Dwight Gooden's speech at his number retirement ceremony. Humility, regret, gratitude. Clear as day under the rain at Shea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTSSuLq98UU
Dwight Gooden's popularity outstrips his career performance by a lot. You can see it reflected in the sales prices of his 1984 Topps Traded rookie cards. The football analogue is probably Mark Bavaro. The basketball one might be Charles Oakley.