The Thrill of Victory, The Agony of the Mets: Dwight Gooden

There have been many highly touted prospects who never lived up to the lofty expectations after they were called up to the majors.  Former No. 1 overall pick David Clyde went from being a Texas high school superstar (18-0, 0.18 ERA, 328 Ks in 148 IP) to the Texas Rangers almost overnight in 1973.  He pitched his final game in the majors before his 25th birthday.  Similarly, Joe Charboneau's first season with the Cleveland Indians in 1980 saw him win the American League Rookie of the Year Award and be the subject of a novelty song ("Go Joe Charboneau").  He played just 70 more games in the big leagues after his inaugural campaign, setting the record for fewest career games by a former Rookie of the Year.

Charboneau played his final game in the majors in June 1982, the same month that the Mets drafted a 17-year-old high school pitching phenom from Tampa, Florida with the fifth overall pick.  Before he was out of his teens, the prospect would win his own Rookie of the Year Award.  Then at age 20, he was the unanimous winner of the Cy Young Award.  A year later, he helped the Mets win a World Series trophy.  Three years, three individual and team awards.  But what should have been the beginning of a Hall of Fame career ended up leading to his downfall as a major league pitcher.  A small taste of success on the field led to a much larger taste in illegal activities off it.  And before long, his performance on the field for the Mets became the least of his worries.

Oh, what might have been for the good doctor.  (Ronald C. Modra/Sports Imagery/Getty Images)

Dwight Eugene Gooden was the third pitcher selected in the 1982 June Amateur Draft after Jimmy Jones (Padres) and Bryan Oelkers (Twins).  But whereas Jones and Oelkers failed to have much of an impact on the teams that drafted them, Gooden made the Mets better as soon as he put on a major league uniform for the first time in 1984.

At Hillsborough High School in Tampa, Gooden struck out 130 batters in just 74 innings during his senior year.  As he adjusted to minor league baseball, Gooden struck out fewer batters.  Doc - as he was so named by a family friend when he was in Little League - made 11 starts in his first professional season and fanned 84 batters in 78⅔ innings.  Promoted to Single-A Lynchburg in 1983, Gooden became unhittable, striking out 300 batters in 191 innings.  When the Mets' Triple-A team qualified for the International League playoffs, Gooden made the jump from Lynchburg to Tidewater at the request of Tides' manager Davey Johnson.

"I kept asking for him that year," Johnson said.  "I knew his command.  The Mets had taken Walt Terrell and Tom Gorman away from me that year, they took Ron Darling, and I kept yelling, 'Give me Gooden.'  After he pitched a 1-0 shutout that won the championship for Lynchburg, they finally let me have him in the playoffs."

Facing hitters who were one step away from the majors didn't faze the 18-year-old Gooden, as he struck out 19 more batters and recorded a complete-game victory over the Denver Bears.  Tidewater ended up winning the Little World Series, earning Johnson a promotion to the Mets to manage the big league club.  Although Gooden was still in his teens, Johnson wanted him on the Opening Day roster in 1984, which made general manager Frank Cashen uneasy because of what had happened to another top prospect just three years earlier.

"Davey told us he'd protect the kid, but Frank Cashen was leery," Mets vice president of operations Lou Gorman said.  "Frank remembered how Tim Leary had hurt his arm and he didn't want to take a chance on an 18-year-old hurting his arm after a long season."

In 1981, Leary - another former first round pick - was promoted from Double-A to the big leagues, making his debut with the Mets on April 12 at cold Wrigley Field in Chicago.  His first appearance lasted two innings, as an elbow injury forced him out of the game.  By the time Gooden was pitching for Tidewater in September 1983, Leary had not yet returned to the majors and would only start nine more games for the Mets before he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in 1985.

With a feeling of trepidation, Cashen agreed to have Gooden on the Mets' Opening Day roster as a 19-year-old in 1984.  There were no weather concerns for Doc in his first start, as the game was played indoors at the Houston Astrodome.  Gooden was sharp in his debut, holding the Astros to one run and three hits in five innings to earn his first major league victory.  He was not as fortunate in his second appearance, which, in an interesting bit of irony, was also played at a chilly Wrigley Field.

One day after the three-year anniversary of Leary's ill-fated debut, Gooden was knocked out of the game in the fourth inning after allowing six runs and ten base runners.  Much to the relief of Cashen, Gooden felt fine physically after the game.  In fact, Doc took the lessons he learned from the defeat and used it to carve out a wildly successful career against the Cubs, winning 28 of his next 31 decisions versus Chicago.

Rick Sutcliffe beat Doc for the 1984 Cy Young, but Doc beat Chicago the rest of his career.  (Ronald C. Modra/Getty Images)

Through his first eight starts, Gooden was just 3-3 with a 4.15 ERA.  But in late May, after a 14-strikeout performance against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Shea Stadium, Gooden became the pitcher Johnson saw in the minors.  In his final 23 starts, Doc went 14-6 with a 2.22 ERA, holding opposing hitters to a .197 batting average and .539 OPS.  Gooden struck out 217 batters in those 23 starts en route to setting a new single-season strikeout record for rookies.  Included in his stellar second half were back-to-back 16-strikeout games against the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies in mid-September when the Mets were trying to stay in their first pennant race in nearly a decade.

Unfortunately, the Mets lost Gooden's second 16-K game, and with it, lost any hope of catching the first-place Cubs in the division.  Despite having to settle for a second-place finish, the Mets had ended a seven-year stretch of losing baseball at Shea, one that began when the last pitching virtuoso, Tom Seaver, was traded away from the team.  New York finished the 1984 campaign with a 90-72 record, just the second time in franchise history that the team reached the 90-win plateau.  It would not be the last time the Mets won that many games during Gooden's tenure in New York.

