DATE SHOT: 1991 SUBJECT: Dwight Gooden PHOTOGRAPHER: Barry Colla APPROXIMATE SIZE: 3-1/2"x5-1/2" COMMENTS / CONDITION: See scans for further details including condition. BIO: Dwight Eugene Gooden (Doc, Dr. K.) was born in 1964 in Tampa, FL. He played major league baseball from 1984 to 2000 as pitcher for the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, appeared in the 1986 World Series, and was selected 4 times as an All-Star. Gooden was a sensation when he first came up with the New York Mets, leading the league in strikeouts in his first two seasons. He was the 1984 National League Rookie of the Year (the youngest NL Rookie of the Year, through 2012) and followed that up by being the 1985 National League Cy Young Award and Triple Crown winner. All of this happened before he had turned 21. His career after 1985 was full of ups and downs. He had drug problems and injury problems, but was still able to contribute to the World Series-winning New York Yankees teams of 1998 and 2000. He threw a no-hitter in 1996 against a Seattle Mariners lineup that included Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Edgar Martinez. He had a number of run-ins with the law in the 1980s and 1990s, most of them related to substance abuse, but seemed to turn his life around after retiring from baseball. In the late 2000s, he served as senior vice-president of the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League, until November 2009. He then accepted a position as a spring training instructor with the Mets, but backed down without offering an explanation. He is the uncle of Gary Sheffield. SKU: L10236
Item: L10236
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