Wayback: Pitching Standouts

April 7th, 1984 was a noteworthy day for pitching.  After being their big story during spring training 19 year old Mets rookie Dwight Gooden was a winner in his regular season debut, striking out five and holding the Astros to a run and three hits over five innings in a 3-2 Mets victory.  It was his first of his 16 wins that season  en route to National League Rookie of the Year honors (and 157 career wins as a Met). Very impressive, yet not the day's top baseball headline.

That belonged to Tigers ace Jack Morris.  Making his second start of the young season, he no-hit the Chicago White Sox, striking out eight, walking six, but otherwise firing blanks in Detroit's 4-0 victory at old Comiskey Park -- their fourth straight win to start the year.  , a streak that would soon reach nine in a row and 35 wins in their first 40 games, the best start to a season ever! (Morris ended the year 19-11, finishing seventh for the Cy Young Award.) Sparky Anderson's Tigers never took their foot off the gas, cruising to an AL East title by 15 games, sweeping the Royals in the ALCS and taking the World Series in five over the Padres.


(My image of Gooden is from the 2010 CBS Radio Expo at Yankee Stadium, while I snapped Morris at the 2013 BAT Dinner in New York.)

 

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