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With the lead, Gooden retires

The Tampa kid who once dominated baseball ends a rocky career satisfied he's a “better person.”

By JOHN ROMANO

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 31, 2001

TAMPA -- When it came time to say farewell to his profession, Dwight Gooden returned to the city where it began. Perhaps that was fitting for a career that never travelled quite as far as once expected.

[Times photo: Skip O'Rourke] "It was a joyous ride," Dwight Gooden said Friday after announcing his retirement as a major-league player. "I have no complaints."

Gooden, 36, announced his retirement as a baseball player Friday morning at the New York Yankees spring training complex. At the invitation of owner George Steinbrenner, he will remain with the Yankees in an unspecified role that could include coaching and community work.

Gooden leaves behind memories of a spectacular entrance into the majors, an equally momentous fall and a final, uplifting chapter.

"It was a joyous ride," Gooden said. "I have no complaints."

Now a St. Petersburg resident, Gooden was a skinny Tampa teenager who electrified the baseball world two years out of Hillsborough High in 1984. He had the kind of pitching arm few had ever seen and a presence on the mound that might have been unmatched for a player of his age.

"It was a thing of beauty to watch him pitch," said Yankees coach Lee Mazzili, a former Mets teammate.

[AP file photo] Gooden throws his first pitch for the New York Mets after returning from drug rehabilitation in this June 5, 1987 photo in New York.

Gooden set a major league record for strikeouts per nine innings as a 19-year-old rookie with the Mets, earning the nickname Dr. K. The next season he turned in one of the most overpowering seasons in history, going 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA and becoming the youngest player ever to win a Cy Young Award.

"He's bigger than just Tampa," said Devil Rays first baseman Fred McGriff, a former high school rival of Gooden's. "There's not too many guys in the history of the game who dominated like he did."

As it turned out, this perfect gift had been handed to an imperfect man.

Less than three years after his major league debut, Gooden checked in to a drug rehabilitation clinic after testing positive for cocaine. At 22, his best years already were behind him.

"I was angry, crushed, hurt, all of those things. It was like somebody announcing the news that one of my sons was involved with stuff like that. That's how I thought of him then," said Yankees pitching coach Mel Stottleymyre, who was Gooden's first pitching coach with the Mets.

"He was as good as I've ever seen at that age. His prime was a lot earlier than a lot of other pitchers."

Gooden returned to the Mets and would remain one of the National League's better pitchers for several more seasons, but shoulder problems began to limit his effectiveness. Drug problems resurfaced in 1994, and Gooden was eventually suspended for half of the season and all of '95.

Gooden would later say he first tried cocaine as a senior at Hillsborough High in 1982 and became a regular user by his rookie season. Though he seemingly kicked the habit in 1987, Gooden said problems with alcohol eventually brought him back to drug use.

"When I look back on my life now, I wouldn't trade a thing," Gooden said Friday, while eating a quick lunch in the clubhouse. "I do feel bad for the things I went through because, not only did I hurt myself, but I put my family through a lot. The people who really cared about me had to suffer as well.

[AP photo - Courtesy of Dwight Gooden] Dwight Gooden at age 13 in a 1978 photo playing Little League for Belmont Heights. He later played for Hillsborough High.

"But I think going through that made me a better person. It made me understand myself more. I used to hold a lot of stuff in, I never expressed myself, which was bad for me. I was destroying myself. Going through that time, especially '95 when I spent the year out of baseball, it forced me to do some soul-searching and really helped me to understand myself. Understand the important things in my life."

Gooden returned to the majors with the Yankees in 1996 and pitched the only no-hitter of his career. He would win three World Series rings with the Yankees, but he clearly was not the same pitcher of his youth.

A fastball that was once thrown 95 mph was decelerating into the 80s. He began toying with other pitches, such as a sinker, to help him hang on.

Gooden's career nearly ended last summer when, a month after being traded to the Devil Rays, he was released. The Rays suggested he retire and offered him a job, but Gooden returned with the Yankees weeks later. It was that experience, Gooden said, that made Friday's announcement easier to make.

"When I was released by Tampa Bay, I was really down for a few days. But then, I began to accept it. I figured maybe it was really over," Gooden said. "I started getting involved with my kids' activities at school and going to Little League games. When the Yankees called, I figured I'd give it one more try. So I knew then that this was it for me. I was on borrowed time."

All these years, all those fastballs later, it is only natural to wonder about what might have been.

From Gooden's perspective, that is a two-way street: What might have been had he stayed away from drugs, but also what might have been had he not made a recovery.

"Think about it," said Ray Negron, a Gooden confidante since the suspension in 1994. "He put in 17 years and they weren't always easy. The way he came back is a testament to the man he is."

When he threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Friday's game at Legends Field, Gooden was given the standing ovation of a conquering hero, although his greatest conquests were on fields few would have imagined.

He hugged catcher Jorge Posada and, as he walked off the field, was met near the first-base line by all of his teammates.

One by one, they embraced while Auld Lang Syne played on the stadium's public address system.

When there was no one left to hug, Doc Gooden walked away.

-- Staff writer Marc Topkin contributed to this report.

A chronology

• 1984 -- Dwight Gooden becomes a big-leaguer at 19. He is the National League Rookie of the Year after going 17-9 with a 2.60 ERA and 276 strikeouts in 218 innings.
• 1985 -- He goes 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA and at 20 becomes the youngest pitcher to win the Cy Young Award.
• 1986 -- He goes 17-6 with a 2.84 ERA and leads the Mets to the World Series.
• DEC. 13, 1986 -- He is arrested after he and four companions scuffle with Tampa officers at a traffic stop. He later gets three years' probation.
• APRIL 2, 1987 -- He undergoes cocaine rehabilitation for 28 days.
• JUNE 28, 1994 -- He is suspended for 60 days for violating his aftercare program and failing two drugs tests.
• JULY 22, 1994 -- He checks into Betty Ford Center and stays until Aug. 14.
• NOV. 4, 1994 -- He fails additional drug tests and is suspended for the 1995 season.
• MAY 14, 1996 -- Now a Yankee, he pitches his first and only no-hitter, against Seattle at Yankee Stadium.
• 2000 -- He lasts eight games with the hometown Rays before being released.
• MARCH 30, 2001 -- In camp with the Yankees, he retires.

Sources: Times files, MLB.com

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