Dr. K
When you hear the word “phenom” when it refers to baseball, a handful of names throughout history come to mind. But no name may be as synonymous with the word phenom as Dwight “Doc” Gooden.
In April of 1984 the tall and lanky 19 year old debuted in New York for the Mets and took the baseball world by storm. Gooden quickly became the hottest ticket in town with his 98 MPH fastball and nasty 12 to 6 curveball. Dwight was rushed to the majors after just one season spent in Class A ball, where Dwight struck out and astonishing 300 batters in 191 innings.
This incredible performance for the Lynchburg Tidewaters convinced Mets brass and new manager Davey Johnson to bring up their 19 year old 1st round draft pick. Immediately the move seemed to be the right one as Gooden was named to his first All-Star game in 1984 and would win 17 games that season, the most by a rookie pitcher since the 1960’s. The popularity of Gooden not only in New York but all around baseball was off the charts.
Darryl Strawberry and Don Mattingly were both coming off huge rookie seasons for both the New York teams and the rookie “phenom” craze was in full effect. Gooden had been nicknamed Dr. K by the New York fans which later was just shortened to “Doc”. He had his own fan section in the right field bleachers and his starts were must-see T.V.
After his Rookie of the Year campaign in 84, Doc followed that up in 1985 with one of the greatest pitching seasons in MLB history. Gooden won the pitching triple crown with a 24-4 record, 1.53 ERA, and 268 strikeouts. Doc also had 16 complete games in 85 on his way to winning the NL Cy Young Award.
You can now understand why in 1985 when up and coming shoe company Nike decided to make a 5 card promotional set they chose Doc to represent baseball. The 5 card set is most famous for its Michael Jordan card which is actually considered a Jordan “pre-rookie” since Jordan’s first mainstream base card isn’t until 1986 Fleer. The Jordan Nike card is currently selling for about 15k in graded gem mint condition. The other 4 cards from this set include James Lofton WR for the Green Bay Packers,
tennis great John McEnroe, Detroit Tiger catcher Lance Parrish who was fresh off a World Series victory in 84, as well as another Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Award, and last but not least the Phenom Doc Gooden or “Dr. K” as the card infers.
All 5 of these cards are simply awesome! The photography and artwork is spectacular. You won’t find too many other cards that look anything like these, as all 5 are unique in their own way.
The Gooden card depicts Doc throwing in stride as a trail of smoke is coming from the ball. The sky in the background has an eery, “calm before the storm” type of look to it. I’m sure if you would have polled sports fans back in 1985 when this set was released, many would have predicted that Gooden would end up the Elite superstar from this group even over Jordan.
Unfortunately we all know how the story ends. Doc would go on to have a very rocky and tumultuous career while Jordan would go on to become arguably the greatest athlete of all time.
This 1985 “Dr. K” Nike Promo card is just a friendly reminder of how truly great a “Phenom” Doc Gooden truly was.
