I was a kid from Kansas City, MO. Specifically from a suburb known as Liberty. My allegiance was split between the KC Royals & the mighty New York Mets. Ultimately, my hero was Dwight Gooden.

I had all the posters, shirts and baseball cards to christen my adulation of this teenage phenom turned immortal. The culmination of my love of Doc came from that magical 1986 Mets team and the brilliance he always infused on the mound to get everyone watching baseball again.

My dad was born in Brooklyn, raised in Massapequa, Long Island and a trip to his childhood home during my teen years sold me on the mystique when I drove by old Shea Stadium and felt the electricity of a fan base that loved Doc. All of those years of baseball cards and broadcasts crystallized when seeing the stadium and feeling that New York electricity.

In 1989, I wrote a letter to The Kansas City Star pleading with fans to forgive Doc for things that went down off the field because we are all human and simply fallible. That tiny letter was saved and would serve as the beginnings of my true journalistic career. It was the hallmark of a paltry resume at my first journalistic job interview to be a sports writer at the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s U-News. My Doc piece proved enough to get my foot in the proverbial door. My hero was galvanized in a new way.

Flash forward to late 2022 when ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary on the 1986 Mets came out. I insisted with my wife Amanda that we watch this four-part show in order for her to understand my real sports backbone. We had gotten married in 2019 and she had no idea that Doc was my hero and this 1986 team was seminal in my love of baseball.

Subsequently, this inspired her to get me an autographed Dwight Gooden jersey and a copy of his 2013 memoir for Christmas that year. It was a brilliant surprise that fueled my resurgent love of that era and Doc.

The story of Doc’s life in his words was gripping and put quite a bit of my adulation of him in perspective. Consequently, it shot my respect for him as human to epic proportions. The greatness of his on-field prowess matched his off-field integrity over the years. His ability to excel on the field and heal trauma was refreshingly inspiring.

It was during the fall of 2023 that I caught wind of him coming to Kansas City as a part of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Hall of Fame induction class. As an independent journalist, jazz radio host and prolific podcaster, I immediately contacted the museum and secured press credentials.

In all my formative years of loving baseball, there was no interleague play coming to KC. I could never catch the Mets in Kansas City during his prime to see Doc in action. In the twilight and latter portion of his career, I was on detox from MLB due to the 1994 strike and seeing him in pinstripes in KC wasn’t on my radar.

Flash forward again. On that unusually warm day in September of 2023, I made it to the museum with my son Miles to catch a glimpse and hopefully interview my hero. Miles is on the autism spectrum and we had just finished a program earlier that AM called Challenge Air.  He flew with a pilot around the sunny skies of KC. It is a wondrous program for special needs kids. I note this, because times fluctuate with pilots and cognizant of heavy downtown KC construction, I wasn’t sure that we were going to make it to the event. The mystery of life, timing and chance was all in the balance.

Thankfully, it all worked out and we made it to the museum by the skin of our teeth. Yet, I couldn’t say anything to Miles about Doc being my hero to ensure he didn’t get too anxious and possibly spun out. It’s a tactic to keep the needed calm in him during a sensory rich event full of cameras and action.

As I finally slipped the press pass over my head, I heard the eloquent voice of Negro League’s Museum President Bob Kendrick leading the Hall of Game group on a tour and Doc was the at the front of the pack. As he entered the room, time assuredly slowed and the surreal began.

My hero was approaching and as he looked around the packed gallery, he angled towards me and shook my hand. We introduced ourselves and I was floored that he simply walked up to me out of everyone in the room and had a very human moment with me. MLB hero to random journalist and long-time fan.

From there, I spent a few minutes interviewing him and slipped away with Miles to the front of the museum out front with tears in my eyes as the completion of a dream event was closing. As Miles peered in wondering what was happening, I explained that I just met and interviewed my hero. As I weaved through my condensed Doc story, I asked Miles what he thought. He simply said, ‘He’s my hero now too, dad.’

It was during the introduction of Doc to the media that September morning from Bob Kendrick planted the initial seed of this Cooperstown march. He lamented Doc being excluded from future consideration after his 2006 vote of 3.3%. As his lifelong fan, I couldn’t accept this. After I took a few pics with Doc, I shook his hand one final time and said, ‘I will meet you again in Cooperstown.’

This urge festered in me for two years until May of 2025 when I did some looking on the web to see if others concurred with me on getting Doc in the Hall of Fame. I found a kindred spirit and loud blog voice stating the strong claim for Doc to be in the Hall. It was in Mr. Noel P. Roby of the popular blog The Baseball Storyteller. I reached out to him and he got back quickly. From our initial conversation, I decided to interview him and begin the process in earnest to get Dwight Eugene Gooden in Cooperstown.

When I released the interview with Noel, I also began an official petition via Change.org. This kicked off a flurry of activity that included exploratory calls, interviews, conversations, probing, investigations and so much good energy towards the common end of getting Doc rightfully enshrined in Cooperstown.

Ultimately, I reached out to public relations at The Hall of Fame and they said that the window for Doc to get on the ballot is still open. Thus, I needed to draft a letter to the Historical Overview Committee to be voted on at the conclusion of the 2025 MLB Season. That was done in early June 2025.

As the momentum grew, I spoke with sports agent Anthony Giordano of North Star Sports Management Group, who informed me that he spoke with Doc about the campaign and he was quite happy about it. That led me to speaking to Mr. Gooden and he were humbled, grounded, grateful and genuinely excited about this push to get him in Cooperstown.

When I was a kid, there was a device Topps put out called ‘SportsTalk’ and it was a contraption that played interviews with MLB players via a clear record on the back of a big sports card. In the late 1980s,, I wore my Doc Gooden card to a point of barely hearing it anymore.

Flash forward again, I was interviewing my hero in mid June 2025 about this momentous campaign to get him into Cooperstown. I realized as I got off the phone with him that I not only picked a fitting hero to emulate growing up, I picked one of the nicest humans on the planet. His humility, grit, courage, intellect and drive were all on full display and it was hallmark Doc.

As of press time, the voices continue to swell, signatures on the petition are growing and the universal goodwill of Doc’s wield of influence on fans worldwide is amazing. They are waking up to the notion that Doc deserves his place in Cooperstown.

The bottom line is that the mention of Doc brings a smile to people and reminds them of why we love baseball. HIs overarching effect on prior and future generations is astounding. Both on the field and off as he has secured full redemption from his past. Proof of why we have a shrine in Cooperstown to celebrate that eternal sprint of our national past-time.

Finally, this process has proven to me that sometimes budding sports journalists need to simply be true and good fans. It’s time we fans stuck up for our hero’s. With that, I will always have Doc’s back and will keep pushing until he rightfully has his place in the hallowed halls of baseball immortality.

After 52 years on earth, I have never ever made the trip to Cooperstown and I can’t imagine a more fitting first time than to shake Doc’s hand and take in his full career glory in person.

Long live Doc, my friends.