Doc Gooden Angrily Denies Darryl Strawberry’s Claims That He’s ‘A Complete Junkie-Addict’

Is famed former New York Mets pitcher Doc Gooden back on drugs?

Thats the claim from his ’86 Mets teammate Darryl Strawberry. In an interview with the New York Daily News, Strawberry says that Gooden is “a complete junkie-addict.”

According to the Daily News report, Strawberry, himself a recovering addict, has become increasingly worried about his friend after Gooden failed to show for a joint appearance with Strawberry last week.

Strawberry says that Gooden’s son is pleading for Strawberry to intervene.

I’ve been trying behind the scenes to talk to him and get him to go for help, but he won’t listen. He thinks he can manipulate and BS his way through everything. His son called me to beg me to help his dad before he dies.

It’s that last sentence, the one in which Strawberry publicly invoked his son, which drew Gooden’s ire, and prompted him to respond. Speaking exclusively to WNYM Radio 970 in New York, Gooden denied Strawberry’s contention that the pitcher is back on drugs, and told host Joe Piscopo that he didn’t appreciate his son being brought into the story.

I was very upset. You have kids involved here. My kids are older now…You don’t want things to hurt your kids. You can throw stones at me all you want. I’m a big boy. I can deal with that. But when it starts being about my kids, that’s a whole nother (sic) ballgame.

Viewers of the recent ESPN 30 For 30 Documentary Doc & Darryl were pretty clearly left with the impression that Strawberry has managed to piece his life together in recent years, while Gooden has continued to struggle. Gooden, 51, has seven children. And it is apparently out of concern for them that Strawberry has decided to speak out.

“I have to try something before he’s dead,” Strawberry said.

[image via screengrab]

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