The 1985 campaign began with the National League's Rookie of the Year trying to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump.  It ended with Gooden completing what is arguably the greatest season by a Mets starting pitcher in franchise history.  With off-season acquisition Gary Carter behind the plate, Gooden flourished in his second year with the team, winning the Triple Crown of pitching, as he led the league in wins (24), ERA (1.53) and strikeouts (268).  Doc also paced all National League pitchers in innings pitched (276⅔) and complete games (16), often pitching like a seasoned veteran despite being only 20 years old.  After failing to be the unanimous winner in the Rookie of the Year vote the previous season (future teammate Juan Samuel got one first place vote), Gooden received every first place vote for the Cy Young Award in 1985, becoming the first Met since Tom Seaver in 1975 to take home the coveted pitching prize.

For the second straight year, the Mets were runners-up in the division, this time finishing second to the St. Louis Cardinals.  The Mets were determined to not let it happen three years in a row, with Johnson going so far as saying that the team wouldn't just win; they would dominate.  Gooden also looked to improve upon his 1985 campaign.  But how does one improve a product that's already nearly perfect?

One thing that got better in 1986 was Gooden's bank account, as he received a hefty raise before his third season from $450,000 to $1,320,000.  That money did not include what he was earning from all the endorsement deals that were coming his way.  A 21-year-old whose face was plastered everywhere - including a larger-than-life mural on 42nd Street - became instantly recognizable to everyone; even non-baseball fans knew who Gooden was.  That recognition and success in turn led to all kinds of temptations.  And as strong as Gooden was on the mound, he was weak off it, especially when the high of doing lines became greater than the rush of pitching between them.

In the mid-'80s, Doc Gooden was larger than life.  (Matt Weber Street Photography)

In 1986, Gooden picked up where he left off the previous year, winning his first five decisions and posting a stellar 1.04 ERA through his first six starts.  But Doc was merely human after his strong first month of the season, as he pitched to a 3.32 ERA and 1.207 WHIP in his final 27 starts.  Gooden also needed to strike out the last batter he faced in his final regular season start just to reach 200 strikeouts, a number he had reached by the end of August in each of his first two seasons.  But with the Mets fulfilling their manager's prophecy by dominating the division, Gooden's so-so season never became an issue.  That is, until the postseason started.

In the National League Championship Series, Gooden pitched well against the Astros, allowing just two runs in 17 innings.  But he only struck out nine batters in his two starts and failed to earn a win in either game.  When Gooden took the mound against the Boston Red Sox in the World Series, he was hit quite hard.  Boston's hitters operated on Doc twice in the series, scoring ten runs (eight earned) and collecting 17 hits in his nine innings of work against the American League champions.  Although the Red Sox defeated Gooden twice in the series, the Mets would go on to win the Fall Classic in seven games.

The Mets lost five postseason games in 1986.  Three of the losses were charged to Gooden.  It was alarming to see the Mets' ace not come through for the team in the postseason.  It was even more alarming not to see him at the Mets' victory parade up the Canyon of Heroes.

As the team celebrated with its fans, Gooden was watching the parade from his bed after spending the previous night drinking heavily and doing drugs.  In his autobiography, "Doc: A Memoir", Gooden recounted his post-Game Seven activities.

"I was drinking shots of vodka," Gooden wrote.  "I was snorting lines of cocaine.  And more lines of cocaine - and more lines of cocaine.  I didn't leave the drug party until after the sun came up.  As my teammates toasted our triumph, I was nursing a head-splitting coke-and-booze hangover, too spent, too paranoid, and too mad at myself to drag my sorry butt to my own victory parade."

Drugs had taken over Gooden's life in 1986.  When he wasn't pitching or preparing to pitch, he was nose deep in cocaine.  And when there was no baseball to play, there was more time to do drugs.  For the better part of a year, Gooden had been able to keep his off-the-field exploits a secret from the fans and the press.  By the end of spring training, however, his addiction had become public knowledge.

In March 1987, a urine sample submitted by Gooden tested positive for cocaine.  Faced with the option of a one-year suspension without pay or going to a drug rehabilitation center while continuing to be paid, Gooden chose the latter, checking himself into the Smithers Alcoholism and Treatment Center in Manhattan, where he would remain for a month.  Once Gooden completed his rehab, he made five starts in the minors before returning to the Mets on June 5.

Gooden had no idea what to expect from the Shea Stadium crowd that night.  In his absence, the defending champion Mets had become a mediocre team, entering the Friday night matchup against the Pittsburgh Pirates in fourth place with a 25-25 record.  Sportswriter Dick Young, whose articles had contributed to the departure of Tom Seaver a decade earlier, encouraged Mets fans to "stand up and boo" Gooden when he took the mound.

"If I could choreograph things tonight," Young wrote, "I would do it this way: Enter Dwight Gooden ... 50,000 people boo loudly.  That's to let him know how society feels about the wrong he has done, about the damage he has committed to the millions of kids who worshipped him."

Throw a Lord Charles like this and you'll never get booed.  (Focus On Sport/Getty Images)

Instead of booing, Gooden received a rousing ovation from the sellout crowd.  The extra support from the fans helped Doc pitch into the seventh inning, and when he was removed from the game with two outs, he exited to more thunderous applause.  The Mets won the game, 5-1, and more importantly, they had their ace back.  Although the Mets failed to return to the playoffs in 1987, they did improve from a .500 team without Gooden to a team that went 67-45 with Doc on the active roster.  And despite missing nearly a third of the season, Gooden still won 15 games for the Mets, which helped him place fifth in the Cy Young Award vote - his third top five finish in his first four seasons.

Unlike the 1987 season, Gooden was with the team from the start of the '88 campaign.  His drug demons supposedly behind him, Gooden finished the year with an 18-9 record and ten complete games.  It was the last time Gooden - or any other Mets pitcher - reached double digits in complete games.  For the first time in his career, Gooden pitched to contact instead of going for the strikeout, as he struck out just 175 batters in 248⅓ innings and averaged a career-low 2.1 walks per nine innings.  But as well as Gooden's pitch-to-contact mantra worked during the regular season in 1988, it came back to haunt him and the Mets in the postseason.

