Dwight Gooden was a disgusting waste of talent for the New York Mets
Dwight Gooden burst on the scene with the Mets in 1984 when he was 19 years old. He won the Rookie of the Year Award in the National League that year. He pitched in 31 games (all starts) in 1984 for the Mets and he was 17-9 with a 2.60 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP. Gooden only allowed 161 hits in 218 innings as a rookie while leading the majors in strikeouts with 276 which shows how nasty his fastball (which was blazing) and his curveball (knee buckling) were. He took his game to a new level in 1985 for the Mets when he won the Cy Young Award by having one of the best seasons for a starting pitcher in the majors of all-time. Gooden started 35 games in 1985 and he was 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP. He only allowed 198 hits in 276 2/3 innings while whiffing a major league leading 268 batters. He got a couple of nicknames like “Doc” and “Dr. K” but little did anyone know he was seeing a doctor who would ruin his career. The Dr. he was seeing was drug dealers. Cocaine ruined Gooden’s career as he couldn’t handle all of his fame and fortune. It showed in his performance as he never came close to the level he pitched his first two years in the majors. Gooden pitched 11 years for the Mets appearing in 305 games (303 starts) in which he was 157-85 with 1 save, a 3.10 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. Gooden finished his career tied for 8th in Mets’ history in games pitched (305), #3 in games started (303), #2 in wins (157), #5 in ERA (3.10), #3 in complete games (67), #4 in shutouts (23), #2 in strikeouts (1,875) and #3 in innings pitched (2,169 2/3). Drugs totally ruined Gooden’s career as he had Hall of Fame talent.