Dwight Gooden
| Dwight Gooden | |
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 Dwight Gooden at Spring Training 1986
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| Pitcher | |
| Born: November 16, 1964 Tampa , Florida , United States 
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| Strikes: Right | Throws: Right |
| Debut in Major League Baseball | |
| April 7, 1984 for the New York Mets | |
| Last MLB assignment | |
| September 29, 2000 with the New York Yankees | |
| MLB statistics (until end of career) |
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| Win-loss | 194-112 |
| ERA | 3.51 |
| Strikeouts | 2,293 |
| No-hitter | 1 |
| Teams | |
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| Awards | |
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Dwight Eugene Gooden (born November 16, 1964 in Tampa , Florida ), nicknamed "Doc" and "Dr. K, is a retired American baseball player in Major League Baseball . The right-handed pitcher was able to win the World Series three times in his career , was a four-time All-Star and is one of the few pitchers who could throw a no-hitter . In addition to his sporting successes, Gooden has often become noticeable during and after his active career due to alcohol and drug problems .
Career
1982-1986
Gooden was elected fifth in the first round of the New York Mets in the 1982 MLB Draft and played for the Little Falls Mets and Lynchburg Mets , two minor league teams of the franchise at the time, until the end of 1983 .
At the age of 19, Gooden made his debut for the Mets in the Major League on April 7, 1984. In the 3-2 away win at the Houston Astros, he pitched five innings , conceded only one run and he was credited with the first win of his career. Over the season, the player made 31 starts and achieved a win-loss ratio of 17: 9 in his first major league season, after which he was voted Rookie of the Year in the National League . In addition, he was invited to the MLB All-Star Game in his first year .
1985 Gooden improved and played the best season of his career. With 35 starts he was able to achieve 24 wins with only 4 losses (win rate 85.7%). Added to this was an outstanding ERA of 1.53 and 268 strikeouts in 276.2 innings. Since Gooden was the best player of the season in all three statistics, i.e. wins, ERA and strikeouts, he was honored with the Triple Crown . In addition to the second invitation to the All-Star game and fourth place in the election for MVP of the National League, Gooden was honored with the Cy Young Award as the best pitcher in the National League.
In the following year, Gooden again played a strong regular season and was one of the Mets' high hopes in the play-offs, which the team had achieved for the first time since 1973. Gooden started in Game 1 of the NLCS 1986 against the Houston Astros and allowed only one run in the pitcher duel with Mike Scott. But the Mets didn't score themselves and he was blamed for the loss. At the start of game 5 of the series there was a no-decision for Gooden, so neither a win nor a loss. In the subsequent 1986 World Series against the Boston Red Sox , the Mets' best pitcher to date disappointed somewhat and never got past 5 pitched innings in his two starts in Game 2 and Game 5. He suffered eight runs in a total of nine pitched innings and was the losing pitcher both times. However, the Mets won four of the five games in which Gooden was not used and won the series 4: 3 games.
Early drug problems
Gooden did not take part in the great parade through New York City after the triumph of the Mets. As he later explained himself, at the time he was intoxicated with strangers in a dealer's apartment . According to his own statements, he was first offered cocaine at a party in 1986 , which marked the beginning of his addiction. Gooden says that it was unfortunately “love at first sight”.
On December 13, 1986, Gooden was arrested in Tampa after a violent argument with the Tampa police. In this context, there was public speculation about Gooden's drug use for the first time. During a check-up in Spring Training in March 1987, cocaine use was finally detected and Gooden was admitted to the Smithers Center for Alcoholism and Drug Treatment in early April to start a rehab there. He was released after 27 days and completely missed the first two months of the 1987 season.
1987-1993
Gooden came back in 1987 from the beginning of June after the rehab and played 25 games for the Mets. In the following year he played again at a consistently high level and came in 34 games to 18 wins. He was invited to the All-Star Game for the fourth and final time.
