DEBATABLE | What If Dwight Gooden Never Had Substance Abuse Problems?
Mark and Manny argue how great a career MLBbro pitcher Dwight Gooden would have had if not for pitfalls he encountered that derailed his iconic rise.
Doc Forever: Mets Retire Doc Gooden’s Iconic No. 16
“The fans always stuck with me through everything. I always wanted to come back here.”
-Dwight Gooden during his number retirement ceremony.
CITI FIELD– When Dwight “Doc” Gooden got a call from New York Met owner Steve Cohen over the winter, he initially thought it was one of his former teammates pulling a prank on him.
When Gooden was able to confirm it was Cohen, the owner let him know that the franchise was going to retire his No. 16 along with his teammate Darryl Strawberry for the upcoming 2024 season. For Gooden, Sunday’s ceremony finally brought his career in full circle.
Doc Gooden Is A NY Mets Legend
The 59-year old native of Tampa, Florida played for the Mets from 1984-94, winning the 1984 NL Rookie of the Year and the 1985 NL Cy Young Award. He went 194-112 with a 3.51 ERA and 2,293 strikeouts in 16 seasons, including 157-85 with a 3.10 ERA with 1,875 strikeouts for the Mets.
He helped the Mets win the 1986 World Series title but his career was interrupted by substance abuse. He was suspended from June 1994 through the 1995 season and then signed with the Yankees.
Dwight Gooden Throws No-Hitter With Yankees
Gooden and Strawberry also reunited in the Bronx during the 1996 season. Doc would pitch the lone no-hitter of his career on May 14th when he blanked the Seattle Mariners at Yankee Stadium.
With his father less than 24 hours away from undergoing heart surgery in Tampa, Gooden took the mound in the Bronx and held the Mariners’ potent offense to six walks and no hits. He was part of a rotation that eventually helped the Yankees win the World Series.
Gooden spent seven months in prison in 2006 and was arrested several times for DUI but has been clean since 2019. He regularly speaks at New York-area schools about avoiding drugs and alcohol and is also a staple at autograph shows.
“I wanted to stay to make things right with you guys. I didn’t want to leave on the note that I did,” Gooden told the fans, “Unfortunately, they thought it was best that we go separate ways. I was lucky enough to stay in New York, play with the New York Yankees for two years, ’96 and ’97.”
The Citi Field crowd booed the mention of the Mets’ crosstown rival, and Gooden shook his head while putting his left hand over his heart. “I’m always a Met. I’m not saying nothing. I’m always a Met. I’m always a Met,” he said.
When speaking about his late father at the pre-game news conference, Gooden became emotional and stated he wished that he could have been there to see it. “It was my dad’s dream at first, for me to pitch in the big leagues,” he said.
“Eventually, it became my dream as well. I know he and my mom would have enjoyed this day.”
Dwight Gooden’s Nephew Gary Sheffield Were Inspired By Dwight’s Dad
Gooden’s nephew, former All-Star Gary Sheffield, explained that Doc knew exactly what this day would have meant to his dad. “His dad used to tell both of us that you haven’t done anything just by making it to the big leagues,” Sheffield said.
Gooden and Sheffield came from a talented sports neighborhood that would produce several other Major Leaguers including All-Star slugger Fred McGriff and pitcher Floyd Youmans, who was briefly a teammate of Gooden’s in New York.
“It’s the mark you make and how you finish. That became more complicated for Doc and our whole family, with everything he went through off the field. We all did what we could for him because we wanted to see him through to the finish line. That’s what this day is for him. He made it.”
During Doc’s tenure in the Big Apple, Gooden won a Rookie of the Year Award. Three Top 5 Cy Young Award finishes, including one win. Multiple World Series championships. And of course, the 1985 season that remains, by some measures, the greatest in modern history.
For some perspective: When Bob Gibson produced a 1.12 ERA in 1968, MLB lowered the mound 10 inches the following year and shrunk the strike zone to its modern size. The league had, quite literally, leveled the playing field. And it stayed mostly level until Gooden produced a 1.53 ERA in 1985.
No one has matched that figure since. “At his best,” Sheffield added, “he was the greatest pitcher that ever lived.”
Doc Gooden Joins Pantheon Of Iconic Mets
Gooden’s No. 16 joins 14 (Gil Hodges, 1973), 17 (Keith Hernandez, 2022), 24 (Willie Mays, 2022), 31 (Mike Piazza, 2016), 36 (Jerry Koosman, 2021), 37 (Casey Stengel, 1965) and 41 (Tom Seaver, 1988) as the franchise’s retired numbers.
