Dwight Gooden And The Birth Of “Dr. K”
I don’t know where or why the letter ‘K’ was associated with a strikeout, but whoever gave the nickname of ‘Dr. K’ to Dwight Gooden knew what he was doing…
On October 2, 1986, Dwight Gooden recorded the 200th strikeout of his 1986 season. And while there was a lengthy list of pitchers that had accomplished that feat prior to ‘Doc’, he was the first pitcher in major league history to collect more than 200 K’s in his first three big league seasons.
Amazingly, with all of the fireballers before his era, Gooden was the first. Not Nolan Ryan or Tom Seaver or Bob Gibson or Jim Palmer.
Here is a closer look at those three historic years:
| Season | K’s |
| 1984 | 276 |
| 1985 | 268 |
| 1985 | 200 |
I still have that magazine! thanks for reminding me lol DR K was the man!