The Doctor and the Superhero

Dwight Gooden and Roger Clemens, 1987 Fleer "Superstar Specials"

Does anybody recall, in their lives, Roger Clemens being referred to as “Super K?” Did anyone ever say when they were growing up, “Did you see what Super K did last night? He K’d 13! Super, indeed!” and when they said this, they were referring to Roger Clemens? I personally do not recall such a thing. Just to be sure I did not somehow miss something, I Googled “Super K,” and discovered that Wikipedia acknowledges Super K as a neutrino observatory which is under Mount Kamioka near the city of Hida, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. The observatory was designed to search for proton decay, study solar and atmospheric neutrinos, and keep watch for supernovas in the Milky Way Galaxy. Legend has it, one time the Super K observed a supernova in the Milky Way known as Roger Clemens, and his neutrinos were so powerful that it exploded the Super K. Maybe that is where he got the nickname that he doesn’t have.

Anyhoo, with regards to the above picture—can you spot the more humble one? Also interesting to note the irony of a doctor going on to face drug problems and a superhero requiring performance enhancement. Nevertheless … to the back of the card!



There is only letter that counts whenever Roger Clemens of the Red Sox and Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets are pitching.

J? N? I have absolutely no idea. Can I have a clue?

It is K

Ohhhhhhh. Makes sense. Because of the strikeouts.

… make that Super K.

That is six letters. To recap: “There is only letter that counts whenever Roger Clemens of the Red Sox and Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets are pitching. That letter is S U P E R K. Six letters. Of those letters, the most important one is K. Make that … Super K. The “K” itself is super, is what I’m trying to say.”

Also, pointing out that this card bestows upon Roger Clemens the false nickname of Super K, this sentiment kind of ignores Gooden, does it not? To recap yet again:

“There is only thing that counts whenever Roger Clemens of the Red Sox and Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets are pitching.

Strikeouts. Make that … Roger Clemens.”

I would accept either of the previous two examples as “Lede of the Year: 1987.”

Fans have come to adopt both pitchers at their respective parks.

“Strangely—and this warrants mentioning—fans have taken to cheering for these pitchers, especially when they pitch at home, when the fans are there, because of the great things these pitchers do for the very teams these fans root for in a more general sense.”

Fans are currently rooting for Clemens in court and Gooden on Celebrity Rehab. In Clemens' case, it's probably less "rooting for" than it is "not really caring either way," or, maybe, "rooting against." In Gooden's case, fans are rooting for him so adamantly than one fan in particular named Lenny Dykstra tried to break him out of rehab.

Tune in next week to see who will try and break our superhero out of prison! (Note: It will probably be Lenny Dykstra.) Man, 1987 seems like a long time ago.