Dwight Gooden, nicknamed as Doc Gooden, is one of the most popular names in the sport of baseball. He has been a brilliant player, who played for 16 seasons in Major League Baseball. Doc Gooden has participated in around 430 games.
He is well-known for pitching a no-hitter and leading his team Yankees to the World Series Championship. In fact, his Baseball skills got him a place in the New York Mets Hall of Fame at a very young age. Doc Gooden has played for the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays throughout his career. He had a reputation for being one of the best pitchers in baseball during those years. At last, he retired in 2001, leaving a mark on the Baseball history. Today, we are taking you down to the memory lane and remember Doc Gooden and his achievements.
Career Highlights of Doc Gooden
Born in Tampa (Florida) in 1964, Doc Gooden debuted in major league baseball player in 1984 with New York Mets. Prior to that, Dwight Gooden was drafted in the first round in 1982 and spent one season in minors. He quickly became one of the reputed players with his fastball and curveball techniques. It got him his name Dr K, the abbreviation for strikeout, that later became ‘Doc’, hence Doc Gooden. He played for Mets for 10 years till 1994, and became Rookie of the year, won the Triple Crown and became the youngest-ever recipient of the ‘Cy Young Award’ and Pitcher of the Year Award. However, during these years, his early issues with alcohol and drugs surfaced that affected his reputation.
Next he played with New York Yankees till 1997, followed by Cleveland Indians till 1999 and Houston Astros in 2000. Meanwhile, Doc Gooden won the Silver Slugger Award.
Doc Gooden’s Net Worth
No doubt Doc Gooden earned huge respect and reputation in the field of Baseball. Certainly, it reflects in his monetary earnings as well. Apparently, as of 2020, Doc Gooden’s net worth marks $300 million. Sources say during Doc’s career he earned, “the inflation-adjusted equivalent of $50 million ($36 million total in actual dollars)”. The biggest salary that Doc ever earned was $5.9 million when he played 1993-94 season with Mets. However, he also has to suffer several losses. In 2003, Gooden was in no position to support his family; they were forced to leave their house in Florida. Later, he had to pay $13,600 to support his wife after divorce. His only source of income left was his salary as an assistant to Yankee owner.
What went wrong with Doc Gooden?
As mentioned above, Gooden got involved in drugs and alcohol. He struggled with cocaine and alcohol abuse which lasted for years. He was even suspended from 1995 season after he tested positive in the drug test. But he was involved in drugs long before. Gooden tested positive for cocaine intake during spring training in 198. Later he entered rehab center in 1987 to avoid suspension.
Mets pitching legend Gooden arrested on drug charges #cocainearrests #cocainepossession #CyYoung #drivingundertheinfluence #drugarrests #DwightGooden #MLBnews #NationalLeague #NewJersey #NewYorkMets #NewYorkYankees #sportsnews #TheNewYorkPost #TheNewYorkT https://t.co/TW97Vvl2bN pic.twitter.com/uTWeRLuwHe
— Heartland Newsfeed (@HLNF_Bulletin) July 13, 2019
All this continued even after his retirement. In 2002, he was arrested in Tampa for driving under the influence of alcohol. Three years later, he was arrested again for punching his girlfriend. Recently, he was again arrested twice in 2019 for possession of drugs and drunk driving in June and July.
