Mets PR department strikes out

Doc Gooden left his mark — literally and figuratively — on the New York Mets.

Gooden was in attendance last Wednesday to see his nephew, Gary Sheffield, make his first start as a New York Met. During batting practice Gooden signed autographs and took photos with fans at the Ebbets Field Club. When a fan asked him to sign the wall, Gooden obliged. He pulled out a black Sharpie and wrote “Dwight Gooden, ‘84 ROY, ‘85 Cy Young and ‘86 W.S. Champs.”

Fans flocked to it, like it was Gooden himself. The took photographs of it — and with it. The wall was taking on a life of its own. Imagine that, an otherwise plain white wall comes to life with character and personality.

Gooden told the New York Daily News:

“One of the guys that worked there asked me to sign one of the walls, so I did it. It wasn’t like I was walking around with a sharpie in my pocket. They asked me to sign the wall as a favor, as something for the fans to see. I was in there watching batting practice and they had fans taking pictures with me by my signature and I thought it was a fun idea. I definitely didn’t think it was going to turn out to be this big deal. I didn’t do anything intentionally for the Mets to get upset. I was just doing it for the fans. I don’t see what the big fuss is. Honestly, I don’t.”

When the Mets learned what Gooden did, they exploded.

In a statement by the team, Mets SR. VP of Media Relations Jay Horwitz said:

“It’s a brand new building, whether it’s Doc or any other player, it wasn’t meant to write all over the walls. We are going to do things to celebrate our history, but this wasn’t the right way to get that started. If we allow this precedent, people will be writing all over the stadium.”

Wrong answer.

Wrong response.

Any public relations department worth a grain of salt would realize, public perception will always favor the player, not management in these cases. In this case, we’re not talking about Len Randle or Art Shamsky or Skip Lockwood. This is Dwight Gooden. In a Mets fans eyes Gooden, despite all his off-the-field legal problems, is remembered as Dr. K. When Mets fans see No. 16, like it or not, they think of 1984, 1985 and 1986 … or 58-19 won-loss record, 744 strike outs, 35 complete games, a Rookie of the Year award, a Cy Young winner and a World Series champion.

Gooden added:

“They have every right to do what they want with their new stadium, but I don’t understand it. I think it’s great that they’re talking about it doing now, but I would’ve thought it would’ve been there already. You’d think they’d want to connect to the ‘86 team as much as they can, and the ‘69 team, because those are the only times that they won (the World Series). Most stadiums you go to, even if they’ve never won anything, they have that. So I would think you would have something in there to show the fans that you appreciate that history, and to show the former players, as well . . . I think the former players expect that. I think the fans want that.”

There it was, Gooden’s name scrawled on a blank wall. It was an opportunity waiting to be seized. The Mets now had a pseudo-historical founding point. Sure it looked ghetto, a name and message scrawled on the wall, but look at the reaction. Fans bought in. They love it. They photographed it. Instead of shameful dictum from management and the Mets public relations department, the next words should have been “Who’s next?”

This past week the Mets had Tom Seaver (“The Franchise”) and Mike Piazza in the ballpark. Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling are regulars, as team broadcasters. Give them a Sharpie, a piece of the wall and — now — you have a player-generated, fan-centric display of history at Citi Field. In time, as names filled in, it would be a place to visit while at Citi Field.

The cost: zero dollars and zero cents.

The marketing investment: zero dollars and zero cents.

Trust me, fans would spread the news by word-of-mouth throughout the stadium. “Have you seen the wall of signatures? Gooden, Hernandez, Seaver, Piazza, Koosman, etc. …”

Sorry Jay, you lose. You can take away Gooden’s autograph from the wall, but you can’t take away the memories he gave to Mets fans. Those are etched in our minds.