Turn back the clock.. 1983... Hot Prospect.. Dwight Gooden

[brianga26]

W L ERA IP GS CG BB SO
18 2 2.50 191.2 27 10 112 300

What do you think the hype would be on these numbers? how much would his rookie cards be? Autographed cards? Refractors? Blues, Reds and Supers?

 

[A_Pharis]

The header cells need to be shifted.

 

[brianga26]

jeez.. thanks!! come on now.. I am at work.. this is a quick thread post

 

[brianga26]

better?

 

[masonphillip]

This card came through the most recent BGS sub - [phil]330743783169[/phil] - but in 9.5 form, it was lots of fun to see.

He'd have autos that were Bundy like prices if not more if he was playing today.

 

[bcubs]

He would probably be even bigger than anything we have seen. Sure Strasburg and Harper were massive hype coming in, but a 19 year old pitcher for the New York Mets with that stat line? Forget it, that would be huge!

 

[BowmanChromeAddict]

The better question would be, where would his "Bowman Chrome Autos" be in 1984 and 1985 should they have been released in 1983 or before. With those two seasons and nobody knowing of the impending coke addiction, I can only imagine that we'd be looking at prices higher than Kershaw or Lincecum were getting at their heights.

 

[brianga26]

I would say higher than CASH-Burg

 

[leatherman]

A few things:

Gooden was 19-4 in 1983, not 18-2. He had 191.0 IP, not 191.2. I have had these numbers memorized for years.

Gooden was 18 for the entire 1983 season. He didn't turn 19 until November 16. The post above is correct in that he was 19 for the Mets, but his cards would have existed when he was 18.

Tidewater Tides AAA manager Davey Johnson insisted that Gooden be brought up for their playoffs in 1983 (as the Mets had some September callups that left the Tides depleted, including Ron Darling), stating that the best pitcher in the organization wasn't in AA, but was in Lynchburg. I can't find stats from those games, but the Tides played 13 postseason games, and I know that Gooden was the winning pitcher in at least two of them, including one in the inaugural AAA World Series (the first time I saw Gooden pitch).

I doubt we will ever see another minor league pitcher with a 300 K season, especially with a single club. Similarly, we might never see a minor leaguer with another 50 HR season, like Ron Kittle had with Edmonton the year before Gooden's record breaking season.

It's odd that Davey Johnson is again the manager of the most successful 19 year old since Gooden.

 

[gmarutiak]

A few things:

Gooden was 19-4 in 1983, not 18-2. He had 191.0 IP, not 191.2. I have had these numbers memorized for years.

Gooden was 18 for the entire 1983 season. He didn't turn 19 until November 16. The post above is correct in that he was 19 for the Mets, but his cards would have existed when he was 18.

Tidewater Tides AAA manager Davey Johnson insisted that Gooden be brought up for their playoffs in 1983 (as the Mets had some September callups that left the Tides depleted, including Ron Darling), stating that the best pitcher in the organization wasn't in AA, but was in Lynchburg. I can't find stats from those games, but the Tides played 13 postseason games, and I know that Gooden was the winning pitcher in at least two of them, including one in the inaugural AAA World Series (the first time I saw Gooden pitch).

I doubt we will ever see another minor league pitcher with a 300 K season, especially with a single club. Similarly, we might never see a minor leaguer with another 50 HR season, like Ron Kittle had with Edmonton the year before Gooden's record breaking season.

It's odd that Davey Johnson is again the manager of the most successful 19 year old since Gooden.

It's not odd, it was intentional. The last manager (Riggleman?) got a lot of the blame for Strasburg blowing out his arm, so the Nats decided to bring in Johnson, who had previous experience with a phenom pitcher (Gooden) and a phenom outfielder (Strawberry). So far, seems like a good move by the Nats.

 

[TheRealFrankL]

It's not odd, it was intentional. The last manager (Riggleman?) got a lot of the blame for Strasburg blowing out his arm, so the Nats decided to bring in Johnson, who had previous experience with a phenom pitcher (Gooden) and a phenom outfielder (Strawberry). So far, seems like a good move by the Nats.

As a Nationals fan, that's not at all how it happened. No one blamed Rigs for Strasburg blowing out his arm. They weren't over using him or anything like that, it was just a freak accident. Riggleman was an idiot, but no one thinks he did anything to Strasburg that another manager wouldn't have.

Rigglement quit, wasn't fired, in the middle of the season over a contract problem. Davey Johnson was already in the front office and was moved to manager based on his experience. They retained Davey for another year because, after some hiccups, the team turned around to basically .500. The Nats have been cheap with managers, and they weren't going to find a better manager for the price that Davey was willing to manage for.