Be Good Doc Gooden

By The Franklin Lakes Journal

Published: March 25, 2010

Suspected of driving under the influence, Gooden was arrested after leaving the scene of a two-car crash on Old Mill Road in Franklin Lakes. The FLOW area is no stranger to DUI arrests, but Gooden’s celebrity stature brought national attention as it revived his reputation for substance abuse.

Franklin Lakes has it’s share of celebrities, famous and infamous, and many residents in the area were aware of Dwight Gooden as  the middle-aged former baseball player  has lent his celebrity status to numerous local fundraising events.  Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz recently invited Gooden to act as an advisor with the team, and to let Gooden know “he’s got a family.” It was not known whether the arrest would jeopardize his new position which would involve mentoring young players on the pressures of playing in New York.

Under the present circumstances, it may sound ironic to have Gooden in a mentoring position, but there are few who know the pressures of New York baseball better than Gooden. It was in 1985 at age 20 when Gooden pitched one of the most dominating seasons in baseball history with 24 wins, 268 strikeouts, and a 1.53 ERA. There was great media speculation about Gooden’s Hall of Fame prospects as he turned 21.

Professional sports intrinsically has a lot of hype, and in the mid-1980s it consumed New York City. Commuters in Manhattan’s Penn Station followed his season’s strikeout totals under an enormous photograph of Gooden in mid-motion. On Manhattan’s West Side, a multi-story Sports Illustrated mural of Gooden painted on the side of a midtown building greeted commuters by bus, car and sidewalk; it’s caption said “How does it feel to look down the barrel of a loaded gun?”