On August 25th, 1985, At the age of 20 years, 9 months, 9 days, Dwight Gooden became the youngest 20-game winner ever when the Mets beat San Diego at Shea Stadium, 9-3. Doc was 27 days younger than Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller, who had accomplished the feat with Cleveland in 1939. Gooden would end up winning the 1985 NL Cy Young Award and the pitching Triple Crown, compiling a 24–4 record and a league-leading 1.53 ERA, 268 strikeouts, and 16 complete games in 1985. In 1986 he will help the Mets win the 1986 World Series.

If there was a Time Machine that allowed me to go back in time to watch the games of certain pitchers while they were in their prime, here is the list of pitchers I would most want to see:

• Vida Blue
• Mark Fidrych
• Dwight Gooden
• Roger Clemens
• Bob Gibson
• Sandy Koufax

These six are iconic to me. They are the names and faces that come to my mind when someone says “dominant Starting Pitcher.”

Of the list, only Gibson and Clemens had long careers. Koufax took awhile to get going, and his career was cut short at his peak by injury. Fidrych had a single incandescent season. Blue and Gooden just a few.

Of the pitchers on the list, I only got to see Clemens in his prime. I saw Gooden pitch. But it was later in his career, when he was a mere mortal. I never got to see Blue, Fidrych, Gibson, or Koufax pitch in person at all.

I don’t collect baseball cards anymore. Sometimes I wish I did. But if I did collect cards again, I would focus on Clemens and Gooden. The two best pitchers that I ever got to see in pitch in person.