Dwight Gooden was honored at the 45th annual Thurman Munson Awards in New York (Brian Bahr /Allsport)
NEW YORK - Dwight Gooden stood tall, taking deep breaths, measuring his words. To his left was Diana Munson, the wife of beloved New York Yankees captain Thurman Munson, killed in an airplane crash at Akron–Canton Airport on Aug. 2, 1979.
The one-time New York Mets phenom would be honored with retired outfielder Hideki Matsui and Ali Truwit, winner of two silver medals in swimming at the 2024 Paris Paralympics and the first Paralympian bestowed an award reflecting their work for the betterment of sports and community.
For 45 years, the AHRC NYC Foundation benefit has helped keep Munson's memory alive, raising more than $23 million for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to lead richer, more productive lives. Not too long ago, Gooden suffered from an addiction to substance abuse and his life was in peril. Today he's at peace and, in Truwit's words, turning trauma into hope.
“Life is great,” Gooden told RG exclusively in New York on Thursday. “I'm OK now to where I can be proud of myself and give myself credit to continue what I'm doing. Before, I was always trying to people-please, trying to make sure I'm doing the right thing for others. I can say I love myself. You're never over it, but as long as I keep doing what I'm doing now, I'll be fine.”
Near the peak of Gooden's career was a 95×42 mural covering the side of the Holland Hotel on West 42nd Street near the Port Authority Bus Terminal. From Aug. 11, 1984, to May 6, 1986, “Dr. K” was 37-5 with a 1.38 ERA, 412 strikeouts and 90 walks in 406 innings. In between there was the 1984 National League Rookie of the Year, 276 strikeouts that set a record for a first-year play and his signature season of 1985: 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA and 268 strikeouts to win the NL Cy Young Award.
Doc was must-see TV, like Tom Seaver before him and Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom captivating future generations. Fame arrived before Good was of legal drinking age, so consumed by cocaine at age 21 he was a no-show for the ticker-tape parade down the Canyon of Heroes celebrating the 1986 World Series champions.
Now 60, Gooden supports AHRC and is involved with the Cristian Rivera Foundation, a nonprofit helping to fight diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a rare brain cancer that ended Cristian Rivera's life at age 6 on Jan. 25, 2009.
“I have a lot of confidence and faith in myself now,” Gooden said.
“I have a great relationship with kids and being accountable to them. All the mess that I made, I'm trying to turn them into messages, sharing experiences, so maybe somebody might be able to relate to it.”
Years of addiction, arrests, and incarceration knocked Gooden down, never out. He threw a no-hitter for the Yankees against the Seattle Mariners on May 14, 1996, and won his second World Series ring. He was 194-112, with a 3.51 ERA, 2,293 strikeouts, and 68 complete games in 16 seasons, yet there's a perception he was made for more.
Those who believe in Dwight Gooden the person, disrupts the narrative. He's in the Mets Hall of Fame, entered the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Hall of Fame with the Class of 2023 and his No. 16 is one of nine retired by the Mets. He's giving back, speaking openly, showing there's a reason why he's still here.
“It's the dream we all dreamed of,” Nelson Figueroa, a New York sports analyst and retired right-hander who played for the Mets in 2008 and '09, shared with RG. “He got to do it at the biggest stage and win a World Series very quickly … check every box. He was able to do that before the age of 25. What do you do then? What do you do to top that?
“There's a life lesson in almost every story when you hear about Dwight Gooden. Besides all the accolades, there are things that everyday people would just sit back and marvel over, like the demons that he dealt with, and how he has come through on the other side.”
THURMAN TOUGH
Fans and peers, then and now, relate to Thurman Munson - blue collar, hardworking, making the absolute most of his ability - showing off No. 15 Yankees paraphernalia. The seven-time All-Star batted .292 with 113 home runs and 701 RBIs in a 10-year career. He did his best work when it mattered, batting .373 in 16 World Series games, .529 with a series-record six straight hits when the Yankees were swept by the Cincinnati Reds in 1976, the season he was named American League Most Valuable Player (.302-17-105).
Everything changed forever around 4:02 p.m. ET on Aug. 2, 1979, when the private Cessna Citation Munson piloted with two passengers aboard crashed short of Runway 19. Diana has shared her faith got her through it. She has three children, daughters Tracy and Kelly, and son Michael. She was taught how to be a tough girl, for you cannot be weak if you're married to Thurman Munson.
“That's exactly the point,” Diana told RG. “The point is, most of these athletes have that extra, whatever we want to call it. 'Thurman Tough' was really the way I see it, because you can't fade away when things go. I couldn't fade away when I lost him. I'm lucky because I have great faith, and that helped me through most of it. He's always watching me, so I know I can't screw up.”
Matsui was tough, period. He played 250 consecutive games in 10 seasons for Yomiuri of Nippon Professional Baseball in his native Japan, signed a three-year, $21 million contract with the Yankees on Dec. 19, 2002, and played another 518 in a row before a broken wrist sustained trying to make a catch against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on May 11, 2006, ended the ironman streak at a combined 1,768.
He hit a grand slam in his first game in the Bronx, a 7-3 win against the Minnesota Twins on April 8, 2003. He had eight RBIs in the 2009 World Series, six in the clinching 7-3 win against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6, pushing past his aching knees to bat .615 (8-for-13) with three home runs and be named MVP. He donated to relief efforts for the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan's Tohoku region. At age 50, he played an exhibition game overseen by Ichiro Suzuki at Tokyo Dome on Sept. 23, 2024, injuring his leg in the first inning and returning to homer to right field in the eighth.
Truwit lost her left foot and part of her leg in a shark attack while snorkeling at the Turks and Caicos Islands on May 25, 2003, two days after graduating from Yale University. She swam 75 yards to safety, inspired in Paris and founded the nonprofit Stronger Than You Think, providing opportunities and resources to individuals with limb loss and promote water safety.
THE MUNSON WAY
Gooden never played with Munson but knows plenty of stories and can tell his kids and grandkids he got dressed in the same clubhouse across the room from the No. 15 locker vacated since his death and moved to a museum at the new Yankee Stadium. Another tale of Yankees lore unfolded four days after the plane crash and hours after the Yankees returned to New York from the funeral in Canton, Ohio, for a game against the first-place Baltimore Orioles.
Bobby Murcer, one of Munson's closest friends, delivered the eulogy that morning and was asked by Yankees manager Billy Martin to take the night off. Murcer refused and started in left field. He hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning to pull New York within 4-3 and a two-run single down the left field line against Tippy Martinez in the ninth for a 5-4 victory.
Murcer's bat was given to Diana, never to be used again, at her home until she sold it in a charity auction for safekeeping. The Munson Way is hers forever. She got to share it with three athletes new to the club.
“I think you just have to look at their lives and what they've been through, and the trials and tribulations and dedication,” Diana said. “The fact that they are all willing to come back from different situations, to me, is amazing. When life is going well for you, everybody is great, but what happens when the chips are down, when there's an issue? I think these people have proven who they are.”
