This is Dwight Gooden’s 1985 card. As Rich Zawadski put it, he was the “first A&C starter since 1978 Ron Guidry (1981 Nolan Ryan – Strike) and the last until 1995 Greg Maddux (1994 Maddux – Strike).”
At the ripe age of 20, Doc Gooden had a career year for the Mets. He went an amazing 24-4 with a microscopic 1.53 ERA with 268 strikeouts (leading the league in all three categories). He also topped the league with 16 complete games and 276 2/3 innings. That was good enough for APBA to reward him a grade of AYZ.
| Split | W | L | G | GS | CG | SHO | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 Totals | 24 | 4 | .857 | 1.53 | 35 | 35 | 16 | 8 | 276.2 | 198 | 51 | 47 | 13 | 69 | 268 |
No doubt, Doc Gooden’s baseball stock was pretty high after the 1985 season. Cynics will say that his second season in baseball was indeed his “career year” as he never surpassed his ‘85 totals in wins, strikeout, innings, or ERA ever again. He never actually even reached the 20-win mark.
Optimists, however, will point out that despite his obstacles, he did go on to pitch 2,800 innings through 16 years with a very respectable 194-112 win-loss record.
Note that Dwight Gooden wasn’t too bad with the bat in 1985 either. He had hit numbers 0-7-7-8-8-8-9-9 and even managed two 14s. For his career, he had seven homeruns at the plate.
Thanks, Rich!
Excellent post, plus Rich knows his APBA cards indeed! Dwight Gooden is one of those tales of when he was great,boy was he great! The sad — what could have been? If it were not for all the drugs, same with his teammate Darryl Strawberry. Plus who knew Mets would only win one in that decade? So much potential, we have to remember the better parts & learn from the mistakes.