The Mets won 100 games in 1988 and cruised to their second division title in three years.  Their opponent in the NLCS was the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team New York had defeated ten times in 11 regular season matchups.  The Mets' fortunes against the Dodgers continued in the first three games of the series, as they took two of those three contests and had Gooden on the mound for Game Four.  Gooden struggled early, allowing two runs in the first inning before striking out Mike Scioscia to limit the damage.  Gooden's strikeout of Scioscia got him back on track, as Doc allowed just one hit over the next seven innings.  Meanwhile, Dodgers' starter John Tudor - who was the runner-up to Gooden for the Cy Young Award just three years earlier - was knocked around for four runs in five innings.

Through eight innings, the Mets held a 4-2 lead with Gooden throwing 118 pitches.  Still, Johnson kept Gooden in the game to face John Shelby, who had driven in the only two runs scored by the Dodgers.  Shelby fouled off Gooden's first pitch, then took a curveball for strike two.  Needing one pitch to retire the leadoff batter in the ninth, Gooden threw six more pitches before walking Shelby.  Doc was now up to 126 pitches, but there was still no one warming up in the Mets' bullpen.

And then, with one swing of the bat, Scioscia happened.

Mike Scioscia had gone deep just three times in 452 regular season at-bats in 1988.  He made it four on Gooden's first pitch to him, taking Doc over the right field wall for a game-tying, stadium-quieting home run.  It was like déjà vu all over again for Gooden and Scioscia, as the light-hitting Scioscia's first-ever homer at Shea Stadium back in 1984 had also been hit off Gooden, although that blast didn't come in a critical postseason game.  With the wind taken out of the Mets' sails, the Dodgers eked out an extra-inning win on a home run by Kirk Gibson.  Three games later, New York abandoned ship on their season, dropping the seventh and deciding game at Dodger Stadium.

Make that 2 wins, 60 losses after what transpired in Game Four.  (Screen shot courtesy of MLBClassics YouTube channel)

The heartbreaking loss in the 1988 NLCS was the beginning of the end for the Mets, as general manager Frank Cashen began to slowly dismantle the team that won him a championship.  By the end of the 1989 campaign, fan-favorites Wally Backman, Lenny Dykstra, Roger McDowell, Mookie Wilson and Lee Mazzilli were all gone.  Gooden's perfect health was also gone, as the 24-year-old veteran was placed on the disabled list because of an actual injury for the first time in his career in July.  Originally thought to be out three to four weeks with a slight tear of a muscle in his right shoulder, Gooden didn't return to the team until mid-September, making two relief appearances before being shut down for the final two weeks of the season.  Gooden finished the year with a 9-4 record; it was the first time he failed to win at least 15 games in a season.

New York bid adieu to the the 1980s with just one championship despite having one of the best pitching staffs in the league.  And less than two months into the first season of the 1990s, the team also said goodbye to its long-time manager, as Davey Johnson was removed from the position following a less-than-mediocre 20-22 start.  Gooden's early season performance matched the team's, as Doc started the year with a 3-5 record and 4.44 ERA in his first 12 starts.  But with the arrival of new manager Buddy Harrelson, the team started hitting.  And hitting.  And hitting some more.

Dave Magadan competed for the batting title.  Darryl Strawberry set the single-season franchise record for RBI.  Even Mackey Sasser hit over .300, becoming the first catcher in team history to reach that lofty level while playing in at least 100 games.  One of the main beneficiaries of the increased run production was Doc Gooden, who went 16-1 from mid-June to late September.  But just because he was winning almost every start didn't mean he was pitching like vintage Gooden.  Case in point, in back-to-back starts against the Dodgers and Giants in August, Gooden allowed a total of 13 runs (all earned), 15 hits and eight walks in just 11 innings.  Incredibly, he was the winning pitcher in both games.

For the season, the Mets averaged over six runs per game in Gooden's 34 starts.  As a result, Gooden won 19 games in 1990, losing his final start as he attempted to become a 20-game winner for the second time in his career.  Gooden also struck out 223 batters, his highest total since his Cy Young season in 1985.  But Doc's 3.83 ERA was the highest of his career and was more than a run higher than his 2.64 lifetime ERA coming into the season.  The years of sub-3.00 ERAs would become a thing of the past for Gooden, as would winning seasons for the Mets.

In 1991, the Mets finished the year with a 77-84 record; their first losing season since Gooden was pitching for Single-A Lynchburg.  Although Gooden won 13 of 20 decisions, his campaign was curtailed by another injury to his pitching arm, which required season-ending surgery in early September.  Prior to Opening Day of the '91 campaign, a healthier Gooden had signed the richest contract in National League history, which guaranteed him $15.45 million through 1994 (the contract wouldn't kick in until the 1992 season).  Unfortunately, Gooden had difficulty living up to his end of the deal.

From 1984 to 1991, Gooden finished at least five games over .500 in each season.  But from 1992 to 1994 - which covered the length of his new contract - Gooden had a losing record in each campaign.  His 1994 season was especially harsh, beginning with his Opening Day outing, when he allowed three home runs to Tuffy Rhodes at Wrigley Field.  Gooden also injured his toe during the season opener and exacerbated the injury over his next two starts, which caused him to spend nearly two months on the disabled list.  During his time away from the team, Gooden was randomly tested for drugs as part of his after-care program.  He returned to the team in early June, just three weeks before the results of his drug test were made public.  The news was not what the Mets and their fans wanted to hear.

Gooden was caught with cocaine in his system.  Again.  And this time, he was suspended by Major League Baseball for 60 days.

"I have been suspended for breaking the rules of my aftercare program," Gooden said in a prepared statement.  "I'm truly sorry it happened.  I will be back stronger and better."
 
Gooden never did come back to the Mets, as the 1994 players' strike canceled the remainder of the season before his suspension had come to an end.  Then, just days after the World Series would have ended had it been played, it was revealed that Gooden had tested positive for cocaine multiple times after completing his rehabilitation in August.  He was suspended for the entire 1995 season, which disappointed Joe McIlvaine, the team's executive vice president of baseball operations.

"Right now our only concern is for Dwight Gooden the person," McIlvaine said.  "Any speculation about his baseball future is secondary and unimportant.  It's a shame at the age of 29 his future is so much in doubt."

