Long-Lost Doc
I saw the report on ESPN last night about Dwight Gooden getting busted again on a cocaine-related offense, as I was talking to a younger colleague on the phone. My reaction: "Oh damn, Doc Gooden, not again.'' The younger colleague's reaction to that: "Doc Gooden - Doc Gooden - OK, I should know who that is - who is he?''
Wow.
That's how far Gooden has fallen, from phenom, legend and sure Hall of Famer, to cautionary tale, to unrecognizable. Well, that is proof that he still works as a cautionary tale. It just means that his story requires an introduction now. And it's only been 20 years since he blew up huge, and 10 years since he threw a no-hitter and won a World Series ring. I thought Kirby Puckett's time on stage had passed quickly. More time has passed for Doc, yet it still seems as if Gooden's comet rose faster, blazed brighter and burned out faster than nearly anyone of his magnitude I can remember.
More proof of how far he's fallen off the radar: the New York papers could barely squeeze the story in amidst everything else going on; once upon a time, anything that happened with Doc and Darryl (Strawberry, that is, whose life took a disturbingly identical turn) merited not just the back pages, but the front. The online versions of the Times and Post don't even have stories about it. The Daily News and Newsday do.
Of course, if you're of the demographic that reads blogs, you might be wondering, "Well ... why are we supposed to know who he is?'' Here's as good an explanation as any I've seen, by ESPN.com's Sports Guy, Bill Simmons, from last summer. I knew at some point I'd have to say "You had to see him to believe him,'' a phrase that drove me crazy when I was younger (I heard it most often about Jim Brown and Oscar Robertson), but now I say it, and it's tough to describe what a spectacle it was when Dwight Gooden pitched for the Mets in the mid-80s, before it started falling apart.
The photos - mug shots - that accompany these stories are painful and depressing. Doc looks like a 41-year-old addict who can't stay out of jail. That's not what he was, but that's what he is now. In case you didn't recognize the name.
Comments
Wow. As a 23-year-old who has been a baseball fan since 1993 (when Doc was already on his way down), I'm stunned that any colleague of yours - no matter the age - would not know Dwight "Doc" Gooden. You used the world colleague, but are we to assume he is a baseball fan? If so, that's a real shame, and is indeed telling.
Posted by: Kevin | March 15, 2006 2:43 PM
You had to see them to believe them - I don't know your age but I'm old enough to have seen Jim Brown and Oscar play in Baltimore. Jim was the most effortless runner I've ever seen and after each play it looked like he could barely make it back to the huddle. I got to see Oscar play up close at the Civic Center and was amazed he was so good considering he spent the entire game barking at the refs. I think the most elegant player I saw in that era was Elgin Baylor and the best shooter was Jerry West (Zeke from Cabin Creek). The hardest worker was Bill Russel by far - I'd take him over Wilt any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred | March 16, 2006 7:26 AM