A hero crashes and burns....

What a waste. Remember what you may have thought back in 1985 about Dwight Gooden? I certainly thought he was a lock after only 2 years for the baseball Hall of Fame! He went 24-4, posted an incredible 1.53 ERA and won what I figured would be the first of about 8 or 10 Cy Young awards. Gooden was virtually unhitable most of the year - it was amazing to see. Being a Mets fan, all was looking up, despite their finishing 2nd to the Cardinals in the NL East that season. We had Gooden (Rookie of the Year in 1984) and Strawberry (ROY in 1983). And for a time, it seemed quite good - in 1986, the Mets put it all together and won the World Series and Gooden still looked good going 17-6 with a 2.84 ERA - not bad. But he never again had one of those years like 1985. At the time, I blamed Mel Stottlemyer, his pitching coach with the Mets for tweaking Doc's delivery. Little did we know that there was something more sinister going on in Doc's life. This lock for the Hall of Fame and his good friend Darryl Strawberry (another lock for the Hall of Fame, it seemed back in 1985) both suffered from using cocaine. They were both caught eventually and both careers suffered badly, spiraling into mediocrity and even disgrace.

Worse, today there is a report about Dwight Gooden fleeing after a traffic stop for DUI. This guy should have been one of the all time greats. Now, he is a fugitive from the law and a disgrace. His nephew, Gary Sheffield who plays for the "evil empire", the NY Yankees, was quoted as saying:

I've done pretty much everything you could possibly do, it just comes to a point where you have to let him go through what he's got to go through. Sometimes, it is God's plan for us to back off and let him do it, because the family has tried everything.

While I don't agree with his claim about it being "God's plan", it is clear that Goodens problems have gone beyond simply affecting only himself. I hope he somehow is able to wrangle in his demons and straighten out his life, but at this point, I will not be surprised if the story continues to have a sad plot with a tragic ending.

A sad, sad story. Doc, I hope you surprise me and get your life in order.