Gooden's declaration of coming back stronger and better would have to come in another team's uniform, as the Mets did not offer their former ace a contract after he completed his suspensions.  Gooden signed with the crosstown Yankees in 1996 and almost immediately pitched a no-hitter for his new team.  He went on to win two World Series rings with the Yankees and made a triumphant return to Shea Stadium in 2000, defeating the Mets in the first game of a two-stadium doubleheader.

Gooden retired just days before the start of the 2001 season, ending his 16-year major league career six wins shy of 200 for his career.  All but 37 of his 194 victories came as a member of the New York Mets.

"It's a sad and enjoyable day for myself," Gooden said upon announcing his retirement.  "I've enjoyed a great career.  It's been a joyous ride."

Dwight Gooden played 11 seasons with the Mets.  His once-promising career should have yielded so many memorable moments, but instead ended up seeing Gooden with more drug suspensions as a Met than championship trophies.  Despite the personal demons that he could never quite conquer, even well after his retirement as a player, Gooden has remained quite popular with Mets fans.  Gooden received the loudest ovation when he returned to Shea Stadium for the park's closing ceremonies in 2008 and was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame in 2010.

Doc's memorabilia is in Cooperstown, but not Doc himself. (Ed Leyro/Studious Metsimus)

In 1984, a 19-year-old rookie gave fans a reason to come to the ballpark after the Mets had spent seven seasons as the dregs of the league.  Dr. K had his own "Korner" at Shea Stadium.  He also had his own six-story mural on one of New York's busiest streets.  But for all the hold Gooden had on the city of New York, he couldn't control his own vices.  And a road that should have led to Cooperstown ended up leading to one rehab trip after another.

There's an old saying that reminds us "it's not where you start, it's where you finish."  Players like David Clyde and Joe Charboneau are quite familiar with that quote.  So is Dwight Gooden.  His first few years in the majors had many pundits mentioning his name in the same sentence as the game's all-time greats.  By the time his career ended, those same people were including Gooden on their lists of the game's greatest disappointments.

The Mets won one World Series during Gooden's tenure in Flushing.  Gooden then missed the parade that celebrated that lone title.  Just like Mets fans missed out on what should have been a legendary career in orange and blue.

Note: The Thrill of Victory, The Agony of the Mets is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players and personnel who experienced the best of times and the worst of times with the team.  For previous installments, please click on the names below:

January 2, 2017: Tom Seaver
January 9, 2017: Mike Piazza
January 16, 2017: Wally Backman
January 23, 2017: Daniel Murphy
January 30, 2017: Frank Cashen
February 6, 2017: Ed Kranepool
February 13, 2017: Doug Sisk
February 20, 2017: Joan Whitney Payson 
February 27, 2017: John Franco and Armando Benitez

 

The Thrill of Victory, The Agony of the Mets: Doug Sisk

Mets fans love their team.  It doesn't matter if the club is mired in last place or fighting for a title; the fans will always be supportive.  Occasionally, however, the team's fans have been known to show their disdain for a player or two, even though those individuals are wearing the team's colors and are playing on the same side as the athletes who get the loudest cheers.

Richie Hebner didn't like playing in New York.  The fans noticed.  Hebner, who was a gravedigger when he wasn't playing baseball, dug his own grave during his one season with the Mets.

Bobby Bonilla was actually from New York.  But after the Mets acquired him, he rubbed everyone the wrong way with his exploits, both on and off the field.  Bonilla called the press box during a game to dispute an error.  He then wore earplugs on the field to silence the boo birds at Shea.  The coup de grâce was when he offered to be a Bronx tour guide to a Daily News reporter.  And let's just say it probably would have been more violent than the seas during Gilligan's three-hour tour.

Besides hearing constant boos from the fans, Hebner and Bonilla shared something else.  They both played for awful Mets teams.

It's easy to dislike a player when the entire team is playing poorly.  But what about the player who receives negative reactions from fans when the team is playing reasonably well, perhaps even well enough to win a championship?  Or even worse, what if the player being booed was actually having a decent career with the Mets but no one remembers because they were too busy booing him?  Such was the plight of one championship reliever who was made to feel like less of a champion during the latter part of his career.

Doug Sisk didn't throw heat.  But fans often threw heat at him.  (Jacqueline Duvoisin/Getty Images)

Douglas Randall Sisk was drafted by the Mets in 1980 as an amateur free agent.  The Washington state native, who was born and raised approximately 2,400 miles away from where the 1969 and 1973 Mets played their home games, grew up rooting for those pennant winners despite the geographical distance between himself and the team.

"I can recall the '69 World Series and I could always name every player on that team," Sisk said to author Erik Sherman.  "And then I could always recall the '73 National League playoffs when Willie Mays was on the club.  I mean, how many kids from the Seattle area back then could name the rosters from those two teams?  I might have been the only one."

Sisk may have been the only Mets fan he knew in the Pacific Northwest, but he wasn't the only Mets farmhand making a rapid ascent to the big club.  After years of ineptitude brought about by a flawed front office and the dismantling of the team's minor league system, the Mets were committed to restructuring their farm with an influx of young talent.  By 1982, several of those players had become regulars at the major league level, with Wally Backman, Mookie Wilson and Hubie Brooks in the starting lineup just about every day, and Ed Lynch, Jesse Orosco and Neil Allen finding themselves on the mound more often than not.  Just weeks before the curtain closed on the 1982 campaign, Sisk was on the big stage as well.

Making eight relief appearances for the Mets following his September call-up, Sisk was quite effective, allowing just one run (a home run by future Hall of Famer Andre Dawson) in 8⅔ innings.  Sisk, who prior to his late-season promotion had never pitched above the Double-A level, broke camp with the Mets in 1983 and continued to shine.  Used in various relief situations, Sisk notched 11 saves and posted a 2.24 ERA in 104⅓ innings.  In doing so, he became just the fifth pitcher in team history to throw 100 or more innings while pitching exclusively in relief, joining Tug McGraw (1972), Skip Lockwood (1977), Jeff Reardon (1980) and Jesse Orosco (also in 1983; Orosco reached the 100-inning mark two weeks before Sisk did).

