Dwight Gooden retired today.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

[soapbox]

Reflecting back on his career, all I can think of it “…what could have been.”

I hate to belabor the obvious, but this is a guy who had everything going for him, and he threw it away. He wasn’t done in by a blown-out shoulder. He didn’t break his pitching arm. He didn’t have a stroke. He simply threw his career away.

Now, I know that 194 wins is nothing to laugh at. Most pitchers would sell their souls to finish with 194 wins. But surely, after 1986, all of us thought this kid was on the fast track to 300. It’s a shame he didn’t even get 200.

What’s fitting to note is this. He and Roger Clemens were the darlings of the pitching world in 1986. Gooden was coming off his incredible Cy Young season. Roger started the season with about 14 straight victories before being pegged with a loss. They eventually met in the World Series.

Roger, of course, has 251 wins and over 3000 strikeouts. Gooden finished with about 2200.

When Roger is standing on the podium at Cooperstown years from now, Dwight will only be able to stand there and think to himself about what could have been.

[/soapbox]

Zev Steinhardt

2

What do you mean he will just stand there? The Doctor will be in the Hall as well.

3

The only way Dwight Gooden will ever be in the Hall of Fame is if he either buys a ticket or sells a kilo of blow to the curators.

Just my opinion.

4

I agree that Doc threw away a good deal of his career, along with his friend Daryl Strawberry. Coincidence?

5

Grok,

Don’t forget, Keith Hernandez got flushed down the same toilet as those two.

I think the Mets did a lot of drugs back then. :wink:

6

I don’t think you can lump Hernandez in with Gooden and Strawberry. He did drugs, and he wasn’t particularly well-liked by that point in his career, but he wasn’t suspended multiple times, and his career wasn’t truncated by his excesses. Keith accomplished most or all of what his talent, skill, and intelligence would have allowed him to, while Gooden and Strawberry achieved only a fraction of their potential.