PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Dwight Gooden owes much to Mel Stottlemyre. When Gooden came up as a rookie with the Mets in 1984, Stottlemyre was his pitching coach, and they forged a strong bond, a friendship that was rekindled when Gooden went to the Yankees in 1996 and threw his no-hitter.
“The best thing about Mel was that he was a straight shooter,” Gooden told The Post at Mets Fantasy Camp. Stottlemyre, 77, died Jan. 13. His funeral will be Tuesday in Bellevue, Wash.
“When I first came up,’’ Gooden, 54, said, “he would talk to my dad a lot, and he told me, ‘Your dad knows a lot about pitching.’ He respected that, and Mel took the time to find little things to make my fastball better.
“After every game I pitched, I would call my dad before I would talk to reporters and go over the game. My dad had one of those big satellite dishes like a spaceship, and he and Mel would be saying the same stuff to me about pitching.’’
Stottlemyre did not interfere with the flow of information between Gooden and his father as Gooden won Rookie of the Year honors in 1984 and produced a magical 24-4 1985 Cy Young season, with a 1.53 ERA and 268 strikeouts.
“One of the best things Mel ever told me, and it’s true for every pitcher, if you’re not mentally exhausted at the end of the game, you didn’t do your job,” Gooden said. “That taught me to lock in on every pitch.”
But there was much more to their relationship than pitching tips.
“I remember he said to me, ‘You’re only 19. If you ever get homesick, you can always come to talk to me,’ ” Gooden said. “He understood. He had kids my age. It was like having a second father. Mel was always there for me, even when I messed up.
“In ’87, when I came out of rehab, I felt so bad because I felt like I let Mel down. I felt horrible,” Gooden said. “But he said he would not judge me. He said, ‘That happened and how are we going to get through today?’ I never would have had the career I had without Mel.”
When Stottlemyre was battling cancer, Gooden marveled at his inner strength.
“When I saw him at the 30th reunion for the ’86 team a few years ago, you could tell he was sick, but he didn’t want you to pity him,” Gooden said. “He was a true warrior. I remember when I hit my first home run. Mel said, ‘It feels pretty good. Well, I hit an inside-the-park grand slam.’
“I said, ‘Whoa!’ I didn’t believe it. I looked it up.
“One of the most amazing things about Mel was that when he was our pitching coach with the Mets, we had myself, [Ron] Darling, Sid [Fernandez] and [David] Cone, we all threw hard, and when we had our bullpens, Mel would catch us on our side days.”
Gooden was suspended for drugs in 1994 and all of 1995. In 1996 with the Yankees, Gooden, then 31, was struggling badly when Stottlemyre gave him that straight-shooter advice.
“He told me to forget about my days with the Mets,” Gooden said. “He said, ‘Nobody can pitch the same way for 11 years. We have to go with what you have now until whatever magic you had comes back.’ That was tough. I had to make the transition to becoming a complete pitcher.”
In that ninth inning against Seattle, the Yankees were leading 2-0.
“I was gassed,” Gooden said. “I walked two guys, and Mel came to the mound and said, ‘How do you feel?’ I said, ‘Mel, it doesn’t matter. I’m not coming out.’
“He said, ‘All right, it’s your game,’ and he walked off. My last pitch to Paul Sorrento was on a tee, but he popped it up.”
Gooden got his no-hitter as Stottlemyre raced out of the Yankees dugout in celebration.