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78 THE QUEENS COURIER • SEPTEMBER 20, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Photo courtesy of St. Mary’s Children’s Hospital
Former Mets and Yankees great
visits children at Bayside hospital
BY EMMA MILLER
editorial@qns.com / @QNS
“Doctor K” was in the house at St.
Mary’s Children’s Hospital in Bayside
on Sept. 12.
Dwight Gooden, former star pitcher
for the New York Mets and Yankees, visited
kids and their families at the hospital.
Getting to meet Gooden “made the
year” for hospital patients and parents,
said Sean Lally, St. Mary’s vice president
for development, strategic planning and
external aff airs.
Gooden said that St. Mary’s was a
place close to his heart since his younger
brother was cared for in a children’s
hospital when he was hit by a car at 4
years old in 1989. Gooden used to live
in the area, having played for the Mets,
and thought that St. Mary’s played an
important role in helping children in the
community.
“I think they do a great job,” he said.
It was Gooden’s fi rst time visiting the
hospital — “but it won’t be the last,” he
said.
Gooden connected with St. Mary’s
through longtime friend Gail Fass,
director of income development at the
hospital. She originally reached out to
him to help raise money for St. Mary’s
on BGC Charity Day.
BGC Partners and Cantor Fitzgerald
host Charity Day every year on Sept. 11
to commemorate their 658 employees
whose died in the terrorist attacks on the
World Trade Center in 2001. All of their
revenue the companies earn that day
goes to Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund
and other charities such as St. Mary’s.
Charities send in celebrity ambassadors
to answer phones and make trades
for the companies on Charity Day each
year. Gooden has been St. Mary’s representative
since at least 2014.
Fass said Gooden enjoyed being a part
of Charity Day again this year. Th is was
the fi rst year she invited him to visit the
hospital aft erwards.
Gooden played Major League Baseball
for 16 seasons, including 11 years with
the Mets. He won Rookie of the Year
in 1984, then captured the Cy Young
Award the following season, winning
24 games for the 1985 Mets. He would
help the club win their second World
Championship in 1986, and was later
inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame in
2010.
St. Mary’s has been around for more
than 145 years. Th ey are currently the
largest provider of long-term care for
kids in the state.
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