Seven of Gooden’s children were in attendance, plus many more grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 13 of his former Mets teammates were also there, including Strawberry, who has been recovering from a heart attack in St. Louis.
Later this year, Strawberry will become the seventh player to have his number retired. His No. 18 will be immortalized by the franchise on June 1st.
10 Unforgettable MLBbro Opening Day Moments | Jackie Robinson To Aaron Judge
For many baseball fans, two of most magical words are “Opening Day”.
Opening Day is one of the first signals of the changing of the seasons as it pertains to sports and the weather. As you already know, MLB “officially” opened the 2024 campaign last week overseas with the Korea Series pitting the Dodgers and Padres.
However, this week’s stateside openers will be the true beginning of the season for many of us.
Memorable MLBbro Opening Day Moments
As we prepare for that, today we take a look back at some of the most memorable Opening Day moments in MLBbro history. Needless to say, the overall history of the game will play a huge part of this retrospective as we look back in chronological order
1. April 15, 1947: Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers breaking MLB’s modern day color barrier. He went 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored in the Dodgers’ 5-3 win over the Boston Braves. He would be named Rookie of the Year at season’s end.
2. April 11, 1967: St. Louis’ Bob Gibson strikes out 13 Giants en route to a 6-0, five-hitter against San Francisco. Gibson, who outdueled future Hall of Famer Juan Marichal, would help lead the Redbirds to their second World Series title in the last four years when they outlasted the Boston Red Sox in 7 games.
3. April 4, 1974: In his first at-bat that season against the Reds’ Jack Billingham, Hank Aaron hits his 714th career homer. The three-run shot ties him with Babe Ruth. Four days later at Atlanta, the Hammer connected off Al Downing of the Dodgers to become baseball’s all-time home run king.
4. April 8, 1975: Frank Robinson becomes MLB’s first Black manager with a bang. In the lineup as Cleveland’s designated hitter, Robinson stepped to the plate against the Yankees’ Doc Medich, got a 2-2 fastball low and away and ripped it over the left-field wall for a solo shot. The Indians won 5-3 as Robinson’s homer was his eighth career Opening Day homer, an MLB record at the time.
5. April 8, 1994: Subbing for an injured Glenallen Hill, Karl “Tuffy” Rhodes hit 3 home runs off of New York’s Dwight Gooden and had four hits on the day. Still, the legendary Mets pitcher and his team managed to win the game 12-8. Rhodes hit just 5 more home runs the entire season. He became a legend in the Japanese league by hitting over 464 career dingers and tied the single-season record of 55 home runs in 2001.
6. April 2, 1996: Starting in his first Opening Day at shortstop, New York’s Derek Jeter hits his first career homer off Cleveland’s Dennis Martinez. The solo shot that led off the fifth inning put The Yankees up 2-0 en route to a 7-1 win. The Captain would be named AL Rookie of the Year and helped lead the Bronx Bombers to their first World Series title since 1978.
7. April 4, 2005: Detroit’s Dmitri Young became the third player in MLB history to hit three homers on Opening Day (joining the aforementioned Tuffy Rhodes and George Bell) in the Tigers’ 11-2 win against the Kansas City Royals. At the time, “Da Meat Hook” was also the fourth player to hit three homers in a game at spacious Comerica Park.
8. April 6, 2009: Ken Griffey Jr. tied an MLB record with his eighth career Opening Day homer. “The Kid” had a solo home run and a walk in his first game with Seattle since 1999, helping the Mariners to a 6-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins at the Metrodome. At the time, it was Junior’s 612th career homer. He tied the aforementioned Frank Robinson and Adam Dunn for the Opening Day record shot.
9. April 5, 2010: In his MLB debut, Atlanta native and Braves No. 1 prospect Jason Heyward homered on the first swing of his career. The three-run shot off Chicago’s Carlos Zambrano created what is considered to be one of the loudest roars heard during the history of Turner Field.
10. March 30, 2023: One year removed from breaking Roger Maris’ AL record of 61 homers, New York Aaron Judge goes deep in his first at-bat of the season. Tabbed as the Yankees’ 16th captain, “The Judge” belted MLB’s first dinger of the year, powering a Logan Webb sinker over the center-field wall at Yankee Stadium as the Yankees cruised to a 5-0 over the San Francisco Giants.
The Dates Are Set For Mets To Retire Jerseys Of Legendary MLBbros Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry
They will always belong to Queens, NY.
They played together, won a championship (1986) together, conquered off-field demons together, and now their jerseys will be retired where they will hang together, forever.
The dates are set for MLBbros Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden to have their Jerseys retired by the New York Mets in the 2024 MLB season.
