Speaking of Dwight Gooden ...

Speaking of Dwight Gooden ...

I just noticed this:

Gooden ended the 1984 season, his rookie year, 8-1 with a 1.07 ERA

His 1985 season was 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA.

He began 1986 5-0 with a 1.04 ERA.

In that stretch, encompassing more than 400 innings, most of it before his 21st birthday, he was 37-5 with an ERA of 1.38.

By the way, in his last year in the minors (1983, at age 18), he was 19-4 with 300 strikeouts in 191 innings. The Mets, shrewd as ever, suspected he might have been ready.