Dwight Gooden remembers ‘second father’ Mel Stottlemyre

Mel Stottlemyre and Dwight GoodenPORT 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…