Back in April, the Mets retired Doc Gooden’s number 16. I was standing next to Doc on the field and we looked up at the rafters and I asked Doc what was the most significant aspect of his number being retired and he said that I’m next to Baseball’s greatest player Willie Mays.
I asked him how he felt and he said, I’m very happy and very Sad at same time. I asked him why and he said because I can’t believe that Steve and Alex Cohen would do this for me after all I have been through. Then I’m sad because the man that taught me the game (his father Dan ) isn’t here.
Last week I called Doc to tell him that Willie Mays had died and there was a long silence on the phone. Doc then told me that he remembered meeting Willie for the first time in 1984. He said he felt like a little kid meeting the man that his father talked about his whole life. Doc said that Willie told him that he was a big admirer of Gooden’s. Willie said that if he had one wish it would be to have an at-bat against Dr. K.
Willie’s quote was I’m either gonna strike out or hit you 500 feet.
That night Doc could not wait to get home so that he could tell his father Dan. That would become a standard practice for Doc. Whenever he met the greats of the past like Ernie Banks or Hank Aaron or Mickey Mantle he would always share it with his Dad. I guess that is why the retired number ceremony was somewhat difficult.
Doc emphasized that when George Steinbrenner gave him the chance to make a comeback in 1995 and actually got involved with Doc’s personal issues… he understood that Mr. Steinbrenner was the only owner that would do that.
Now you push the clock 29 years and his phone rings and Doc answers and the person on the other side says Hi Doc this is Steve Cohen. Doc immediately thought that someone ( me because I prank him all the time) was pulling a prank. Cohen said that the Mets were going to retire his number and that it was well deserved and long overdue.
This would instantaneously become one of the great moments of his life. This would also be one of the saddest moments because he couldn’t call his beloved father. The man that made him love the game. He couldn’t call his Pitching Coach Mel Stotlemyer and he couldn’t call the Boss George Steinbrenner. Then he would get pumped up again because now he could call his kids and all his grandkids… God knows there are many lol!
I asked Doc … if there was anything you would want to say to the Cohens what would it be?
Doc said that first of all… Thank You! I mean it from the bottom of my heart. I never dreamed that someone from baseball would ever give me an incredible honor like this.
The fact that 100 years from now I will be gone from this world and new generations will look up at the rafters and see number 16 and talk about who I was is literally just as big if not a bigger honor than getting into Cooperstown.
Doc also stressed to me that he is so grateful that his true baseball brother Darryl Strawberry is also next to him on the roof. Doc says that Strawberry was and is a very special and important person in his life. Their relationship has always been just like regular brothers and Doc says that the Mets would not have been the Amazing Mets without him.
Doc is also very grateful to Jay Horwitz, the Mets longtime P. R. Director and true friend of all players for always being there for the Mets organization. He just made things work. Also His assistant Etan Wilson.
I must add that Willie Mays and and so many deserving former Mets will not be forgotten because of the love that Steve and Tia Alex Cohen have brought to the Mets and New York.
