Little Known Facts About Dwight Gooden

Here are some other facts about Dwight Gooden that you may or may not know.Just about everyone knows that Dwight Gooden came to the Major Leagues in 1984 as 19-year-old rookie phenom. He won the National League Rookie of the Year award going 17 and 9 with 2.60 ERA. The following season he was virtually untouchable leading the league with a 24 and 4 record and an ERA of 1.53. In 1985 he won the National League Cy Young Award as the league's best pitcher.

Here are some other facts about Dwight Gooden that you may or may not know.

Dwight Gooden was drafted fifth overall by the New York Mets in the June 1982 amateur draft. The players drafted ahead of him were:

Shawon Dunston by the Chicago Cubs
Augie Schmidt by the Toronto Blue Jays
Jimmy Jones by the San Diego Padres
Bryan Oelkers by the Minnesota Twins

Dwight Gooden made his Major League debut on April 7 vs. the Houston Astros at the Houston Astrodome.
He pitched 5 innings, gave up 3 hits and 1 earned run. The first batter he faced in the majors was Bill Doran who grounded out to 2nd base. Dickie Thon was his first strikeout victim. He issued his first walk to Denny Walling in the 3rd inning. Alan Ashby got the first hit off of Gooden in the 3rd inning, it was a single. In his first at bat in the majors Gooden grounded into a double play.

Dwight Gooden's second start in the majors was on April 13 vs. the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. He didn't fair well in this game suffering his first loss. He pitched 3 1/3 innings giving up 7 hits and 6 runs.

Dwight Gooden made his first start at Shea Stadium on April 19 vs. the Montreal Expos. He received a no decision, pitching 5 innings, allowing 5 hits and 4 runs (none of which were earned). The Mets won the game 7-6.

On May 1, Dwight Gooden drove in his first run on a sacrifice fly vs. the Chicago Cubs. He also won his second game.

Dwight Gooden got his first Major League hit on May 11, vs. the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. It was a single in the second inning off of Fernando Valenzuela. This was also Dwight Gooden's first complete game in the Major Leagues. He gave up 4 hits; zero runs and struck out 11.

On May 25 Pedro Guerrero of the Dodgers hit the first home run off of Dwight Gooden. It was a solo home run in the 9th inning of a 2-1 Mets win.

Dwight Gooden was the youngest player to ever appear in an All-Star game.

Dwight Gooden also finished 2nd to the Cubs Rick Sutcliffe in the National League Cy Young Award balloting in 1984 and finished 15th in the Most Valuable Player Balloting.

In 1985 Dwight Gooden hit his first Major League home run off of Larry McWilliams of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In 1989 Dwight Gooden earned his first career save. He pitched four innings in relief of Bob Ojeda vs. the Chicago Cubs on September 19 in Wrigley Field. He finished his career with three saves, earning two more in 2000 with the Yankees.

In 1996 while pitching for the New York Yankees, Dwight Gooden pitched a no-hitter. At the time he was the fourth pitcher to leave the Mets and pitch a no-hitter. No Met has ever thrown a no-hitter.

Dwight Gooden appeared in eight postseason series, for the Mets, Yankees and Indians. In 12 games he posted a 0-4 record with an ERA of 3.97

While pitching for the Cleveland Indians in 1998, Gooden was thrown out of game 2 of the American League Division Series against the Boston Red Sox in the first inning. He was arguing balls and strikes.

Dwight Gooden pitched in one game for the Houston Astros in 2000. He pitched four innings and gave up four runs; He also pitched for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2000. In eight games he went 2 and 3 with a 6.63 ERA.

Dwight Gooden's last regular season appearance was on September 29 for the New York Yankees vs. the Baltimore Orioles. He relieved Andy Pettitte and pitched 2 innings. His last strikeout victim in a regular season game was Melvin Mora. Luis Matos got the last hit off of Gooden in a regular season game.

Dwight Gooden's last appearance in a Major League game came in game 5 of the 2000 American League Championship Series. Pitching for the Yankees against the Seattle Mariners, he pitched 2 1/3 innings in relief allowing 1 hit and striking out 1. John Olerud got the only hit and Jay Buhner was his last strike out victim.

Dwight Gooden finished his career with a record of 194 and 112, an ERA of 3.51 and 2293 strikeouts. He is also one of only 3 pitchers to win at least 10 games for the Mets and Yankees joining David Cone and Mike Torrez.