After 20/20, Gooden Had Visions of 300 Wins

Fourteen years ago today, there seemed to be no boundaries to what lay ahead for a young New York Met pitcher named Dwight Gooden.

At 20 years, 9 months and 9 days, he became the youngest pitcher to win 20 games with a 9-3 win over San Diego at Shea Stadium.

It was his 14th consecutive win, boosted his record to 20-3 and gave him 37 victories over two seasons.

He wasn’t sharp, throwing 97 pitches in six innings, but got offensive support from his young teammate, Darryl Strawberry, who homered, drove in three runs and scored four times.

Gooden eclipsed Bob Feller in the record book. Feller was a month older than Gooden when he won 20 in 1939. The youngest previous National League pitcher to win 20 was Christy Mathewson in 1901, at 21 years, 1 month, 9 days.

Gooden finished that season with a 24-4 record and a 1.53 earned-run average. He struck out 268 batters in 276 innings.

Fourteen years later, that remains his only 20-win season. Since 1992, he hasn’t won more than 11 games. In 1994, he went from the Mets to the Yankees and from there to Cleveland, where he was 8-6 last year and is 3-3 this year.

On the day of that 20th win, he talked of a career headed for 300 wins.

At 35, he’s 188-106.

Also on this date: In 1937, in Cleveland, 19-year-old Bob Feller struck out 16 hitters, including Joe Cronin. When called out on a third strike, Cronin said to the umpire: “If I didn’t see it, how could you see it?” . . . In 1965, Archibald “Moonlight” Graham, 88, died. In 1905, he appeared in the outfield for one inning of one major league game, did not bat or handle a chance, and was portrayed decades later by Burt Lancaster in the film “Field of Dreams.”