Dwight Gooden knows firsthand the thrills of winning a Cy Young award with the New York Mets and being at the height of his powers and profession.
And whenever he wants to relive those moments of dominance or chase old feelings, he likely checks his calendar to see if Mets ace Jacob deGrom is scheduled to pitch.
"I've got every fifth game marked when [deGrom's] pitching, so I'm right there watching him if I'm not at the game," Gooden told the Tiki and Tierney show on Tuesday. "But, what he's doing, and what he's done the last several years, is off the charts. I haven't seen anybody do it. And I remember when he won his first Cy Young award [in 2018] -- when I was there to present him with the award -- I was saying that this guy is actually getting better. I didn't know he was going to get that much better, but I figured he had room to improve.
"This guy, it seems like each year -- he's in his early 30s -- he's getting better and better. And this year, obviously, I haven't seen anything like that. It's been a short sample size, but still, the numbers he's putting up now -- and hopefully he's not out for too long a time -- are off the charts. I haven't seen anybody like that, consistently do what he's doing... This guy, with any type of run support at all, not only are we looking at 20 wins, but we're possibly looking 25-30 wins..."
deGrom, who was placed on the 10-day injured list Tuesday with right-side tightness, has been virtually untouchable this season. In six starts, the 32-year-old right-hander owns an MLB-best 0.68 ERA with 65 strikeouts and just 17 hits allowed across 40 innings of work. The two-time NL Cy Young winner also has a 46.1 strikeout percentage -- which leads all starting pitchers -- and ranks first in the majors in K/9 (14.6), hits/9 (3.8), WHIP (0.60), and FIP (1.03).
Suffice to say, deGrom's starts have been appointment television. And in deGrom's 2021, there are undoubtedly shades of Gooden's 1985, the year in which he won 24 games, struck out 268, and owned a staggering 1.53 ERA.
This Friday (May 14) marks the 25th anniversary of Gooden's no-hitter with the New York Yankees. Although his performance was far from pretty or dominant -- he walked five Seattle Mariners that night in the Bronx -- the historic accomplishment brought a whirlwind of emotions.
"I was supposed to fly home that day because my dad had been on dialysis for 15 years and his health was deteriorating and he was having heart surgery the day after my no-hitter," Gooden said. "So I had my flight, I had my ticket and everything to fly home that day to be with him, the day before the surgery. And that morning, I woke up and said, 'He'd probably want me to pitch.' Because I remember being a kid, and being at a park and my dad teaching me about mechanics, talking to me about taking care of your family, all these different things that I was reminiscing on.
"So, I called Joe Torre, who was the manager at the time, and said, 'I'll see you tonight, I'm going to pitch.' And he said, 'No, go home, take all the time you need, we'll see you when you get back.' And I said, 'No, I'll see you tonight.' And the next call was tough, because I called my mom to tell her I wouldn't be coming home... So the first three innings of that game, I was standing in the runway between the dugout and the clubhouse, wondering if I had made the right decision or not. So I was tearing up, wondering if my dad was going to be okay...
"I ended up pitching a no-hitter, and I remember my teammates came off the field and all I could think about was, 'Is my dad going to be okay? Did I make the right decision?' The previous year, I was suspended from baseball. Earlier that season, I was taken out of the rotation, not knowing if they were going to send me down to the minors or release me... The last game [my dad] saw me pitch was my no-hitter, so that's what's always made the game so special to me, from a personal standpoint."
The entire baseball conversation between Gooden and Tiki and Tierney can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow the Tiki and Tierney Show on Twitter @TikiAndTierney and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.