How would Dwight Gooden's career have turned out if he had stayed sober?

Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry are forever linked in fans' memories, but the players have taken very different paths these days. While Strawberry is a "Celebrity Apprentice" star, book author, and an SNY broadcaster, the only appearances Gooden is making as of late is in the police blotter.

Squawker Jon wrote about Gooden's DUI arrest the other day. And Gooden's legal woes got reader Uncle Mike to wonder what Doc's career would have been like if he had never touched drugs and alcohol. So he wrote up an account on his personal blog, Uncle Mike's Musings. In Mike's what-if scenario, the Mets would have more playoff appearances (but no more rings) while the Yankees would have a few more championships, courtesy of Doc's arm.

Somehow in this alternate universe, even the horror that was 2004 would have been fixed, with the Red Sox still looking on the outside in. And in Uncle Mike's world, Gooden would be known as one of the greatest Yankee pitchers ever.

This was all too much for Squawker Jon, who responded:

Quite a fanciful account. The clean Gooden must be a true miracle worker if his actions could result in the Cubs making it to the World Series. Looking forward to your sequel, "If M. Donald Grant Were Not a Tightwad," in which the 1977 Mets kept Tom Seaver, signed Reggie Jackson and other free agents, and made it back to the World Series under manager Joe Torre while the Yankees had to settle for their brief appearance in 1976 against the Reds. Torre went on to become a New York institution in his many years of managing the Mets.

But, as Uncle Mike remembered, the Mets did have the chance to draft Reggie Jackson in 1966, but passed on him and chose the immortal Steve Chilcott instead. Anyhow, our Met-hating reader has somehow conjured a scenario of how, if the Mets had drafted Reggie, he somehow would have cost him that 1969 miracle. Squawker Jon will not be pleased to read this!

Speaking of what-if scenarios, we have partnered with the good folks at WhatIfSports to see what would happen if the 1986 Mets faced off against the 1998 Yankees. (Of course, Darryl Strawberry will be playing for both teams!) Anyhow, we have our own World Series of the two memorable teams coming up, starting tomorrow. Come back Sunday and check it out.

What do you think? Tell us about it!