Remembering Mets History (1984) Dwight Gooden Sets Rookie Record For Most Strikeouts In a Season

-
Wednesday September 12th, 1984: On this night Dwight Gooden set the single season strike out record for Rookies, in what was one of his most dazzling performances of the year as well as his career. Centerfieldmaz was one of 12,876 at Shea Stadium that night to witness, in person Doctor K at his best.

Davey Johnson's Mets (81-65) had had a spectacular year, which was the first winning season for the franchise since 1976. Among the highlights was Rookie phenom, Dwight Gooden. The Mets would finish in second place that year & were not mathematically out of the pennant race just yet.

 But being seven games out with sixteen left to play,
they were pretty much eliminated, hence the small crowd. Personally, after being on hand for so many of Gooden's games that season, I had to be at this one to see the record broken.

Dwight Gooden went up against John Tudor for Chuck Tanner's sixth place Pittsburgh Pirates (63-83). Tudor would move on the St, Louis the next year & become a key to their staff in the Mets Cardinals rivalry over the next few seasons.



 Gooden actually started out the 1st inning with no strike outs but retiring the side in order. 

In the 2nd inning, Gooden struck out Tony Pen & Jim Morrison. In the 3rd he started the inning fanning Doug Frobel & Denny Gonzalez, to total 4 K's.

In the 4th inning, he fanned Lee Lacy to start the inning. Johnny Ray then singled. Jason Thompson flew out & Gooden struck out Tony Pena for number six.

In the home 4th inning, Keith Hernandez led off with a single. Hubie Brooks then hit a two run HR, giving the Mets & Gooden all, they needed. It was Brooks' 16th HR of the year. Everyone just sat back, cheered & watched Dr. K go to work.

By now his fastball was rising, as he was just blowing hitters away. No one had a chance. The ball could be heard popping in catcher, Mike Fitzgerald's glove throughout Shea Stadium. The fans cheered every pitch & rose chanting every time there was two strike outs. 


The K Korner in left field was putting up the K Cards with every Pirate that went down on a strike out. These were good times at Shea Stadiums, times that fans tried to relieve in years to come. 

But if you weren't there in Gooden's heyday you will never know how special it was to see him pitch & the electric energy, he set off at Shea Stadium.

In the 5th inning, Gooden struck out the side, overpowering Morrison, Frobel & Denny Gonzalez to total nine strikeouts on the night.
In the 6th inning, with the crowd aware of the record about to be tied, Shea was on its feet as Gooden struck out John Tudor to tie Herb Score's rookie strike out record of 245 set in 1955. 

Then Marvell Wynne stepped in & was blown away for the strike out rookie record #246 on the season. It was also Gooden's 11th K on the night. 

He would go on to strike out two in the 7th & three in the eight inning, totaling 16 strike outs on the night. He finished up with a five-hit shutout walking no one. 


Trivia: The 16 strike outs would also break Nolan Ryan's club record of 14 strike outs for a rookie set in 1968.

Gooden would strike out 16 more batters in his next outing, although he took a 2-1 loss to the Phillies. He would have five straight games with ten or more strike outs and accomplish that feat in seven of eight times. 

 On the season the 19 year old Gooden would strike out ten or more batters in a game 14 times, breaking Tom Seaver's record set in 1971. 

Also, Godens 16 Ks were the most for a Mets pitcher in the last ten years.

After Gooden broke the record set by Herb Score, Score who was an Indian's broadcaster at the time, appeared on the Diamond Vision saying: ''Congratulations. You're a fine-looking young pitcher, and I wish you a great deal of success for many years to come.''

Quotes: Dwight Gooden- ''Sometimes, you think about it, You think about it going home, or lying in bed before falling asleep. You think, 'Am I dreaming?' It's a great, great feeling.''



Quotes- Darryl Strawberry: ''He's going to be one of the overpowering pitchers in the game. It's most unusual to see a 19-year-old come up here and set records. He should win rookie of the year hands up. I can't see anybody close to him. But I don't think he's going to get excited by any of this. He doesn't get excited about anything.''

