In a career spanning 430 games, he pitched 2,800+2⁄3 innings and posted a win–loss record of 194–112, with a 3.51 earned run average (ERA), and 2,293 strikeouts.

In 1985, he won the NL Cy Young Award and achieved the pitching Triple Crown, compiling a 24–4 record and a league-leading 1.53 ERA, 268 strikeouts, and 16 complete games.

Gooden remained an effective pitcher in subsequent years, but his career was ultimately derailed by cocaine and alcohol addiction.

He spent one season in the minors, in which he led the Class-A Carolina League in wins, strikeouts and ERA while playing for the Lynchburg Mets.

Gooden made the rare jump from High-A directly to the major leagues in one year, bypassing Double-A and Triple-A.

Gooden soon attracted a rooting section at Shea Stadium that called itself "The K Korner", and would hang up cards with a red "K" after each of his strikeouts.

He complemented this distinction by striking out the side, AL batters: Lance Parrish, Chet Lemon, and Alvin Davis.

Setting up Gooden, NL Pitcher Fernando Valenzuela had already struck out the side in the fourth, putting down future Hall of Famers Dave Winfield, Reggie Jackson, and George Brett.

The two pitchers' combined performance broke an All-Star game record, coincidentally on its celebrated 50th anniversary—Carl Hubbell's five consecutive strikeouts in 1934.

The Mets finished second in the 1985 NL East, and teammates jokingly blamed Gooden for having lost 4 games, thereby mathematically costing them the division title.

Travelers descending the steps of the side entrance to Manhattan's Pennsylvania Station were greeted by an enormous photograph of Gooden in mid-motion that recorded his season's strikeout totals as the year progressed.

Likewise, those strolling the streets of Manhattan's West Side could gaze up at a 102 feet tall Sports Illustrated mural of Gooden painted on the side of a building at 351 West 42nd Street in Times Square, whose caption asked "How does it feel to look down the barrel of a loaded gun?

[13] Rumors of substance abuse began to arise, which were confirmed when Gooden tested positive for cocaine during spring training in 1987.

In 1988, he was profiled in the William Goldman and Mike Lupica book Wait Till Next Year, which looked at the impact Gooden's drug use and enforced missed games had on the Mets over the 1987 season.

In the first game of the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Gooden was matched against Orel Hershiser, who had just finished the regular season with a 59-inning scoreless streak.

In his next start in Game 4, Gooden entered the ninth inning with a 4–2 lead and the chance to give his Mets a commanding 3–1 advantage in the series.

[15] Gooden was accused of rape along with teammates Vince Coleman and Daryl Boston in 1991; however, authorities questioned the alleged victim and found insufficient evidence to charge anyone.

[18] Kirk Radomski, the New York Mets clubhouse attendant whose allegations are at the base of the Mitchell Report later claimed that he took two urine tests for Gooden during the 1990s.

Gooden began the 2000 season with two sub-par stints with the Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Devil Rays but found himself back with the Yankees mid-season.

He would go on to have a respectable second stint with the Yankees, going 4–2 with a 3.36 ERA as a spot starter and long reliever, including a win against his former team, the Mets, on July 8 in the regular-season Subway series.

He acted as the go-between man during free agent contract negotiations between his nephew, Gary Sheffield, and the Yankees prior to the 2004 season.

On August 1, 2010, he was officially inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame along with Darryl Strawberry, Frank Cashen, and Davey Johnson.

[24][25] In December 1986, Gooden was arrested in Tampa alongside nephew Gary Sheffield and former high school teammate Vance Lovelace after police stopped his Chevrolet Corvette.

The officer remarked in his report that Gooden's eyes were glassy and bloodshot, his speech was slurred, and a "strong" odor of alcohol was present on him.

[31] On the morning of March 24, 2010, Gooden was arrested in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, near his home there, after leaving the scene of a traffic accident, having been located nearby and found to be under the influence of an undisclosed controlled substance.

[34] He later pleaded guilty to child endangerment, received five years' probation, and was ordered to undergo outpatient drug treatment.

Gooden had been stopped by police for driving too slowly and having illegally tinted windows when they discovered two baggies suspected of containing cocaine.

[39] American rock band the Mountain Goats released a song entitled "Doc Gooden" on their 2019 album In League with Dragons.

American hiphop group Da Lench Mob referenced Gooden along with Babe Ruth in the 1992 song "You And Your Heroes".

The baseball video game MLB Power Pros uses Gooden's Dr. K nickname as the name for an ability that makes pitchers pitch well with two strikes.