In 60 years of New York Mets baseball, the team has been known more for its strong pitching rather than hitting. Today, one of the greatest pitchers in team history celebrates a birthday, as Dwight Gooden turns 57 years old. In tribute to Doc’s birthday, let’s take a trip down memory lane at his absolutely absurd 1985 season.
Heading into the ’85 season, Gooden was already a sensation. As a 19-year-old in 1984, he took the National League by storm, going 17-9 with a 2.60 ERA and leading the league in strikeouts (267), FIP (1.69), WHIP (1.073), H/9 (6.6), HR/9 (0.3), bWAR (5.5), and K/9 (11.4) en route to the Rookie of the Year Award and a runner-up finish to Rick Sutcliffe of the Chicago Cubs.
The 1984 Mets were clearly a team on the rise. Keith Hernandez was terrific, Darryl Strawberry clubbed 27 home runs to lead the team, and future championship pieces Rafael Santana, Ray Knight, Kevin Mitchell, Sid Fernandez and Ron Darling all played varying roles as the team improved from 68-94 in 1983 to 90-72 in ’84.
So the expectations were naturally elevated for both Gooden and the Mets heading into the 1985 season. The Mets responded with a 98-64 season, painfully second in the NL East behind the St. Louis Cardinals, and Gooden turned in the greatest performance by an individual player that has been seen in the last 99 years.
That is a bold claim, but it’s based in numbers. Per Baseball-Reference’s calculation of WAR, Gooden posted a total of 13.3 WAR in 1985 (12.2 pitching, 1.1 with his bat), the 20th-best season of all-time. Since 1900, that total has been eclipsed only three times (Walter Johnson, 14.3 in 1912 and 16.5 in 1913; and Babe Ruth, 14.2 in 1923). No one – not Mays nor Bonds nor Trout – has come within 1 WAR of that total since. It was an unreal performance for a 20-year-old, and one that we are unlikely to ever see again.
A 24-4 record. 1.53 ERA. 16 complete games. Eight shutouts. 276.2 innings. 268 strikeouts. A 229 ERA+. Gooden had a video game season, except this was real life.
APRIL
Gooden’s first start of the season was not a harbinger of things to come for the young ace. Against the dastardly St. Louis Cardinals, Doc allowed four runs (three earned) in 6.0 innings on Opening Day, as the Mets eventually won in 10 innings on Gary Carter’s walk-off home run off Neil Allen. He got his first win five days later against Cincinnati, throwing a four-hit shutout and striking out 10.
Gooden’s ERA was 4.50 after his first start, and 1.80 after his second. It would not rise above 1.89 for the rest of the season. He finished the month of April with a 3-1 record, a 1.38 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 39.0 innings.
MAY
The second month of the season was more of the same for Gooden, striking out 13 Phillies on the 10th, and 14 Giants on the 30th, both in complete game efforts. His start against Philadelphia at Shea Stadium on the 10th was a three-hit shutout and registered a game score of 91, his second-highest of the season. Doc ended the month in fashion, retiring the final nine Giants, including five on strikeouts for his third complete game of the year.
At the end of May, Gooden was 7-3 with a 1.79 ERA with 89 strikeouts in 85.1 innings.
JUNE
This is a particularly crazy month because Doc made six starts, threw three complete games and lasted eight innings in the other three. That’s the kind of stuff that would have people calling for the manager’s head on Twitter these days. Gooden twirled his third shutout of the season on June 19 against the Chicago Cubs, striking out nine and allowing six hits.
By the end of June, Gooden was 11-3 with a 1.65 ERA and had 134 strikeouts in 136.1 innings.
JULY
The dog days of summer got off to a rough start, as Gooden pitched on three days’ rest on July 4, and turned in his shortest start of the year at the Atlanta Braves. He lasted just 2.1 innings, walking four and allowing two runs on two hits. Gooden bounced back, however, out-dueling Houston’s Bob Knepper and Mike Scott 1-0 in the Astrodome on July 14 (5 hits, 11 strikeouts), and registering another five-hit shutout on July 30 against Montreal while fanning 10.
Through the end of July, it is obvious that the Cy Young Award is Gooden’s to lose. He is 16-3 with a 1.65 ERA, and 173 strikeouts in 179.2 innings.
AUGUST
For most pitchers, a month where they go 4-1 with a 2.45 ERA is a great month, but for Dwight Gooden in 1985, it was his worst month by ERA of the season. He recorded his fifth shutout of the season on August 20 against San Francisco, striking out a season-high 16 while bouncing back from an outing against the Phillies where he gave up five runs in five innings. In his next start, he picked up his 20th win of the season, while allowing two earned runs in six innings against San Diego.
Heading into the final month of the season, Gooden stands at 20-4 with a 1.81 ERA and 219 strikeouts in 223.2 innings.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER
Just as it looked like Gooden might be cooling off, he turned in one of the greatest months a pitcher has ever had. In his first start of the month, he threw nine innings of five-hit, 10-strikeout ball against the Dodgers on September 6 as the Mets won 2-0 in 13 innings. Then on the 11th, nine scoreless innings against St. Louis in a game lost 1-0 in 10 innings. That was followed by a two-hit shutout of the Phillies on September 16 in which he struck out 11 and put up an absurd 92 game score. Then he allowed an unearned run in win against Pittsburgh in which he lasted only eight innings, then followed up with another shutout at Wrigley Field against the Cubs.
By the time Gooden finally allowed an earned run in the 2nd inning against St. Louis on October 2, he had gone 49.2 innings without allowing an earned run. That didn’t hurt, as he still beat the Cardinals to pick up his 24th win of the year.
In September/October, Gooden went 4-0 with a 0.34 ERA, and struck out 49 batters in 53.0 innings. He was the unanimous Cy Young Award winner, and finished fourth in MVP voting.
Gooden never quite lived up to the promise of those first two seasons, and off the field issues aside, how could he? The bar was literally set at the single greatest season since 1923, no one could measure up to that on a yearly basis. But what he did was go on to write his name all over the Mets record books, and is the second-greatest pitcher in franchise history behind only Tom Seaver.
But for that one glorious season in 1985, Doc electrified the city and the baseball world.
Great piece Joe. Gooden certainly was special. In today’s game, he would be monitored to six innings and 80 pitches to make sure he doesn’t get burned out. The 4th highest WAR in history… w o w!!
Of course we would be looking to trade him for prospects when he turned 32 and had an injury…
What I recall concerning Gooden and his 1.1 hitting WAR was that he was a natural lefty hitter that the Mets wouldn’t allow to hit lefty because it exposed his right elbow to pitches, so he was hitting from his off side his whole career.
Also, what I gather from the article is that if Gooden’s 13.3 bWAR was only eclipsed three times since 1900, but is the 20th all time, those guys in the 1800’s must have been beasts to have the other 16 spots!
This was a enjoyable and nostalgic article. Gooden in 1985 was phenomenal.
Joe, Thanks for the walk through memory lane. Good times, good times. And, happy birthday Doc.
Hard to believe he only finished fourth in the MVP voting, of course WAR did not exist in those days.