Talk:Doc's First Ten Years: Goodenough?/@comment-71.205.243.133-2007061121955

I realize this is an old post but as a life-long Met fan stumbling upon it I had to comment. Compare Gooden and Roger Clemens from 1984-1991. Amazingly similar stats. He was not like Maris in that he was just "transcendant" for &quot;two or three&quot; years. In that eight season period Gooden was 132-53 (Clemens 134-61). How can being 79 wins over .500 in an 8 year period be described that way? Sure only one 20 win season, but 18, 19 and two 17&quot;s do mean something. Plus was a lock for another 18-19 (20?) win season in &quot;89 when he got hurt. Seemed like Gooden just lost "it" in 1992. The "why" is hard to ever truly know. Rightly or wrongly (most likely rightly) Gooden&quot;s career is perceived as having been mostly destroyed by himself, not his pitching coach playing with his mechanics (leg kick to slide step), overwork when he was still young (from ages 19-21, 744 innings pitched) or his arm injury. One only wonders how well he actually took care of himself conditioning-wise. Gooden malingered on for 5 mostly sub-par seasons after his 1994-1995 suspension, that does not build any HOF stature. So tragic story of awesome talent struck down by addictions, yes. Hall of Famer no.

Has anyone started the Pedro Martinez / Koufax discussion yet? He was 134-45 for the 8 season period from 1997-2004, will be interesting to see how many votes he gets, certainly deserves entry by the Koufax standard I think :)