Gooden went on to win the 1984 Rookie of the Year Aard, leading the NL in strike outs (276) going 17-9 with three shut outs, seven complete games & a 2.60 ERA (2nd in the NL).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Former Mets Broadcaster: Fran Healy ( 1984-2005)

-
Image
Francis Xavier Healy was born on September 6, 1946 in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The big six foot five catcher, attended American International University at Springfield. In 1964 he was signed by the Cleveland Indians, spending five years in their minors leagues. In 1968 he was drafted as the 56th pick in the expansion draft, chosen by the Kansas City Royals. He would make his MLB debut playing six games there in 1969 & spending the next year in the minors. In October of 1970, he was traded to the San Francisco Giants for Bob Garibaldi. Healy played in 47 games for the 1971 Western Division Champion Giants, as the backup catcher to Dick Dietz. He hit .280 with two HRs & 11 RBIs. He did not play in the NLCS & after hitting just .152 the next year in 45 games, he was traded back to Kansas City. He became the Royals main catcher in 1973 playing solid behind the plate, throwing out 44% of would be base stealers. That year he had the distinction of catching Steve Busb
Read more

Remembering Mets History: (1977) The Felix Millan / Ed Ott Brawl In Pittsburgh

-
Image
Friday August 12th, 1977: Joe Torre's last place Mets (47-66) traveled to Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh for a double header with Chuck Tanner's second place Pirates (66-49). The bad times were underway for the late seventies Mets and tonight marked the end of another key player's career from the 1973 NL Champion team. In the first game of a double header, Jerry Koosman (8-13) took a 3-1 loss to Jim Rooker (10-6) & the Pirates. Both pitchers went the distance, with Koosman giving up three runs on six hits & Rooker giving up the lone Met run on nine hits. In the night cap Mets started Bob Myrick against Pittsburgh's  Bruce Kison.  In the 2nd inning Myrick himself added an RBI base hit making it 1-0 Mets. Lee Mazzilli added a two run HR in the 4th putting the Mets up 3-2. The Mets were battling, but the Pirates tied it up at 3-3 in the sixth inning.  Met Manager; Joe Torre made a double switch bringing in Felix Millan to play second base, as Do
Read more

Remembering Bobby Ojeda's Tragic Boating Accident (1993)

-
Image
Steve Olin, Tim Crews & Bob Ojeda March 22 nd 1993: was an off day from Spring Training, for three Cleveland Indians pitchers; Former Mets 1986 World Champion pitcher; Bobby Ojeda, Tim Crews & Steve Olin. The three friends, took out an 18-foot open-air bass boat & went out fishing & gator hunting in the darkness of the evening on Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Tragedy struck, when the boat rammed into a private dock that jutted out some 250 feet into the still waters. Two other Cleveland Indians personnel had arrived to meet the fishing party just as the horror took place. They heard Bob Ojeda saying they needed help. The two men jumped into the water and called out for someone to call 911. 27 year old pitcher; Steve Olin was killed instantly. 31 year old pitcher; Tim Crews was alive but was struggling to breathe suffering from massive head wounds. Bobby Ojeda was in & out of shock, he was suffering from head lacerations but was coherent. The
Read more

The 1970's Oakland A's Ball Girls- (MLB's First)

-
Image
In the days of the early seventies the Oakland A's won three straight Championships & changed the face of baseball forever.  The team's controversial owner was known to be cheap in paying his star players & known to meddle in the teams on field affairs. He drove managers crazy & even had Dick Williams resign after winning his second straight World Series. But Finley also revolutionized baseball in many other ways. He was instrumental in getting the designated hitter in the American League & have the World Series played at night, so fans could attend after work. He gave his players fancy names like Catfish, Blue Moon & True Blue.  When his star Reggie Jackson refused to shave his beard, he encouraged the whole team to grow facial hair by paying them $200 each.  The A's team even grew their hair long, a sign of the times. But before that baseball players had not had facial or long hair since the 1800's.  He introduced bright colored yello
Read more

Remembering Vixen Founder / Guitarist; Jan Kuehnemund (1961-2013)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Jan Kuehnemund, the founding member of the all female metal band Vixen. Jan was a fantastic guitarist, song writer & women pioneer in Heavy Metal. I am a huge fan of hard rock all girl bands & Vixen were one my long time favorites. Janice Lynn Kuehnemund was born November 18th, 1961 in St. Paul Minnesota. The female guitarist formed one of the first all female Metal bands in Minnesota with singer Janet Gardner while in high school in 1980. By 1985 they moved the band to Los Angles California, to be part of the Heavy Metal scene. In 1987 the classic Vixen line up of Jan Kuehnemund (lead guitar) Janet Gardner (vocals/ guitar) Share Pederson (bass) & Roxy Petrucci (drums) formed & released their debut album the following year. Vixen 1988 In a world of all male Heavy Metal bands during its heyday, Vixen were groundbreaking in being an all female metal band. The Runaways, with Joan Jett & Lita Ford
Read more