COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — If Dwight Gooden could be 20 years old again, he’d try to become Shohei Ohtani.
If Dwight Gooden could control the future, he’d steer Ohtani to New York next season.
Alas, like the rest of us, Dwight Gooden has no access to a time machine nor a direct pipeline to Ohtani. So like the rest of us, he’ll watch Ohtani do things no one’s ever done on a baseball field — while trying to match or exceed Gooden’s most unique and impressive achievement.
“Obviously, what he’s doing is amazing,” Gooden said during an autograph signing on Main Street last weekend.
“I heard some things. I’ll leave it at that.” #LGM
~ Doc Gooden on if he’s recruiting Shohei Ohtani to Queens. Gooden also said he is welcome to wear No. 16. pic.twitter.com/wXwI0lQnhp
— GENY Mets Report (@genymets) July 19, 2023
And that was five days before Ohtani authored his most remarkable feat yet. The two-way unicorn threw a one-hit shutout to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 6-0 win over the Detroit Tigers in the first game of a doubleheader Thursday.
Then, after a brief break, Ohtani served as the designated hitter for the second game and hit two homers in the Angels’ 11-4 victory. He is the first player to throw a shutout in one game of a doubleheader and hit at least one homer in the other.
The only other player to throw a shutout and start in the field in two games of a doubleheader is Babe Ruth, who is Ohtani’s lone comparison as a two-way superstar. Ruth singled for the Boston Red Sox in a 7-0 win over the St. Louis Browns on July 17, 1918 before throwing a four-hit shutout — albeit in a game shortened to five innings, presumably by rain but we don’t know for sure because it was 105 years ago — as the Red Sox won the nightcap, 4-0.
Ohtani’s unprecedented day increased his major league-leading WAR at Baseball-Reference from 6.8 to 7.5. He is a -20000 favorite to win the American League MVP honors at FanDuel, a Secretariat-esque distance ahead of Houston Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker (+4000).
“He probably had the greatest day of baseball that anybody’s ever seen today,” Tigers pitcher Matt Manning told The Associated Press afterward.
Shohei Ohtani's WAR, per @baseball_ref, entering yesterday: 6.8.
Shohei Ohtani's WAR, per Baseball Ref, after yesterday: 7.5.
There are 30 players w/enough PAs to qualify for the batting title and 11 players w/enough IP for the ERA title who have less than 0.7 WAR THIS YEAR.
— Jerry Beach (@JerryBeach73) July 28, 2023
The video game-like afternoon also improved Ohtani’s chances of becoming the first player since Gooden — and only the second since World War I — to finish a season with at least 13.0 in WAR.
“See how long ago that’s been since someone had the year I had?” Gooden said as he showed the screenshot displaying the all-time single-season WAR leaders to two of the people overseeing his autograph signing.
“That’s crazy,” one said.
“That’s crazy,” the other said mere moments later
Gooden generated 13.3 in WAR as a 20-year-old in 1985, when he went 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA and 268 strikeouts in 276 2/3 innings while also hitting .226 with one homer and nine RBIs in 93 at-bats for the New York Mets.
“That’s crazy,” Gooden said. “I figured (Jacob) deGrom would have came close.”
As good as deGrom was as a hitter, his best season in terms of WAR was in the first of his back-to-back Cy Young seasons in 2018, when he posted 9.9 WAR. DeGrom went 10-9 with a 1.70 ERA and 269 strikeouts on the mound while batting .164 with five RBIs.
Gooden’s predecessor in the 13.0 WAR club was, of course, Ruth, who racked up 14.1 in WAR while hitting .393 with 41 homers and 130 RBIs in 1923.
Doc Gooden's 1985 season was unreal–13.2 WAR, 24 wins, 1.53 ERA. Should have won MVP in addition to Cy Young, not Willie McGee.
— The Brad Pack (@bradpackbooks) April 7, 2017
But that was five years after Ruth stopped pitching full-time. So in 1923, he wasn’t leading the world in homers and fewest hits allowed per nine innings, a la Ohtani, who has 38 homers — which, by the way, leaves him on pace to hit 60 homers, two shy of the AL record set just last year by Aaron Judge — while limiting opposing batters to 5.89 hits per nine innings.
“When he first came over and he was doing it, I’ll be the first guy to say I never thought he would last doing it,” Gooden said of Ohtani, who won the AL Rookie of the Year in 2018 after hitting .285 with 22 homers and 61 RBIs while going 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA in 10 starts.
Ohtani was limited to designated hitter duties in 2019 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in October 2018 and made just two starts during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
“I thought he would become a pitcher,” Gooden said. “But what he’s doing, it’s truly amazing.”
It’s amazing enough to make Gooden wonder what might have been had he tried to become a two-way player. Gooden, who was a star shortstop and outfielder as well as a pitcher while in high school, hit .196 while leading big league pitchers with 67 RBIs and ranking second with eight homers from 1984 through 2000.
“To watch him doing it, I’m living my dream through him,” Gooden said. “I wanted to be a batter. Pitching was my ticket. But if I had my choice, I would have been a hitter.”
This is Shohei Ohtani's 4th game this season with 10+ strikeouts on the mound and multiple hits at the plate
That ties 1985 Dwight Gooden for the most such games in a season since at least 1901 https://t.co/kZ4YbK5zF0
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) September 30, 2022
At 58 years old and without a time machine at his disposal, Gooden will not be able to see if he could have pulled an Ohtani. But he can certainly wish to see Ohtani, an impending free agent sure to sign the most lucrative contract in baseball history, in the Big Apple next season and beyond.
“Hopefully next year I get to see him do it in New York,” said Gooden, who played the first 11 seasons of his career with the Mets before spending parts of three seasons with the Yankees.
“It’s fun to watch. It’s just amazing what he’s doing.”
