Ultimate Mets Database - Memories of Tom Gorman

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Tom Gorman
vs. the Mets

Tom Gorman
vs. Other Teams

Memories of
Tom Gorman

Tom Gorman
Ultimate Mets Database popularity ranking: 223 of 1252 players

Thomas Patrick Gorman
Born: December 16, 1957 at Portland, Ore.
Throws: Left Bats: Left
Height: 6.03 Weight: 195

Tom Gorman was the most popular Ultimate Mets Database daily lookup on October 1, 2003, October 16, 2018, August 4, 2020, January 7, 2022, and October 6, 2023.

First Mets game: September 18, 1982
Last Mets game: September 27, 1985

Share your memories of Tom Gorman

HERE IS WHAT OTHER METS FANS HAVE TO SAY:

Sid Finch
Gorfax, as Hernandez called him, was supposedly a pretty funny character. Read "If at First," Hernandez's memoir of the 1985 and 1986 seasons. Good insights on Gorfax, Lynch, Rusty, Foster, Dykstra, Knight, Kid, Mookie, Davey, Straw, Darling, Doc etc. Mex is brutal when it comes to Sisk.

Logan Swanson
April 15, 2001
No velocity, no movement, no location. Had an afro in 1985, ten years after in was fashionable.

kinerskorner
April 19, 2001
definitely a really, really bad pitcher whose hair was an atrocity.

Mr. Sparkle
April 26, 2001
Nick-named Gorfax due to his being the "anti-Koufax." I think his best fastball topped out at 79.

murphy
May 29, 2001
Gorman was so bad in 1985 that the Mets replaced him in the bullpen with Randy Niemann as the lefthanded long man. How bad are you if you get replaced by Randy Niemann?

Rich S
November 13, 2001
When he was in baseball at the same time as Gorman Thomas of the Brewers, they were the only two players who shared the first/last last/first name combinations. Other than that, nothing to distinguish him other than the fact that his pitching was batting practice quality and the 3 a.m. Atlanta fireworks night homer he gave up to noted slugger Rick Camp.

Dave
January 19, 2002
I remember him being the emergency started in a game at the Vet in 1985. He got lit up and was gone early in a game that the Mets lost, 26-7.
I couldn't watch the game, because it was on SportsChannel and my parents didn't have cable. I listened to Bob Murphy and Gary Thorne (now with ESPN) on the radio....back then, the Mets were on now- defunct WHN. (1050 AM...country!)

Larry Burns
May 20, 2002
In Hernandez's book, If at First, he recounted a story where Tommy G pasted a photo of his head over a pic of Doc Gooden and ran around asking,"Is this what it feels like to look down the barrel of a gun." He was, at best, a mediocre pitcher, but every story I have ever heard of him portrays him as a great guy and a positive teammate. After he surrended a 17th inning home run to tie the score against Atlanta on that July 4th 1985 game to light hitting pitcher Rick Camp---someone called him at the hotel the next morning and said to him, "Rick Camp, you gotta be shi**ing me!" Overall an unknown colorful character that makes being a baseball (especially a Met) fan great.

Jon Bonfiglio
June 12, 2003
I remember Gorman being part of the bullpen with Jesse Orosco (hard to believe Jesse is still pitching) and Roger McDowell.
Stat wise, 6-0 with a sub 3.00 era ain't too shabby.

Rev Matt
August 6, 2003
He was the mop up man in '85. A forkball specialist Typical at bat facing Gorman: Three forkballs in the dirt. Count 3 and 0. 75 mph fastball taken for strike one. Count 3 and 1. Another fastball that could barely get a speeding ticket on the Grand Central Parkway. Home Run.

Gorfax groupie
October 3, 2003
With a career strike out to walk ratio of 2 to 1, he wasn't wildly out of control.
He was a forkball (ball scuffer) throwing middle reliever who would make about a million bucks a year if he was playing now because he's a lefty.
I believe he's a baseball coach in the Pacific Northwest these days.

Ryan Garrison
October 3, 2003
I remember that Tom could throw one nasty Fork ball...not bad with the short irons either. I think he got more swings on the driving range than he got pitches in the bigs.

Ron Bell
October 3, 2003
I have to admit, Gorman was one of my favorite players back in the day. I constantly heard how great of a guy he was...funny as hell. He also spent much of his off time volunteering in the community. He visited a schoolmate of mine, Bret Helms, in the hospital before his bonemarrow transplant.
Like the other guy said...6-0 with a 2.97 era for a set up guy is pretty darn good.

Garland Risner
October 15, 2003
Gorman was quite the cutup in the bullpen. He never got to the level of David Cone, but he kept those of us out in the bleachers entertained on some of those cold nights at Shea.

Trudy Kroll
October 28, 2003
Me and my girlfriends all had huge crushes on Gorman. Last I heard, he was a pitching coach in Portland, OR at the university there.

scott rogers
December 2, 2003
It seems if there was a marathon game, Tom Gorman was in there. I remember he pitched about seven innings of relief in the game against the Pirates. It was the 18-inning game where Rusty and Clint Hurdle kept switching back and forth between right and left, and also the game in Atlanta when he gave up the homer to Camp. We did win both games. I don't know why but I always liked this guy.

Bob P
December 6, 2003
Scott, you are right...Gorman did pitch seven innings in that marathon game against Pittsburgh in April of 1985. Gorman was the winning pitcher, allowing just five hits and a walk while striking out five over the last seven innings. Gorman retired 12 of the last 13 batters he faced in the game.