Dwight “Doc” Gooden’s date with Mets immortality is set for April 14th when the Mets face off against the Kansas City Royals. In his 11 season with the Mets, Dr, K served up a prescription that made him second in franchise history in wins (157), strikeouts (1,875), and WAR (41.6).
Let’s not forget the way he hit MLB like a nuclear bomb, winning Rookie of the Year (1984) and the Cy Young Award (1985) in his first two seasons. A new era of Mets baseball was ushered in by a 19-year-old phenom from Florida.
“Even when I was with the Yankees, I always considered myself a Met…” Gooden would say about the honor. “I can’t thank [owners] Steve and Alex [Cohen] and the board enough to give me this great honor I can share with my teammates, the fans and my family. I’m looking forward to this day. It’s the greatest honor I can achieve in baseball”.
Darryl Strawberry’s No. 18 will be retired in a ceremony scheduled for June 1st before the Mets take on the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The former #1 pick in the 1980 draft is remembered for his sweet lefty swing where in eight seasons with the Mets, Strawberry would help the team capture two division titles, one pennant, and one world Series title. He is also the franchise leader in career home runs (252), second in RBIs (733) and WAR (36.6), third in OPS (.878), fourth in total bases (2,028) and fifth in stolen bases (191).
“I’m so glad we had this opportunity to play in New York City in the National League at Shea Stadium. I wouldn’t trade it in for anything…” Strawberry said. “To be able to have this honor, your number is going to be retired and that’s forever, its bigger than going into the Hall of Fame.”
The history with drugs and alcohol is well documented with both players, but they also rebounded and made sure their personal struggles were not the entire story of their lives. Both men have gotten back on the right path, and nobody can take away the tremendous impact both of these MLBbros had on the franchise, baseball in the ’80s and the generations of MLBbros who followed in their footsteps.
Strawberry is now a traveling minister and Gooden visits schools to talk to children about drugs and alcohol use. While this may be their greatest accomplishment, having your Jersey retired is pretty cool too.
MLB.com Recognizes These Melanated Mound Marauders For Their Dominance | ‘Hoot’ and ‘Doc’ Produced Top 5 Cy Young Seasons
There has only been a total of 116 CY Young Award winners in baseball history. According to a recent report on MLB.com, two of our MLBbros were acknowledged as having one of the Top 5 most dominant Cy Young award-winning seasons we have ever seen.
#3 Nobody Could Mess With the “Hoot”
In sports there are stars, then there are game changers. Coming in at #3 on the list we have MLBbro Bob “Hoot” Gibson whose 1968 season was so out of this world, the next season MLB made a rule change to lower the pitching mound just to help hitters facing him.
Gibson would have a record of 22-9 with an ERA of 1.12 and 268 strikeouts in 34 appearances, with 28 of them being complete games. During the months of June and July that season “The Hoot” was unhittable, only allowing two earned runs in 92 straight innings with 13 shutouts.
Although Gibson is on this list for his Cy Young accolade, it wasn’t the only award that he won that season. Along with his Cy Young Award, Gibson would win a Gold Glove Award and NL MVP Award, along with being named the Sporting News ‘Pitcher of the Year’ while helping the St. Louis Cardinals win the NL Pennant.
1968 was considered the “Year of the pitcher”, because so many hurlers had career seasons, but the leader of the pack was Bob “The Hoot” Gibson who was so dominant that they MLB lowered the mound to return an advantage back to the hitter.
#4 The “Doc” Is In
In 1985, Dwight Gooden was living life like a Wiz Khalifa song. At 20 years old he was young, wild, and free to prescribe Ks to any batter who was addicted to the humiliation of facing baseball’s youngest, Blackest superstar.
Fresh off winning the NL Rookie of the Year award, Gooden would take his talent to another level, like going from his Master’s to PHD, earning the nickname the “Doc”.
This MLBbro would have a dominating season pitching 35 games posting a record of 24-4 with a staggering 1.53 ERA in 276.2 inning pitched and 268 strikeouts, earning him a Triple Crown (The only pitcher to do so in the 1980’s).
Supreme Analytical Season
If we used today’s analytics to describe how magical this season was, the Doc’s rWAR is listed at 12.2 which is only surpassed by Walter Johnson (13.5 in 1912 and 14.6 in 1913) and the pitcher the award is named after Cy Young (12.6 in 1906).
His 1.53 ERA (NY Mets Franchise Record) is the second best after the dead ball era behind who? You guessed it, Bob “The Hoot” Gibson’s 1968 ERA (1.12). Gooden would also finish fourth in the NL MVP race and be selected to the All-Star team. Congrats to these MLB Bros on making this list, getting the recognition they truly deserve, and being remembered for generations to come.
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