File photo/TheNYExtra.com
On a day Doc Gooden Gets #16 Retired The Mets Beat The Royals
In the 80’s Met fans were treated to a plethora of days like yesterday where Dwight Gooden carved out tons of strikeouts and they scored a few late runs to send Shea Stadium into a frenzy. The scene has now shifted to Citi but the results were the same.
After a moving ceremony in which Dwight Gooden thanked his family, friends, teammates and the fans for his glorious moment the Mets took the field and Jose Butto stepped to the mound and struck out the side in the first inning giving everyone at Citi that Dwight Gooden feel to the day. And he gave the Mets six scoreless innings and then the Met bullpen added 2 scoreless frames until the Met offense broke the scoreless tie with a Harrison Bader RBI single and a Brandon Nimmo bases loaded walk that plated 2 runs.
At that point Edwin Diaz entered the game and despite giving up a solo homer he got the job done saving a 2-1Met win giving the team their 7th win in their last 10 games. In many ways, this game reminded me of those Doc Gooden days when every one of his starts was a Queens block party with Met fans flying home with a win they would talk about for years.
Gooden and I had a nice conversation yesterday as we joked that 1984 was the rookie year for both of us and we kind of grew up together at Shea. Stadium. Then in typical Gooden fashion, he made the conversation about me telling me 2 years after my triple bypass , I looked great and was so happy to see me.
I can tell you from covering Dwight Gooden people saw 2 sides of him–the great pitcher and the person who fell victim to an addiction. But I can tell you that he had a third side and that is a caring person who really is always there for people. That is the Doc Gooden that I know and always lamented the fact that very few people saw that side.
Yesterday, we celebrated with him and remembered a time when life was simpler than today. In those days you sat at your seat in Shea and for 2 or 3 hours forgot about the harsh realities of life watching a pitching master toe the mound giving the Mets a win. Yes those realities of life still exist but the memory of that game gets you through those realities.
That is the gift Dwight Gooden gave all of us and yesterday’s Met win mirrored those images for all those that remember those Dwight Gooden block parties at Shea in the 80’s.