Tosha DeMond
December 6, 2003
Tom was a good golfer and bowler. He came from a small town in Oregon and went to school at Gonzaga, way before Gonzaga had any notoriety from their basketball team.
Probably the only kid on his block who used Jerri Curl for those luscious locks of his.

D Sparkman
January 4, 2004
I played for Tom at Portland State. He was, and probably still is, a great guy. Taught us a lot about baseball, both on and off the field, it was a great experience to be around him. I hope he is doing well wherever he is.

Glen Slack
January 6, 2004
Gorman's a hell of guy...played with him during our days with the Chicks in Memphis ('81). Had a great fork ball but about everyone in the stands knew when he was going to throw it. Tom never lost a leg wrestling match and was the best "courage ball" player around.

Joe Figliola
March 23, 2004
I do remember him as the Mets' residential humorist just before Roger McDowell got in the groove. He always had something funny to say that the press would pick up.
I forgot how long he was with the Amazin's (1981-85). As a pitcher, I thought he was okay—nothing too flashy. And I think his 6-0 record is the best for a Mets pitcher without a loss in a season. Whether he could go the year undefeated was one of many sidebars that made the 1984 season rather special for me... pennantless, but still special.
BTW, that winning streak was part of an 8-0 run he had that spanned from late 1983 to April, 1985. It's not often that a pitcher can go that long without losing a game.

Shari
March 28, 2004
I almost forgot about Tom Gorman, he was pretty decent, I always thought he was better than Doug Sisk, and I never could understand why they kept putting Doug in games instead of him.

ten man
June 4, 2006
I played catcher for him in high school in 2004 in the Portland-Metro area. He was by far the funniest person I have ever come across in the game of baseball which is saying a lot. He was a great influence, great motivator, and overall perfect example for the team. I got to spend a lot of time with him being a catcher and he the pitching coach. His stories of his playing days (mostly of his single career hit and his lightning fast first step) and just life in general made everyone's day better. I got to experience his leg wrestling, even in his older days he can still get the job done. And if anyone cares he still goes by Gorfax or Goose.

Parker Blaney, Jr.
October 4, 2006
I played with Tom at Gonzaga University in the late seventies when we were a nationally ranked team. Tom wasn't the most gifted physically (I agree you could leave to get lunch and come back and the fastball would still be on the way) but was one of the greatest competitive pitchers I've ever been around. I played with the legend Derek Tatsuno where I grew up in Hawaii (who shares NCAA win/loss record at something like 21-1) and Gorman was still his superior in pure guts. He's also a very, very funny, nice man. Check out Gonzaga's record books. Tom, for good reason, is in there a lot. For those of you who called him a lousy pitcher, you haven't a clue about the game. There is a lot more to pitching on a high level than throwing the ball hard.

Mike A.
November 29, 2007
Amazing he lasted as long as he did in 1985.
From the dreadful 26-7 blow-out to the Phils to the the epic 4th of July game against the Braves, he just got lit up like a pin-ball machine!
Made Doug Sisk look like Mariano Rivera!
In that July 4 game against the Braves, did he also, besides the Rick Camp HR (Ughhhhh!), give up a tying HR to Terry Harper the inning before that?

Bob P
December 6, 2007
Mike,
Yes, Gorman did give up the tying homer to Terry Harper...but that was WAY BACK in the 13th inning, which was the first of six innings pitched by Gorman that night (morning)!!

Nick Cantrell
October 20, 2008
One of the all-time great upstanding individuals.

Jason Powell
October 31, 2008
He was a great golfer and had a mean spitter.

community chest
November 11, 2011
Let's face it: those of us who remember the July 4 game in '85 didn't want it to end. Gorman serving up the homer to Camp has made the world a happier place.

Bill Sattler
January 10, 2014
I played with Tom a couple of years in the minors and even roomed with him at least once. Didn't throw hard but he was a lefty and had a great forkball. Enjoyed knowing him and hope he is doing well these days.

Mike Shields
September 25, 2015
Dr. G was one of my roommates while he finished up his degree and was the pitching coach at Gonzaga. GREAT guy and easily the funniest person I have ever met. If someone gave him crap about giving up a HR he would respond, "Oh, yeah? How many dingers did you give up in the big leagues?" Most the time that would shut-up the a-hole asking the question who probably never played beyond high school anyway... Like a lot of the High School Harry's who posted their comments here. Let's go Mets!

John Bonfiglio
October 6, 2018
Pew...he stinks

QB Blue Pony
May 7, 2021
Was in Law School at Gonzaga when Tom was progressing nicely. Lots of unsupervised pick-up basketball with the baseball players. Tom had good(not great) first step but wasn't able to get feet in unison in order to elevate at the hoop. We use to call it the "Low Gor-Man Block" as we never needed to jump to slap into the seats. Very likeable undergrad jock.

Clancys
January 11, 2023
He rocked a tight fro for few years longer than should have been socially acceptable. He would have been a great Braves reliever as he could hang with Avery, Smoltz, and Glavine on the golf course. Very long off the tee.

Mike
May 7, 2024
I actually watched that Rick Camp game. I lived in Eastern Oregon and watched the early innings, went downtown for multiple beers, came back, and the game was still on TBS. I thought it was a replay. People forget that Camp nearly hit a second homer. Caught on the warning track.

Mike
May 12, 2024
I stand corrected. He was up again in 19th, but struck out. Memory plays tricks.