1985 Dwight Gooden

[Head Coach]

24-4 1.53 ERA 268 K's , 276.7 Innings pitched , 16 complete games ,8 shutouts


Best season by a pitcher I have ever seen to this day. I remember watching him as a kid. I have never seen a pitcher with a better curve than he had. When Goodens curveball was on you could forget it,it was game over. Damn shame his career got derailed by drugs and arm trouble. Looking at his arrest picture saddens me because I remember what once was for him.

What makes it sadder is that he finished his carrer with a 194-112 record when he ruined the last half of his career with drugs and injuries. If he had stayed clean he would have easily gotten 250-300 wins.

His curve was so good they called it "lord charles" instead of uncle charlie.I hope Doc gets straightened out.

[SportsTop]

Re: 1985 Dwight Gooden

I remember that season well. Gooden was about as unstoppable as any pitcher has ever been in the modern era. It's too bad both he and Strawberry could never get their personal lives and careers back on line.

Maddux's 1994 campaign (although interrupted by the strike) was the most dominant pitching performance over the course of a season I have ever witnessed.

Maddux's era: 1.56
League era: 4.26

Pedro Martinez made a solid run at it in 2000, but his injuries that season brings it down just a notch in my book.

[ehh]

Re: 1985 Dwight Gooden

Doc woulda been a no brainer for the 300 win club if he stayed heathly/sober. The fact that he got almost 200 wins w. his career is still amazing.

My father is a huge Mets fan and still has the entire '86 WS on tape and a buncha highlight tapes from the mid-80's Mets teams. I used to watch them non-stop when I was a kid (yet I still turned out to be a Yankee fan, go figure). It's a shame what happened to him and Straw.

[deeman11747]

Re: 1985 Dwight Gooden

Ranking the Seasons:

1. 1978 Ron Guidry- 25-3 1.74 ERA 273.2 innings 248 SOs 16 CG 9 CG Shutouts

2. 1985 Gooden

3. 1999 Pedro - 23-4 2.07 ERA 213 IP 313 SO 5 CG 1 CG shutout

4. 1972 Steve Carlton 27-10 1.97 ERA 346 IP 310 SO's 30 CG 8 CG shutoutd

5. 1965 Koufax 26-8 2.04 ERA 335 IP 382 SO's 27 CG 8 CG shutouts


Those are my Top 5.... obviously Carlton and Koufax pitched in a different era than the others so it makes their inflated IP numbers and SO's hard to cmpare to.

[SportsTop]

Re: 1985 Dwight Gooden

Ranking the Seasons:

1. 1978 Ron Guidry- 25-3 1.74 ERA 273.2 innings 248 SOs 16 CG 9 CG Shutouts

2. 1985 Gooden

3. 1999 Pedro - 23-4 2.07 ERA 213 IP 313 SO 5 CG 1 CG shutout

4. 1972 Steve Carlton 27-10 1.97 ERA 346 IP 310 SO's 30 CG 8 CG shutoutd

5. 1965 Koufax 26-8 2.04 ERA 335 IP 382 SO's 27 CG 8 CG shutouts


Those are my Top 5.... obviously Carlton and Koufax pitched in a different era than the others so it makes their inflated IP numbers and SO's hard to cmpare to.

I think the original poster meant a season in which he personally watched/experienced.

[deeman11747]

Re: 1985 Dwight Gooden

I think the original poster meant a season in which he personally watched/experienced.

Ahh missed that.

Anyways yeah those were just the Top 5 in my opinion. I was too young to even see Gooden pitch until later in his career.

The most dominant season I ever saw/remember was Pedro in 1999.

[dce1228]

Re: 1985 Dwight Gooden

Ranking the Seasons:

1. 1978 Ron Guidry- 25-3 1.74 ERA 273.2 innings 248 SOs 16 CG 9 CG Shutouts

2. 1985 Gooden

3. 1999 Pedro - 23-4 2.07 ERA 213 IP 313 SO 5 CG 1 CG shutout

4. 1972 Steve Carlton 27-10 1.97 ERA 346 IP 310 SO's 30 CG 8 CG shutoutd

5. 1965 Koufax 26-8 2.04 ERA 335 IP 382 SO's 27 CG 8 CG shutouts


Those are my Top 5.... obviously Carlton and Koufax pitched in a different era than the others so it makes their inflated IP numbers and SO's hard to cmpare to.

Good job laying a yankee shaped dookie in this thread... but as another poster pointed out... anyway...

As a kid I watched several of Doc's games live at Shea-- that curve was unbelievable. And from such a young kid.

I'm different from most in that I've always felt bad for Doc and for Strawberry. I'm hardly perfect or even near it in my own life so I've never gotten anything from trashing them... and this is from someone who grew up outside of Queens and was 10 years old when these guys were at their best.
They had all the talent in the world, but they never had the ability to cope with their success... in reality, they blossomed too quickly, were rushed too quickly. Both have always been liked by their teammates, and I like to remember that before I make generalizations about their characters.

[Skerik]

Re: 1985 Dwight Gooden

Relative to the times and leagues in which they played, the most amazing season I've seen is Pedro's 2000 season. Considering the average league ERA that year was 4.97, his numbers were just insane.

Gooden's 1985 season, though impressive, ranks tied for 12th place among all single-season ERA+ leaders. The league average ERA in 1985 was only 3.45. Pedro's 2000 season ranks 2nd all time, and Maddux is 4th (1994) and 5th (1995) on the list.

[SPTO]

Re: 1985 Dwight Gooden

I've seen tape of Gooden when he was young. The guy was the most dominant pitcher of his era except for the drugs. If he had stayed clean he'd be spoken of in the same breath as Roger Clemens.

Personally the most dominant season(s) i've seen were Clemens' two years in a Jays uniform. He pitched so well and the team was so confident when he was on the mound that it was almost automatic.

[SportsTop]

Re: 1985 Dwight Gooden

Good job laying a yankee shaped dookie in this thread...

Yankee shaped dookie......that is classic.

[nyisles16]

Re: 1985 Dwight Gooden

I was actually very lucky- i saw the 85 gooden twice live - once against Sutcliff, the other was perhaps the best game i ever went to - againt Fernando Valenzeula (Mets lost a 2-1 game)..

Sportsman, if i am not mistaken, werent those clemens Blue Jay teams not very good? but i also could be wrong... just because that was some pitching Clemens did for those teams..

[poster]

Re: 1985 Dwight Gooden

Gooden was one of the first stars I had the privledge of watching. What a shame this situation has become. He was nasty. I remember in 1984 when he had the stellar rookie year and the Cubs swept the Mets in Wrigley in August and beat Gooden to take control of the division. It was impressive considering he owned the Cubs after that. I mean owned. His 1985 year was amazing and up there with the best ever. It's sad what drugs can do to you

[SPTO]

Re: 1985 Dwight Gooden

.

Sportsman, if i am not mistaken, werent those clemens Blue Jay teams not very good? but i also could be wrong... just because that was some pitching Clemens did for those teams..

Eh they were pretty good. One of those years the Jays made a late season push for the playoffs but they got mired in that whole Tim Johnson "I was in Vietnam" fiasco. (it was '98. The Jays were 88-74)

Clemens' first year was pretty bad tho as the Jays were only 76-86. That was Cito Gaston's last year managing the team.

[videobastard]

Re: 1985 Dwight Gooden

Thats was a great year for gooden. He had that high leg kick at blow the ball right by you. Its a shame his career was plagued with drugs.