Amazingly, Sisk allowed just one home run in those 104⅓ innings in 1983, and once again, it was a future Hall of Famer who took him deep (Mike Schmidt).  To this day, Sisk is the only pitcher in club annals to pitch more than 100 innings in a season and allow fewer than three home runs in that campaign.

As great as Sisk was in 1983, he was even better in 1984, especially during the first half of the season.  Through July 1, Sisk had recorded 11 saves and was the owner of an otherworldly 0.50 ERA, allowing three earned runs in 53⅔ innings.  Opposing hitters were batting just .165 against the right-hander and slugging (if you want to call it that) at a .188 clip.

Sisk had always pitched to contact, nibbling at corners hoping to get batters to swing at his best pitch - the sinkerball.  As a result, hitters didn't collect many hits (just 29 of them through July 1), but they did draw their share of walks (31 bases on balls).  Still, the object of the game for a pitcher is to keep the opponent off the scoreboard and few pitchers were as effective at doing that during the first half of the 1984 season as Sisk was.

As the weather got hotter in July, so did the race for the N.L. East crown between the Mets and Chicago Cubs.  But one player who melted in the heat was Sisk, who allowed runs in six of his 12 outings during the month.  From July 28 to August 6, Sisk made three appearances on the mound.  All three times he pitched against the Cubs.  All three times he allowed runs.  And all three times the Mets lost.  His appearance on July 28, one in which he allowed four runs (three earned) without retiring a batter, caused the fans at Shea Stadium to serenade him with a chorus of boos once he left the mound.  It was a sound Sisk was not yet accustomed to.

It's scary how quickly fans turned on Sisk.

"You know, that's the first time I've ever been booed," Sisk said after the game.  "Oh well, I guess you've got to get booed once in a while."

Once in a while turned into every time he set foot on the mound, as the Shea faithful continued to show a lack of faith in their reliever.  Finally, after his third straight disappointing appearance against the Cubs on August 6, the Mets found a way to keep their once-dependable pitcher away from the hostile home crowd, placing Sisk on the disabled list with what the team called shoulder stiffness.  But the reliever begged to differ, claiming the transaction should not have happened.

''I don't think they should have disabled me,'' Sisk said.  ''I've had soreness in the shoulder in the past, and have pitched with it.  It's demeaning to me to be put on the disabled list.  It wasn't necessary.  It makes me feel they intend to trade me before next season.''

Upon his return from the disabled list, Sisk appeared in five more games in 1984.  He held the opposition scoreless in four of them.  The one time he was scored upon was - you guessed it - against the division-leading Cubs on September 8.

Sisk came into the game with the Mets trailing the Cubs by two runs.  He faced 14 batters in two innings, allowing eight of them to reach base.  But just two of them scored.  Wes Gardner then relieved Sisk and allowed two more Cubs to score.  Cubs pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, who went on to win the Cy Young Award that season, pitched a complete-game shutout as Chicago knocked off New York, 6-0.

It's obvious that Sisk didn't have his best stuff in that game, just as it's obvious that any loss by the second-place Mets to the first-place Cubs was going to sting.  But did Sisk deserve to get viciously booed by the fans on that late summer evening at Shea?  The Mets failed to cross the plate in nine innings.  Sisk came into the game with the Mets already trailing by two runs.  After he was taken out for a pinch-hitter, Gardner pitched an inning and two more Cubs circled the bases.  That means the Mets would have lost the contest anyway even if Sisk had pitched two perfect innings.  Going back to the three consecutive appearances against the Cubs prior to his stint on the disabled list, the first loss (July 28) was definitely on Sisk.  But the other two?  Not so much.

On July 29, Sisk took the mound in the ninth inning with the Mets trailing the Cubs, 2-0.  He then allowed the Cubs to tack on an insurance run.  The Mets failed to score in the bottom of the ninth and lost, 3-0.  That final result was certainly not Sisk's fault, as once again the team could not generate any offense.  Eight days later, Sisk entered the game against the Cubs with the Mets already trailing, 7-3.  He pitched a scoreless sixth, then put up another zero in the seventh.  Sisk then allowed two runs in his third inning of work and the Mets lost to Chicago, 9-3.  Again, New York would have lost even if Sisk had not allowed two runners to cross the plate after he had already pitched two scoreless innings.

When Sisk pitched his final game before being disabled, the Mets' record was 62-45.  When he returned on August 31, the Mets were 73-58.  That means the team posted a losing record (11-13) while Sisk was recovering from his injury.  They also lost four games to the Cubs in the N.L. East standings during Sisk's recovery, going from a slim 1½-game deficit to nearly being out of the race at 5½ games back.  The boo birds probably found a way to blame Sisk for that as well.

Overall, Sisk finished the 1984 campaign with 15 saves and a 2.09 ERA - numbers that were still quite impressive, but not enough to make fans stop booing.  Sisk then began the 1985 season with an 8.53 ERA in his first 11 appearances, which earned him a demotion to AAA-Tidewater.  His manager, Davey Johnson, was as tired of Sisk's poor outings as he was of the fans' reactions to them.

"It was a tough decision to make, but I couldn't think of anything else to do," Johnson said.  "I just felt that his failure, plus the way New York fans were getting on him that I thought this was my only option.  In Tidewater he'll get playing time and a chance to iron out his problems."

Sisk may have ironed out his problems at Tidewater, but the fans at Shea still had a few creases.  (Duvoisin/Getty Images)

When Sisk returned to the team after three weeks with the Tides, he did not pitch well at first.  On June 7, he was brought into an extra-inning affair against the St. Louis Cardinals, allowing six runs (five earned) in his one frame.  Of course, the game took place at Shea Stadium, where the home team's fans got to witness the carnage and voice their displeasure.