In 1989 Gooden had to contend with injuries for the first time and only came to 17 missions due to shoulder problems. In 1990 he came back strong, achieved a win rate of over 73% and was fourth in the election for the Cy Young Award . He made a strong start in 1991 as well, but was again thrown back by injuries that were to put a significant strain on his career. He had to undergo complex shoulder surgery and at this point there were already doubts as to whether he would be able to return to his old level.
In addition to the health crisis, there were allegations that Gooden had raped a 30-year-old woman together with fellow players Vince Coleman and Daryl Boston in an apartment he had rented . Ultimately, the responsible public prosecutor decided not to bring charges against the players, as there was no evidence to support the allegations, only the testimony of the potential victim, who was faced with three testimony from the players.
After his convalescence , Gooden could no longer build on the performance of previous years and ended the 1992 season for the first time in his career with a negative pitching record of 43.5%. Also in 1993 there were more losses than wins in the statistics at the end of the season.
1994–1995: drug problems again
In the 1994 season, which was shortened by the strike , Gooden only had three wins out of seven starts and thus a win rate of 42.9%. In June 1994, Gooden was banned from the MLB for 60 days after violating a drug follow-up program. While the suspension was still in progress, the player was again tested positive for cocaine use and the MLB banned him for the entire 1995 season. Gooden was no longer a Mets player, but in free agent status. Mets officials said it was more important now that the human being Dwight Gooden got back on his feet. All speculations about the further baseball career are initially secondary.
1996-2000
On February 20, 1996 Gooden signed a contract with the New York Yankees , played 29 times in his first season in the Bronx and was able to achieve a positive win rate of 61% again. The Yankees won the World Series in 1996 , but Gooden could not participate in any of the post season games due to injury. He was used a little less in 1997 in performances comparable to the previous year, but took part in a play-off game for the first time for the Yankees. He started in Game 4 of the American League Division Series against the Cleveland Indians and had to accept a run in just over 5 innings. The Yankees lost the series against the Indians 2-3 games and were eliminated.
Gooden himself was back in free agent status after the end of the 1997 season and signed a new contract with the Cleveland Indians in December 1997. There he came in 1998 to 23 and 1999 to 26 missions and ended his two-year stay in Cleveland with eleven wins and ten losses. In 1998 he also came to two play-offs with the Indians, one of them against his former team, the Yankees, in which he was in Game 4 of the American League Division Series at the end of the losing pitcher.
In the 2000 season, Gooden then played for three different teams within one season. From the renewed free agent status, he signed with the Houston Astros . There he only played one game, cashing in four runs in four innings and was sold to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays five days later . In Tampa, he completed eight games in May 2000, of which he was able to win two. He was released from the Devil Rays on May 25 and returned to the New York Yankees in June 2000.
He was now often used as a relief pitcher and started only in five of his 18 games in the regular season for the Yankees. Also in the post season he came back to two missions, also both as a relief. In game 4 of the ALDS he pitched only 1.2 innings, but suffered 4 runs and recorded two hit batsman . Also in Game 5 of the ALCS against the Seattle Mariners on October 15, Gooden was briefly used again, but was only allowed to watch in the following World Series 2000 , which the Yankees won.
Retired, further conflicts with the law, and the Mets Hall of Fame
After his retirement in 2000, Gooden stood for the first time in 2006 to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame . The Baseball Writers Association of America's results, however, were devastating. Only 17 of the 520 eligible voters (3.3%) were in favor of his inclusion and Gooden was excluded from all future elections because he had not reached the 5% threshold.
The obvious reason for this was, among other things, that Gooden came into public conflict with the law more often after his active career. He was arrested in his hometown in February 2002 after being caught driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and without a valid driver's license. Less than a year later he was arrested again, also for driving without a valid driver's license. He was arrested in March 2005 after beating his ex-wife, who had previously thrown a phone at him.
The next arrest followed in March 2006 for violating his probation requirements . He was sentenced to one year in prison and served in prison from April to November 2006. After almost seven months in detention, he was released early.
Gooden left an accident scene without permission in March 2010 and was shortly thereafter drugged and detained again. He was also charged with endangering the child's welfare because his five-year-old son was in the car and in his care at the time of the incident. Gooden pleaded guilty to the child's welfare issue and was sentenced to five years probation.
