When Jazzy John Romita prepared the above illo for the cover of Marvel Age #54 back in 1987, he managed to squeeze most of the prominent guests in attendance at that summer’s gala Parker-Watson nuptials into the picture. Most, but not all.

He left out Dwight Gooden.

That’s right sports fans, Dwight “Doc” Gooden, one-time teenage phenom fastballer for the New York Mets, who burst onto the scene in 1984 in a stunning fashion never witnessed either before or since. Comics fans, if ever there was a baseball player who, thanks to his uncanny ability to strike out batters seemingly at will, looked all the world to be a graduate of Charles Xavier’s School for Talented Mutants, it was the young Gooden.

But after dominating the National League with a 24-4 record in 1985, handily winning a Cy Young Award along the way, Gooden’s career began to take a downturn, as he posted a less than super-human record of 17-6 during a 1986 campaign that saw his dominating teammates otherwise chalk up an astonishing 108 regular season wins. And then he inexplicably missed the celebratory ticker tape parade through Manhattan only days the Mets’ memorable World Series victory. This was a man who was on track to be the greatest pitcher in the history of baseball – what happened to Doc, Mets fans began to wonder?

We all found out during the early days of spring training the following season.

Cocaine.

When Gooden – who’d always come across as a gracious, likable, down-to-earth young man – failed his drug test, his legion of fans – myself included – reacted with shock. And somewhat selfishly, we reacted with disappointment as well – the team’s star hurler was suddenly sidelined for the opening months of the ’87 season, suspended for nearly a third of the schedule for his offense, y’see, and that couldn’t be good for the Mets prospects (it wasn’t – they failed to qualify for the post season).

Finally, having served his time, Gooden prepared to take the Shea Stadium mound against the Pittsburgh Pirates on the evening of June 5th to make his 1987 debut, but not before an equally historic event took place on the very same field:

Spider-Man and Mary Jane – or perhaps actors standing in for them, I’m not entirely sure – were tying the knot behind home plate in a ceremony officiated by none other than Stan Lee that selfsame day!

Obviously scheduled weeks – if not months – before anyone had calculated Gooden’s months-delayed initial start as also falling on that very evening, the publicity stunt that both Marvel (looking to get word out on the Webspinner’s landmark stroll down the aisle) and the Mets front office (hoping to lure some extra fans into the park for a weeknight contest against the lackluster Bucs) had mutually orchestrated didn’t turn out to be at all necessary to lure folks through the turnstiles. Fact is, Spidey’s big moment probably received scant attention from the packed-to-the-rafters house, preoccupied as fans were with their tarnished hero’s imminent return.

(In the stadium that night, by the way, was my old buddy Ron Marz, not yet a comics scribe, but still in the employ of local daily, The Kingston Freeman. The paper’s sports editor invited Ron to take in the proceedings with him from the press level, and while Ron recalls that game itself vividly, details regarding the faux wedding ceremony seemed to have escaped his attention. Ah well, Ron always did seem to be more of a DC guy anyway…)

As I recall things, while Gooden’s return dominated the discussion on Howie Rose’s pre-game radio show, I do remember the host making a passing – and bemused – reference to the Spider-Man stunt just before going to commercial. And later that night, at least one local NYC TV station included the briefest of glimpses of the happy couple leading into their segment about the game. But they had plenty more to show, so ex-bachelor Spidey was lucky to merit even a passing mention.

The Mets – and Gooden – won, 5-1. More disturbingly, center fielder Lenny Dykstra and transplanted-center-fielder-playing-left Mookie Wilson collided in mid-air as they both pursued a fly ball destined to fall smack dab between the two of them. Miraculously, as horrendous as it looked – and it was the sort of clip that got played over and over and over again – neither was banged up very badly. Peter and Mary Jane, though, most likely missed the play entirely, heading as they were off on to their honeymoon…

Gooden came back to win 15 games that year, but what had once looked like a lock for a first ballot Hall of Fame career ahead of him slowly degenerated into a middling baseball resume, the sort that justifiably gets passed over by Cooperstown voters. Beyond the stats, Gooden’s never really been able to shake that other monkey off his back either, and, sadly, is currently serving a one-year prison sentence on drug related charges. Such a shame.

And the once happy Parkers?…

All was sweetness and light in the beginning, but THESE days? Well, you know…

(Literally, YOU know. I’m fudging here because I’m afraid I don’t keep up with the trials and tribulation’s of Ben Parker’s nephew the way I used to, but from what little I’ve been able to garner from internet sources, the Parker’s union isn’t in much better condition than Gooden’s Hall of Fame credentials. Pastor Lee must be SO disappointed…)

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-Copyright 2006 Fred Hembeck

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