A week after his trouncing at the hands of the eventual division champion Cardinals, Sisk was still the owner of an ungodly 7.68 ERA.  But after June 14, Sisk turned his season around, going 3-0 with a 2.95 ERA the rest of the way.  Included in his revival was a yeoman-like effort against the Braves on July 4, when he pitched 4⅓ shutout innings in the Mets' epic 16-13 victory.  Sisk also hurled two scoreless frames against his previous year's nemesis, the Cubs, on August 2, then followed it up with two shutout innings versus the Giants and two more zeroes against the Dodgers, earning the victory in each game.  Unfortunately for Sisk, all of those brilliant efforts took place on the road.  When he returned with his teammates to Flushing, those games in Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles were distant memories for throaty Mets fans.

For the second straight year, the Mets fell short in their quest for a division title, making them more determined to advance to the postseason in 1986.  Also determined to recover from his worst season in the majors was Doug Sisk.  In late September 1985, Sisk was found to have bone chips in his right elbow and was thought to be lost for a significant part of the '86 campaign, if not all of it.  The bone chips, as well as a spur that was found in his pitching elbow, were the reason why Sisk did not pitch well in 1985.

"I kept mentioning all year that I wasn't right," Sisk said.  "I wasn't getting any leverage.  They thought I was a mental case.  They had me throwing sidearm in the bullpen.  Sidearm.  And I sat for 18 days, twice.  I was scared."

Despite a prognosis that cautioned against any pitching-related activities, Sisk spent the off-season swimming and chopping wood back home in Tacoma.  He then did some soft tossing, with his wife serving as his catcher.  Defying the odds, Sisk was back with the team in 1986 before Memorial Day.

Although Sisk got off to a bumpy start, posting a 4.02 ERA over his first 18 appearances, this time the heat of the summer brought back his effectiveness.  From July 29 to September 21, Sisk was one of the best relievers in baseball, posting a stellar 1.02 ERA in 35⅓ innings, while holding opposing hitters to a .238 batting average and .628 OPS.  However, fans still found the need to mercilessly boo Sisk despite his solid recovery from an awful 1985 campaign, causing Johnson to use him primarily when the team was trailing.  Johnson also tried not to use Sisk in games played at Shea Stadium, especially after the All-Star Break.  Once players returned from the mid-season hiatus, Sisk pitched just seven times in his home park until the Mets clinched the division title on September 17.  In the postseason, Sisk did not allow a run in two appearances.  But of course, both of those outings came in mop-up duty, as he pitched the final innings of games the Mets lost.

For the season, Sisk lowered his ERA by more than two runs, finishing the year with a 3.06 mark.  He also didn't allow a single home run in 70⅔ innings - not even to a future Hall of Fame slugger.  How unusual has it been over the years to pitch that many innings for the Mets and not give up a single long ball?

Without baseball-reference.com generating this chart for me, you'd still be booing Doug Sisk.

Since coming into the league in 1962, only five Mets pitchers have thrown at least 30 innings in a season without allowing a home run.  The only one to surpass 36⅓ innings in a tater-free campaign was Sisk in 1986, and he pitched almost twice as many innings as the next closest gopherless pitcher.

It's been more than half a century since the Mets played their inaugural season.  Since then, only ten pitchers have thrown more innings in a season than Sisk without allowing a single ball to leave the yard, as detailed in the chart below.

I wonder if the other pitchers on this list had to put up with constant boos from their home crowd.

The Mets failed to repeat as world champions in 1987, but Sisk had another solid season.  He pitched 78 innings - his highest regular season total since his fabulous 1983 campaign - and posted a 3.46 ERA.  He also walked just 22 batters, averaging 2.5 walks per nine innings, which was the lowest ratio of his career.

When the Mets were battling it out with the St. Louis Cardinals for the division title in September, it wasn't Sisk who gave up the crushing, season-changing homer to Terry Pendleton.  That was Roger McDowell.  And when New York was still mathematically alive during the last week of the season, Sisk wasn't on the mound giving up a walk-off blast to light-hitting pinch-hitter Luis Aguayo.  That was Jesse Orosco.  In fact, from August 31 until the end of the season, Sisk pitched ten times and recorded a 2.08 ERA.  Even more impressive was the slash line against him, as opposing hitters could only manage a .208/.240/.229 mark in those ten appearances spanning 13 innings.

The Mets used three relievers in high-leverage situations in 1987 (McDowell, Orosco and rookie Randy Myers).  McDowell finished the year with a 4.16 ERA, while Orosco's ERA ballooned to 4.44.  Myers, who finished sixth in the N.L. Rookie of the Year vote, had the lowest ERA of the three, but it was still a relatively high 3.96 mark.  And that was still half a run higher than the ERA posted by Sisk, who was traded to Baltimore at the end of the season.

Doug Sisk was a Met for six seasons.  He had a rough patch against the division-winning Cubs in 1984, but was mostly stellar against the rest of the league.  He admittedly had a difficult year in 1985, but an elbow injury was later revealed to be the reason for his ineffectiveness.  Still, fans viewed him as a scapegoat, booing him just about every time he stepped on the mound at Shea Stadium during the final three-and-a-half seasons of his tenure in New York.

They booed the owner of 3.10 lifetime ERA as a Met, which is tied for the seventh-lowest mark for all pitchers who threw at least 400 innings in franchise history.  Other pitchers in the top ten include Tom Seaver (2.57), Jesse Orosco (2.73), R.A. Dickey (2.95), Jon Matlack (3.03), Jerry Koosman (3.09) and Dwight Gooden (3.10).  Those pitchers were either Cy Young Award winners, Rookie of the Year Award recipients or pitchers who recorded final outs in the World Series for the Mets.  In other words, Sisk is in good company.

In addition, the man who was on the receiving end of the fans' vitriol during the latter part of his career allowed just 11 home runs in 412⅓ innings during his time with the Mets.  That's an average of 0.24 homers per nine innings - the lowest of any pitcher with at least 400 innings in club annals.  The only other hurler with a ratio under 0.50 is Roger McDowell.  The ten players directly behind Sisk on this list include the usual suspects - Seaver, Koosman, Matlack, Gooden, Orosco - as well as other notable pitchers like Nolan Ryan, Bob Ojeda and David Cone.

