56 Facts About Dwight Gooden

1.

Dwight Gooden pitched from 1984 to 1994 and from 1996 to 2000 for the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

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2.

Dwight Gooden made his MLB debut in 1984 for the Mets and quickly established himself as one of the league's most talented pitchers; as a 19-year-old rookie, he earned the first of four All-Star selections, won the National League Rookie of the Year Award, and led the league in strikeouts.

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3.

Dwight Gooden remained an effective pitcher in subsequent years, but his career was ultimately derailed by cocaine and alcohol addiction.

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4.

Dwight Gooden pitched four additional years for as many teams, but never approached the success of his peak years with the Mets.

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5.

Dwight Gooden was incarcerated for seven months in 2006 after violating the terms of his probation.

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6.

Dwight Gooden attended Hillsborough High School in Tampa where he was teammates on the school's baseball team with Vance Lovelace.

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7.

Dwight Gooden spent one season in the minors, in which he led the Class-A Carolina League in wins, strikeouts and ERA while playing for the Lynchburg Mets.

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8.

Dwight Gooden had 300 strikeouts in 191 innings, a performance which convinced Triple-A Tidewater Tides manager and future Mets manager Davey Johnson to bring him up for the Tides' postseason.

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9.

Dwight Gooden made the rare jump from High-A directly to the major leagues in one year, by-passing Double-A and Triple-A.

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10.

Dwight Gooden quickly developed a reputation with his 98 miles per hour fastball and sweeping curveball, which was given the superlative nickname of "Lord Charles", in contrast with "Uncle Charlie", a common nickname for a curveball.

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11.

Dwight Gooden soon attracted a rooting section at Shea Stadium that called itself "The K Korner", and would hang up cards with a red "K" after each of his strikeouts.

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12.

Dwight Gooden complemented this distinction by striking out the side, AL batters: Lance Parrish, Chet Lemon, and Alvin Davis.

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13.

Season, Dwight Gooden won 17 games, the most by a 19-year-old since Wally Bunker won 19 games in 1964 and the second most for a Mets rookie, after Jerry Koosman's 19 wins in 1968.

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14.

Dwight Gooden won eight of his last nine starts; in his final three starts of the 1984 season, he had 41 strikeouts and 1 walk.

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15.

Dwight Gooden led the league in strikeouts, his 276 breaking Herb Score's rookie record of 245 in 1955, and set the record for most strikeouts in three consecutive starts with 43.

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16.

Dwight Gooden was voted the Rookie of the Year, giving the Mets two consecutive winners of that award .

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17.

Dwight Gooden became the third Mets pitcher to win the award, joining Tom Seaver and Jon Matlack .

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18.

Dwight Gooden finished second in the NL Cy Young Award voting, even though he had more NL wins, strikeouts, innings pitched, and a lower ERA than the NL winner, Rick Sutcliffe.

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19.

In 1985, Dwight Gooden pitched one of the most statistically dominating single seasons in baseball history.

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20.

Dwight Gooden led the National League in complete games and innings pitched .

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21.

Dwight Gooden's ERA+ was 229; 23-year-old Dean Chance was the only other pitcher under the age of 25 to do so.

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22.

The Mets finished second in the 1985 NL East, and teammates jokingly blamed Dwight Gooden for having lost 4 games, thereby mathematically costing them the division title.

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23.

That year, Dwight Gooden became one of only 15 black pitchers ever to win 20 games, the most recent of whom was David Price.

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24.

Dwight Gooden became the youngest-ever recipient of the Cy Young Award and Pitcher of the Year Award.

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25.

Dwight Gooden had compiled a strikeouts per nine innings pitched of 10.

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26.

Dwight Gooden was the Mets ace going into the playoffs, and his postseason started promisingly.

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27.

Dwight Gooden was substantially worse in the World Series against the Boston Red Sox, not getting past the 5th inning in either of his two starts.

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28.

Rumors of substance abuse began to arise, which were confirmed when Dwight Gooden tested positive for cocaine during spring training in 1987.

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29.

Dwight Gooden hurled 276 innings in his historic 1985 season; as of the end of the 2017 season, only two subsequent pitchers have thrown that many innings .

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30.

Dwight Gooden, seeing the pitch as retaliation for him having hit two Phillies batters, charged the mound, setting off a bench-clearing brawl.

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31.

Dwight Gooden tested positive again while serving the suspension, and was further suspended for the entire 1995 season.

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32.

The Dwight Gooden mural was a part of the NYC landscape for over ten years.

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33.

Dwight Gooden signed with the New York Yankees in 1996 as a free agent.

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34.

Dwight Gooden was left off the 1996 postseason roster due to injury and fatigue.

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35.

Dwight Gooden started two games for the Indians in the 1998 post-season, including one against his former team, the Yankees, both of which ended in no-decisions.

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36.

In 1999, Dwight Gooden released an autobiography titled Heat, in which he discussed his struggles with alcohol and cocaine abuse.

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37.

Dwight Gooden began the 2000 season with two sub-par stints with the Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Devil Rays but found himself back with the Yankees mid-season.

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38.

Dwight Gooden made one relief appearance in each of the first two rounds of the playoffs, both times with the Yankees trailing.

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39.

Dwight Gooden did not pitch in the 2000 World Series against the Mets, though 2000 would be the third time Dwight Gooden received a World Series ring in his career.

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40.

Dwight Gooden acted as the go-between man during free agent contract negotiations between his nephew, Gary Sheffield, and the Yankees prior to the 2004 season.

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41.

Dwight Gooden spontaneously signed his name to a wall on the inside of the stadium.

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42.

The Mets initially indicated that they would remove the signature, but soon decided instead to move the part of the wall with Dwight Gooden's writing to a different area of the stadium and acquire additional signatures from other popular ex-players.

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43.

Dwight Gooden threw out the ceremonial first pitch on the same day to Gary Carter.

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44.

In December 1986, Dwight Gooden was arrested in Tampa alongside nephew Gary Sheffield and former high school teammate Vance Lovelace after police stopped his Chevrolet Corvette.

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45.

Dwight Gooden was charged with resisting arrest with violence, battery on a police officer and disorderly conduct.

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46.

Dwight Gooden pleaded no contest in January 1987 and was sentenced to three years probation and 160 hours of community service.

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47.

Dwight Gooden was arrested again in January 2003 for driving with a suspended license.

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48.

Dwight Gooden was released two days later on a misdemeanor battery charge.

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49.

Dwight Gooden gave the officer his driver's license, twice refused to leave his car, and then drove away.

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50.

The officer remarked in his report that Dwight Gooden's eyes were glassy and bloodshot, his speech was slurred, and a "strong" odor of alcohol was present on him.

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51.

Dwight Gooden chose prison over extended probation, perhaps in the hope that incarceration would separate him from the temptations of his addiction.

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52.

Dwight Gooden was charged with DWI with a child passenger, leaving the scene of an accident, and other motor vehicle violations.

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53.

Dwight Gooden was charged with endangering the welfare of a child because a child was with him at the time of the accident.

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54.

Dwight Gooden later pleaded guilty to child endangerment, received five years' probation, and was ordered to undergo outpatient drug treatment.

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55.

Dwight Gooden had been stopped by police for driving too slowly and having illegally tinted windows when they discovered two baggies suspected of containing cocaine.

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56.

Dwight Gooden was charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving under the influence and faced up to five years in prison if convicted.

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