Die hard baseball fans will keep in mind that the New York Mets’ Dwight Gooden was one of the most amazing pitchers ever. Dr. K (aka Doc Gooden) combined an explosive 95-mph fastball with movement and a tremendous curveball that buckled a batter’s knees. Sadly, the four-time All-Star’s playing career and life after baseball was marred by alcohol and drug abuse. The New York Daily News said that Gooden’s DWI arrest in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey came after “three and one half years” of sobriety. When it happened, his five year old son Dylan was within the car.
At 45, Dwight Gooden faces multiple charges
As well as driving intoxicated, Gooden has been charged with leaving the scene of the two vehicle accident, reckless driving, DWI with a child passenger, and endangering the welfare of a child. The accident was reported via a 911 call.
The Daily News reported that Gooden was eventually released on his own recognizance. New Jersey Police have not mentioned what drug was involved, although Gooden has fought with alcohol and cocaine in the past. Financial struggles were part of the territory. Hopefully Dwight Gooden would use installment pay day loans appropriately if he did use them.
Missing life – and the Hall of Fame
There is no doubt that Dwight Gooden would are in the Hall of Fame had he not been battling with substance abuse during his career in baseball. Battles with the bottle and cocaine reduced his career, not to mention time spent in five separate rehab stints and in court. Yet that doesn’t even begin to touch upon how much Dwight Gooden has lost in life due to addiction. This is a fight he has with his and his family and it is private, one that might have even involved no credit check personal loans during times of hardship.
The evidence is ample regarding his play days. He finished with a 3.51 ERA and a 194-112 record. According to Baseball Reference, he has 162-game average with a 16-9 season and 7.4 strikeouts per nine innings. Even those stats don’t accurately characterize his early career magnificence. He set the Major League rookie record of 276 strikeouts and 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings in the 1984 national Rookie of the Year. You can’t count the rookie “Matches” Matt Kilroy’s 513 strikeouts for the Baltimore of American Association in 1886 since the rules were very different then and these days the American Association is considered less than Major League caliber.
Dr. K’s year was 1985
After an amazing rookie season, Gooden got much better. All he did in 1985 was go 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA and league-leading 268 strikeouts. It was one of probably the most dominant pitching seasons in Major League history. Dr. K played a key role the subsequent season with the New York Mets’ first world series triumph since 1969. Unfortunately, the red flags began to show. He skipped the team’s victory parade because he’d been on a cocaine binge, and by December 13, 1986, he was arrested after fighting police in his hometown of Tampa, Florida. There were flashes of greatness afterward, but nothing like what had come before. He played for the New York Yankees, a team that won titles in 1996 and 2000, and threw a no hitter on Might 14, 1996.
How is it possible to let someone who endangers a young child walk?
The New Jersey Police should be answering that except they won’t talk. Gooden obviously needs help, but he shouldn’t be permitted to put his five year old in danger again. Hopefully it wasn’t a position of skating on fame.
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