Three world champion relievers.  Only one was booed regularly.  (NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images)

The 1985 season happened for Sisk.  It can't be erased.  But the other five years he was in New York, he pitched to a 2.63 ERA and held his opponents to a .248 batting average and .656 OPS.  He did this despite the fact that he wasn't a strikeout pitcher and had his share of walks when hitters were able to lay off his sinker.  But once a player is disliked in New York, he's always disliked in New York, even if his full résumé suggests that the hatred is unwarranted.

Doug Sisk experienced everything after being signed by the Mets in 1980.  He made his way through the minor league ranks quickly.  He joined Jesse Orosco to become a force in the bullpen just as the Mets were shedding their losing ways.  He was part of a world championship team.  But he couldn't get the fans on his side, no matter how hard he tried.  When his then-fiancee asked him why he didn't do anything about the constant derision, he only had one response.

"I can't beat up 60,000 fans."

Richie Hebner heard it from Mets fans.  Bobby Bonilla did, too.  The slow, rising crescendo of fans voicing their displeasure is enough to run the toughest players out of New York.  But not every player deserves that kind of treatment.  And certainly, a player who is a significant part of a team's rise to contention, culminating in an eventual championship, shouldn't have to be subjected to that kind of vocal negativity.

But that's what Sisk had to put up with for several years as a Met.  And unjust as it may be, that's also what he has had to deal with ever since he played his final game in New York.  Such is the agony of Doug Sisk, a player who wanted nothing more than to cherish being part of a victorious team accomplishment.

 

Note: The Thrill of Victory, The Agony of the Mets is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players and personnel who experienced the best of times and the worst of times with the team.  For previous installments, please click on the names below:

January 2, 2017: Tom Seaver
January 9, 2017: Mike Piazza
January 16, 2017: Wally Backman
January 23, 2017: Daniel Murphy
January 30, 2017: Frank Cashen
February 6, 2017: Ed Kranepool

 
 

It's Time to '86 the Booing of Doug Sisk

The Mets will be celebrating the 30-year anniversary of their most recent world championship this weekend at Citi Field.  The highlight of the weekend will be the on-field ceremony on Saturday honoring the members of the 1986 World Series winners.

Ten years ago, the Mets also reunited the '86 champs on the field before the start of a Saturday night game at Shea Stadium.  The evening was gloomy and rainy on August 19, 2006, but the weather did not dampen the spirits of the 42,810 fans in attendance at big Shea.  All of the former players had to dodge raindrops as they entered the field to a huge ovation during their introductions.  But one player had to dodge something other than rain as he took his position on the field, as Doug Sisk continued to be subjected to the barrage of boos that have rained down upon him in Flushing for over three decades.

(Jacqueline Duvoisin/Getty Images)

Doug Sisk was signed as a 22-year-old amateur free agent in 1980.  Two years later, he completed his quick ascent to the major leagues.  In eight late-season games for the Mets in 1982, Sisk was quite effective, allowing just one run (a home run by future Hall of Famer Andre Dawson) in 8⅔ innings.

Sisk's first full season with the Mets in 1983 was nothing short of spectacular, as he posted a 2.24 ERA in 104⅓ innings - all in relief.  In doing so, he became just the fifth pitcher in team history to throw 100 or more innings while pitching exclusively in relief, joining Tug McGraw (1972), Skip Lockwood (1977), Jeff Reardon (1980) and Jesse Orosco (also in 1983 - Orosco reached the 100-inning mark two weeks before Sisk did).

Amazingly, Sisk allowed just one home run in those 104⅓ innings in 1983, and once again, it was a future Hall of Famer who took him deep (Mike Schmidt).  To this day, Sisk is the only pitcher in club annals to pitch more than 100 innings in a season and allow fewer than three home runs in that campaign.

As great as Sisk was in 1983, he was even better in 1984, especially during the first half of the season.  Through July 1, Sisk had recorded 11 saves and was the owner of an otherworldly 0.50 ERA, allowing three earned runs in 53⅔ innings.  Opposing hitters were batting just .165 against the right-hander and slugging (if you want to call it that) at a .188 clip.

Sisk had always pitched to contact, nibbling at corners hoping to get batters to swing at his best pitch - the sinkerball.  As a result, hitters didn't collect many hits (just 29 of them through July 1), but they also drew their share of walks (31 bases on balls).  Still, the object of the game for a pitcher is to keep the opponent off the scoreboard and few pitchers were as effective at doing that during the first half of the 1984 season as Doug Sisk was.

As the weather got hotter in July, so did the race for the N.L. East crown between the Mets and Cubs.  But one player who melted in the heat, unfortunately, was Doug Sisk.  Sisk allowed runs in six of his 12 outings during the month.  From July 28 to August 6, Sisk made three appearances on the mound.  All three times he pitched against the Cubs.  All three times he allowed runs.  And all three times the Mets lost.  Sisk was then placed on the disabled list with what the team called shoulder stiffness.  But the reliever begged to differ, claiming the transaction should not have happened.

''I don't think they should have disabled me,'' Sisk said.  ''I've had soreness in the shoulder in the past, and have pitched with it.  It's demeaning to me to be put on the disabled list.  It wasn't necessary.  It makes me feel they intend to trade me before next season.''

Upon his return from the disabled list, Sisk made five more appearances for the team in 1984.  He held the opposition scoreless in four of them.  The one time he was scored upon was - you guessed it - against the Cubs on September 8.  And that's when the fans began their routine of booing Sisk every chance they got.

Ghosts boo.  You shouldn't.  Especially when it comes to Doug Sisk.

Sisk came into the game with the Mets trailing the Cubs by two runs.  He faced 14 batters in two innings, allowing eight of them to reach base.  But just two of them scored.  Wes Gardner then relieved Sisk and allowed two more Cubs to score.  Cubs pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, who went on to win the Cy Young Award that season, pitched a complete-game shutout as Chicago knocked off New York, 6-0.

