Gooden, Dwight (1964—)
Gooden, Dwight (1964—)
Pitcher Dwight Gooden enjoyed one of the fastest rises to stardom in baseball history, but he ended up the sport's major casualty in the 1980s war against cocaine. Gooden won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 1984 for the New York Mets; the following year, at the age of 20, he became the youngest pitcher ever to win the Cy Young Award. Heralded as "Doctor K," Gooden quickly became the toast of New York, but by 1987 the young pitcher was forced to enter a drug rehabilitation center for his cocaine addiction. Repeated violations of league drug policy limited Gooden's effectiveness and ultimately resulted in his suspension from baseball for the 1995 season. He subsequently kicked his drug habit and enjoyed some success with the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians in the late 1990s, notably in pitching a no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners on May 14, 1996.
—Scott Tribble
Further Reading:
Shatzkin, Mike, editor. The Ballplayers: Baseball's Ultimate Biographical Reference. New York, Arbor House, 1990.