Dwight Gooden was signed as a 1st round pick in the 1982 amateur draft by the New York Metsand scout Carlos Pascual. In his only complete season in the minors, at age 18, Gooden was 19-4 with 300 strikeouts in 191 innings.

Gooden, nicknamed "Doc Gooden" or "Doctor K", was a sensation when he first came up with theNew York Mets, leading the league in strikeouts in his first two seasons. He was the 1984 National League Rookie of the Year (the youngest NL Rookie of the Year, through 2013) and followed that up by being the 1985 National League Cy Young Award and Triple Crown winner. His 1.53 ERA that year is one of the lowest of the live-ball era. He finished the 1984 season 8-1 with a 1.07 ERA, was 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA in 1985, and began the 1986 season 5-0 with a 1.04 ERA. During that phenomenal stretch, encompassing more than 400 innings pitched, most of it before his 21st birthday, he was 37-5 with an ERA of 1.38.

He was the youngest player in the National League in 1984, and by 1989 he was the second highest-paid player in the league.

• Won three World Series with the New York Mets (1986) and the New York Yankees (1996 & 2000; he played in neither World Series)