Despite the private anomalies of Dwight Gooden, his exceptional achievements, especially those in his early career years, have not been forgotten. Despite a few protests, the New York Mets decided to include the player in the club's Hall of Fame. He was officially inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame on August 1st.
Gooden was part of the fifth season of the reality TV show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew , where celebrities are filmed during drug withdrawal in a clinic.
Web links
- Player information and statistics from MLB or Baseball Reference or Fangraphs or The Baseball Cube (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ 1st Round of the 1982 MLB June Amateur Draft. baseball-reference.com, accessed on May 19, 2016 .
- ^ Dwight Gooden Minor League Statistics. baseball-reference.com, accessed on May 19, 2016 .
- ↑ Dwight Gooden 1984 Pitching Game Log. baseball-reference.com, accessed on May 19, 2016 .
- ↑ 1986 NLCS Game 1 - New York Mets vs. Houston Astros . Retrosheet. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- ↑ 1986 NLCS Game 5 - Houston Astros vs. New York Mets . Retrosheet. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- ↑ 1986 World Series Game 2 - Boston Red Sox vs. New York Mets. Retrosheet, accessed May 13, 2016 .
- ↑ 1986 World Series Game 5 - New York Mets vs. Boston Red Sox. Retrosheet, accessed May 13, 2016 .
- ^ Dwight Gooden too high for parade. ESPN , October 10, 2011, accessed May 19, 2016 .
- ^ Dwight Gooden: I missed '86 parade doing drugs. CBS, October 19, 2011, accessed May 19, 2016 .
- ↑ GOODEN, METS 'STAR, IS ARRESTED AFTER FIGHT WITH TAMPA POLICE. New York Times , December 15, 1986, accessed May 19, 2016 .
- ↑ GOODEN IS RELEASED FROM DRUG CENTER. New York Times , April 30, 1987, accessed May 19, 2016 .
- ↑ BASEBALL; Gooden Undergoes Surgery on Rotator Cuff. New York Times , April 30, 1987, accessed May 19, 2016 .
- ↑ BASEBALL; State Attorney Says 3 Mets Will Not Face Criminal Charges. New York Times , April 2, 1992, accessed May 19, 2016 .
- ^ Gooden Barred For 60 Days Reports Say Pitcher Failed Drug Tests. philly.com, June 29, 1994, accessed May 19, 2016 .
- ↑ BASEBALL; Gooden Suspended for 1995 After Additional Drug Tests. New York Times , November 5, 1994, accessed May 19, 2016 .
- ↑ 2006 Hall of Fame Voting. baseball-reference.com, accessed May 19, 2016 .
- ^ Dwight Gooden arrested for DUI. UPI, February 20, 2002, accessed May 19, 2016 .
- ↑ Gooden Arrested In Tampa. Orlando Sentinel, January 5, 2003, accessed May 19, 2016 .
- ^ Baseball Great Gooden Arrested for Domestic Battery. foxnews, March 14, 2005, accessed May 19, 2016 .
- ^ Gooden sentenced to year in prison. Tampa Bay Times, April 5, 2006, accessed May 19, 2016 .
- ↑ Dwight Gooden Released From Prisonson. Washington Post , November 9, 2006, accessed May 19, 2016 .
- ↑ Police: Ex-Mets pitcher arrested, accused of DUI with child in car. CNN, March 24, 2010, accessed May 19, 2016 .
- ↑ Doc Gooden Busted on DUI charges in NJ: police. New York Post , March 24, 2010, accessed May 19, 2016 .
- ^ Dwight Gooden gets 5 years' probation. ESPN, April 15, 2011, accessed May 19, 2016 .
- ↑ Mets induct 4 from '86 team into HOF. ESPN, August 1, 2010, accessed May 19, 2016 .
- ↑ Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew - Episode List - Season 5. IMDb , accessed May 20, 2016 .
| personal data | |
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| SURNAME | Gooden, Dwight |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gooden, Dwight Eugene (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American baseball player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 16, 1964 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tampa , Florida |