Now here's what gets me.  The Mets were shut out in that game.  Sisk came into the game with the Mets already trailing by two runs.  Which means the Mets would still have lost that game even if Sisk had pitched two perfect innings.  Now let's go back to the three consecutive appearances against the Cubs prior to Sisk's stint on the disabled list.  The first one (July 28) was definitely on Sisk, as he came into a tie game and allowed four runs (three earned).  But the other two?  Not so much.

On July 29, Sisk took the mound in the ninth inning with the Mets trailing the Cubs, 2-0.  He then allowed the Cubs to tack on an insurance run.  The Mets failed to score in the bottom of the ninth and lost, 3-0.  That result was certainly not Sisk's fault.  Eight days later, Sisk entered the game against the Cubs with the Mets already trailing, 7-3.  He pitched a scoreless sixth, then put up another zero in the seventh.  Sisk then allowed two runs in his third inning of work and the Mets lost to Chicago, 9-3.  Again, New York would have lost even if Sisk had not allowed two runners to cross the plate after he had already pitched two scoreless innings.

When Sisk pitched his final game before being "disabled", the Mets' record was 62-45.  When he returned on August 31, the Mets were 73-58.  That means the team posted a losing record (11-13) while Sisk was recovering from his "injury".  I'm sure the boo birds found a way to blame him for that sub-.500 record as well.

Overall, Sisk finished the 1984 campaign with 15 saves and a 2.09 ERA - numbers that are still quite impressive, but not enough to make fans stop booing.  It didn't help that Sisk posted a career-worst 5.30 ERA in 73 innings the following season in 1985.  But Sisk recovered nicely in 1986, and had fans stopped booing for just a second during that glorious campaign, they might have noticed that Sisk had quite a comeback season.

Sisk lowered his ERA in 1986 by more than two runs, finishing the year with a 3.06 mark.  He also didn't allow a single home run in 70⅔ innings - not even to a future Hall of Famer.  How unusual was it to pitch that many innings and not give up a single long ball?

Without baseball-reference.com generating this chart for me, you'd still be booing Doug Sisk.

As you can see, in the Mets' 50-plus years of existence, only five pitchers have thrown at least 30 innings in a season without allowing a home run.  The only one to surpass 36⅓ innings in a tater-free campaign was Doug Sisk in 1986, and he pitched almost twice as many innings as the next closest gopherless pitcher.  And since the Mets came into the league in 1962, there have been only a dozen occasions in which a pitcher threw more innings than Sisk in a season without allowing a home run, as detailed in the chart below.

I wonder if the other pitchers on this list had to put up with constant boos from their home crowd.

Sisk pitched twice in the 1986 postseason and guess what?  He didn't give up a run when he pitched against Houston in the NLCS and he held Boston scoreless in his lone World Series appearance.  And on both occasions, he climbed the hill at Shea Stadium, which must have disappointed the people who were looking for someone to heckle.

The Mets failed to repeat as world champions in 1987, but Sisk had another solid season.  He pitched 78 innings - his highest regular season total since his fabulous 1983 campaign - and posted a 3.46 ERA.  He also walked just 22 batters, averaging 2.5 walks per nine innings, which was the lowest ratio of his career.

When the Mets were battling it out with the St. Louis Cardinals for the division title in September, it wasn't Sisk who gave up the crushing, season-changing homer to Terry Pendleton.  That was Roger McDowell.  And when New York was still mathematically alive during the last week of the season, Sisk wasn't on the mound giving up a walk-off blast to light-hitting pinch-hitter Luis Aguayo.  That was Jesse Orosco.  In fact, from August 31 until the end of the season, Sisk pitched ten times and recorded a 2.08 ERA.  Even more impressive was the slash line against him, as opposing hitters could only manage a .208/.240/.229 mark in those ten appearances spanning 13 innings.

But let's boo Sisk and give McDowell and Orosco a pass for their contributions to the final month of the 1987 campaign.  It's what all the cool kids are doing, right?

One threw his glove up in the air, while the other had fans who just didn't care.  (Ronald C. Modra/Getty Images)

On Saturday night, the Mets will honor all of the members of the 1986 World Series champions.  It will be a weekend to cheer the heroes of the past, not boo the one person who has been unjustly blamed for the Mets not winning the division crown in 1984 and who had just one bad season during his six-year career in New York.  Sadly, that person will not be in attendance for the reunion, as Doug Sisk - along with former teammates Kevin Elster, Roger McDowell and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre - will be skipping out on the festivities.

For those of you who would have booed Sisk relentlessly had he been joining his teammates this weekend at Citi Field, here are some of his numbers as a Met.  Out of all the pitchers in franchise history who threw at least 400 innings for the team, Sisk's 3.10 ERA is tied for the seventh-lowest mark.  Other pitchers in the top ten include Tom Seaver (2.57), Jesse Orosco (2.73), R.A. Dickey (2.95), Jon Matlack (3.03), Jerry Koosman (3.09) and Dwight Gooden (3.10).  You probably associate those pitchers as Cy Young Award winners, Rookie of the Year Award recipients or pitchers who recorded final outs in the World Series for the Mets.  In other words, Sisk is in good company.

In addition, Sisk allowed just 11 home runs in 412⅓ innings during his time with the Mets from 1982 to 1987.  That's an average of 0.24 homers per nine innings - the lowest of any pitcher with at least 400 innings in team history.  The only other hurler with a ratio under 0.50 is Roger McDowell, who gave up one of the most heartbreaking home runs in club annals when he allowed Terry Pendleton to take him deep on September 11, 1987.  The ten players behind Sisk on this list include the usual suspects - Seaver, Koosman, Matlack, Gooden, Orosco - as well as other notable pitchers like Nolan Ryan, Bob Ojeda and David Cone.

To put it bluntly, Sisk was a damn good pitcher, one who deserves to be honored along with his fellow 1986 world champions.  It took an entire 24-man roster to win the World Series in 1986.   Doug Sisk was one of those two dozen competitors.  And as such, he should be treated like a champion.  A festive celebration is no place to air grievances.

Even though Sisk won't be there to hear the roar of the crowd, Mets fans should leave their boos outside the rotunda when they enter Citi Field on Saturday.  It's time to finally give Doug Sisk the long-overdue cheers he deserves.