end of the season, and performed well, posting a 3.36 Earned Run Average over 18 games for the eventual World Series victors.
The following spring Gooden posted a 7.90 Earned Run Average in just under 14 innings. Opting not to be reassigned to the minors, he instead retired.
Gooden’s legal problems didn’t end with his career. He was arrested numerous times for alcohol and substance abuse related offenses.
After being arrested in March 2006 for violating his probation, he chose prison over extended probation, perhaps in the hope that incarceration would separate him from the temptations of his addiction.
He entered prison in April 2006. In May, Gooden said in an interview from prison, “I can’t come back here. … I’d rather get shot than come back here. … If I don’t get the message this time, I never will.” He was released from prison in November 2006, after nearly seven months’ incarceration, and was not placed on further probation.
In 1999, Gooden released an autobiography titled Heat, in which he discussed his struggles with alcohol and cocaine abuse. He ended his major league career with a record of 194 wins and 112 losses. More than half of those wins came before age 25.
In this inning we’ll open up the Baseball Dictionary
Under the letter: W
Wild pitch
A legally delivered pitched ball that is so high, wide, or low that the catcher cannot control or stop it with ordinary effort, thereby allowing one or more baserunners to advance.
A wild pitch is charged if the ball touches the ground before reaching home plate and is not handled by the catcher, permitting a runner to advance.
The distinction between a wild pitch and a passed ball is made by the official scorer.
A wild pitch is charged against the pitcher only if a runner advances a base.
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Well, that’s it for today’s game of Baseball History Podcast. I’ll see you later at the ballpark.
