Today the Mets will do something that many fans feel is long overdue: retire Dwight Gooden’s number 16. For anyone who followed the Mets, or followed baseball, or breathed really, in the mid-1980’s Gooden was an instant icon. While the ups and downs of Gooden’s career, on and off the field, have been well documented, discussed, and dissected, today is a day when the Mets will rightfully celebrate Doctor K’s vital role in the franchise history.
In honor of this occasion, and Doc himself, today’s list on The 5 will focus on the best games of Dwight Gooden’s Mets career. Now, there are many ways to define “best” and this list captures a few interpretations of the word.
Of course, in a career that was so successful with many remarkable milestones, it was certainly challenging to narrow it down to 5. So, here’s a quick list of the honorable mentions, that just barely missed the cut:
5/11/1984 – Gooden’s first career complete game shutout, a 4-hitter with 11 K’s in Los Angeles, as the Mets beat the Dodgers 2-0.
7/10/1984 – Gooden’s first appearance in an All-Star game, the youngest player (19 years old) to ever appear in the Midsummer Classic, he struck out the side in his first inning and pitched a scoreless inning to follow.
9/1/1985 - Gooden hits his first career home run. He would finish his career with 8.
10/14/1986 – Gooden tosses 10 innings giving up just 1 run in Game 5 of the NLCS against the Houston Astros, with the Mets eventually winning 2-1 in 12.
7/22/1988 - Gooden strikes out Dion James to record his 1,000th career strikeout in a 6-1 win over the Atlanta Braves.
6/19/1989 – With a 5-3 victory over the Montreal Expos, 24 year-old Gooden becomes the third youngest pitcher in baseball history with 100 career wins (only Bob Feller and Noodles Hahn were younger).
Those five aren’t even THE 5. So, without further ado, from dominant performances to historic achievements, here are the 5 best Dwight Gooden games with the Mets…
Doc’s Best
5. 4/7/1984 @ Houston Astros
The game that started it all. At just 19 years old, Gooden makes his Major League debut. Between the anxiety of the moment and his eagerness to live up to the hype, Gooden showed up to the Astrodome early. To do this, he walked the 3 miles from the hotel, climbed the 8-foot fence surrounding the stadium, then had to convince a security guard that he wasn’t trespassing, he was preparing to pitch. Cooler heads prevailed and Gooden did make his first start. After getting the first two batters (Bill Doran and Terry Puhl) to groundout, Gooden recorded his first career strikeout on the Astros third hitter, Dickie Thon. In all, Gooden pitched 5 innings, giving up 3 hits, 2 walks, 1 run, and 5 strikeouts, in a 3-2 Mets victory.
4. 9/17/1986 vs. Chicago Cubs
From the moment Gooden first appeared for the Mets (see above), fans had first place hopes, which later became expectations. On this night in Shea Stadium, the Mets clinched their first postseason appearance since 1973 and there was nobody more fitting to be on the mound than Dwight Gooden. He struck out 8 Cubs, yielding just 2 runs, both on a home run by eventual 500 home run hitter, Rafael Palmeiro (this one was just his second). Gooden’s complete game was his 15th victory of the season, although beyond the stats, for many this game was a dream come true.
3. 8/20/1985 vs. San Francisco Giants
Doc accomplished a lot in this one. He pitched a complete game shutout with 16 K’s for his 19th win of the season. It was his 13th-straight winning decision, setting a Mets record. It was his 6th shutout and 13th complete game of the year. And with his strikeout of Bob Brenly in the 4th inning, he became the first pitcher in National League history to have 200 strikeouts in each of his first two seasons.
2. 9/7/1984 vs. Chicago Cubs
Exactly 5 months after making his debut, Dwight Gooden held the Cubs to a lone hit, a Keith Moreland infield single to third baseman Ray Knight, in a 10-0 Mets thrashing of the team they were chasing for first place. Doc recorded 11 K’s in the victory that closed the gap between the two teams to 6 games, keeping the Mets postseason hopes alive. Gooden’s strikeout of Ron Cey was his 228th of the season, beating Grover Cleveland Alexander’s 73 year-old National League record.
1. 9/12/1984 vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
This one had it all. It was Gooden’s first 16-strikeout performance, a feat he accomplished three times in his career. (Side note, his next start was his second 16-K performance, a 2-1 loss in Philadelphia.) It was a complete game 5-hit shutout in a Mets 2-0 victory. Gooden’s 6th-inning strikeout of Pirates outfielder, Marvell Wynne, was his 246th K of the, beating former Cleveland pitcher Herb Score’s 29 year-old Major League record. It was Gooden’s 7th straight win, his 4th straight game and 14th game of the season with more than 10 strikeouts, both of which broke Mets records previously owned by Tom Seaver. Throughout Gooden’s entire rookie campaign, he had established himself as a special player, and this game seemed to cement his legacy.
In 11 seasons with the Mets, Dwight Gooden won 157 games with a 3.10 ERA and 1,875 strikeouts. For Gooden though, it wasn’t just about numbers, gaudy as they were, it was about his role in baseball in the 1980’s, and in Mets fans hearts forever.
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