He helped the Mets win the World Series the following year. He threw for four more clubs over the next four years, but never matched his success with the Mets. Gooden was inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 2010.
Gooden topped the league in all three categories and was unanimously selected as the NL Cy Young Award winner. With one of the most dominant seasons ever recorded in Major League Baseball history, he became the youngest player to ever earn the top prize for a pitcher. The New York Mets won the division title with a 93-69 record, but they were eliminated from playoff contention on the final day of the season when their opponent, the Atlanta Braves, beat them handily.
Dwight John Gooden was born on January 4th, 1964 in Brooklyn, New York. He was raised by his mother after his father died when he was young. His mother had several boyfriends who also lived in the house with them, but none of them stayed long enough for Gooden's mother to get married. She had another son when she was 16 years old and then she got married to a man named Fred Goodman. They had a daughter together named Janice.
When Gooden was 11 years old, his mother decided to move her family to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, so she could be near her sister. There, he met other baseball players and this inspired him to play baseball himself. During this time, his mother bought a house in Tampa where Gooden would attend high school. He went to Tampa Bay High School where he played baseball for the school team.
Gooden was banned by Major League Baseball in 1995 after failing a drug test. He joined the Yankees the next year, winning the World Series with them in 1996 and 2000 before retiring in 2001. Following his retirement, he was arrested multiple times in Florida. In February 2009, he was charged with armed robbery after police said he had pointed a gun at another man during a traffic stop. In May 2010, he was also charged with felony battery after being accused of hitting his girlfriend during an argument. In November 2011, he pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a firearm and was sentenced to one year of probation.
During his time with the Yankees, Gooden helped lead New York to the World Series in both 1996 and 2000. He went 21-4 that season helping the Yankees win their first championship since 1962. In the 1996 World Series against Atlanta Braves, he had a record of 3-1 with a 2.44 ERA. The Yankees lost the series 4-3. In the 2000 World Series against San Diego Padres, he had a record of 1-1 with a 0.94 ERA.
After his retirement, Gooden was arrested for armed robbery, battery, and drug charges. He failed two drug tests while with the Yankees, resulting in his ban. On January 24, 2009, it was reported that Gooden had been shot in the stomach several times during a robbery attempt in South Florida.
"Doc" Gooden's anchor pitch was a blistering 98-mph fastball, with a sweeping curve thrown in when you least expected it. That lethal combination of pitches propelled him to the top of the game during the 1980s. At the age of 19, Gooden was not only nominated to the National League all-star game, but he also struck out the side in his first inning.
Gooden started his career with the New York Mets, where he made an immediate impact by going 16-4 with a 2.56 ERA in 1998 innings. The following year, he went 20-8 with a 2.44 ERA and led the league in wins. In 2001, he won the NL Cy Young Award after compiling 33 wins.
During his time with the Mets, Gooden developed a reputation for being difficult to deal with, which may have contributed to his being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 1989 season. There, he continued to dominate, winning 30 games in 1991 and 1992. He was voted into his first of four All-Star Games while with the Dodgers.
After eight seasons with the Dodgers, Gooden signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees in 1996. He went 15-5 with a 3.38 ERA that year and helped lead the Yankees to their first World Series title in 18 years. He followed this up by going 14-8 with a 3.42 ERA in 1997 and helping the Yankees repeat as champions.
He was unquestionably a Hall of Famer. Unfortunately, his career crashed and burned after 1991. Despite winning the Silver Slugger award for pitchers in 1992, his career swiftly became an illustration of what drugs and legal troubles can do to a guy. He finished 71-59 in the eight seasons that followed his incredible run. He died in 2016 at the age of 58.
Welch made his debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1978 and stayed with them until 1985, when he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers. He finished out his career with three more years in Seattle before retiring. In between tours with different teams, he had a fantastic run with the Pirates from 1984 to 1991. During that period, he won two NL Cy Young awards and led the league in wins four times.
He was also very good in World Series games. Welch had two great starts, one in 1981 and another in 1990, as the Brewers beat the Oakland Athletics and Atlanta Braves, respectively.
In 2001, he was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He is now part of the Veterans' Committee selection process.
1975 Inductions into the Ralph Kiner/Hall of Fame
Kiner worked in the Mets' broadcast booth for more than 50 years, becoming a favorite of a new generation of baseball fans. Kiner was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975. He died on February 6, 2014.
Kent Hrbek, like Allison and Santana, survived only one year on the ballot and got 1% of the Hall of Fame vote. Hrbek only appeared in one All-Star game (due to East Coast bias), but his two World Series championships and 293 home runs should have given him more respect. He even has his own day named after him (March 24). Hrbek was drafted by the Minnesota Twins after high school but didn't sign until after college. He played three seasons for Minnesota before being traded to Toronto during the 1989 season. He spent one more season with the Blue Jays before retiring. Hrbek now works as a baseball analyst for TSN.
He had a great career as a Twin, winning the AL MVP award in 1990 when he led the league in hits (230) and homers (42). His.462 average that season was second among all hitters behind Mike Schmidt's.500 mark.
Hrbek made his MLB debut on April 17, 1987 at age 26 vs. Oakland. He came off the bench to replace an injured Dave Winfield and hit a home run over the left field wall to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead in the first inning. In Game 3 of the 1988 World Series against San Francisco, Hrbek went 4-for-4 with a homer and 7 RBI as the Twins took a 2-1 lead. They would go on to win in 5 games.
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