When Dwight Gooden missed a radio appearance with former teammate Darryl Strawberry on Friday, Strawberry said in a broad sense that he was worried about Gooden and his ongoing battle with addiction.
However, Strawberry decided to be more specific when speaking to the New York Daily News this weekend. After Gooden addressed his absence and downplayed any issue with drugs, Strawberry decided to be open about Gooden’s problems with the Daily News. Strawberry and others close to Gooden came out with a number of blunt quotes that lead us to believe Gooden’s latest issue with drug abuse dates back to as far as January 2014.
Tomorrow's front page…
'YOU HAVE TO STOP USING COKE': letter begs Doc Gooden to get clean
https://t.co/V34lqOYSgD pic.twitter.com/OkFYxMNtfV— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) August 22, 2016
With a 30 for 30 premiering in July about Gooden and Strawberry’s well-noted drug issues, the former Mets teammates have made a number of media appearances promoting the movie and reliving their days in New York. There hasn’t been much talk of Gooden relapsing, however. That tone changed in recent days, however. Strawberry says that going public about Gooden’s issues might be the only way to save him.
“He’s a complete junkie-addict,” Strawberry said. “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.
“The condition Doc is in, it’s bad, it’s horrible. It’s like cocaine poison. I feel like I’ve got to get it out there because nobody else is doing anything to help him, and it might be the only way to stop him.”
Strawberry also said that Gooden’s weight has dipped below 150 pounds and the former All-Star pitcher is also reeling following his mother’s death in July. He said he worries about Gooden going down the path of other celebrities with drug addictions.
“Doc won’t let me or anybody help him,” Strawberry said. “By us coming forward like this, he’ll realize that he’s been exposed and it will challenge him to get help.
“The worst thing we can do for him is stay silent. That was a common thread in some of these other celebrity deaths, like Prince and Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson. Silence can kill people.”
A number of other people in Gooden’s life also used this as a chance to speak publicly about Gooden’s drug usage. Janice Roots, a woman who lived with Gooden for a number of years, said she was the one who noticed him using again in 2014. She left Gooden in February, with Gooden’s drug use being a principal reason.
“It breaks my heart because Dwight is a loving, compassionate man who took care of me when I had health problems,” Roots said by phone on Sunday. “But then he morphed into a cocaine monster.
“I don’t even know if he realizes what he’s doing. He turns into a different person. He’s a great guy who takes care of his family members, but being around him, there were times when it was just a very toxic, dangerous environment.
“I felt helpless to do anything. I finally left because to sit there and watch somebody kill himself was devastating.”
For those who have watched the 30 for 30, much of this sounds familiar to what Strawberry and Gooden described in the film. However, with this still going on, we all have to hope that Strawberry and others going public will help Gooden work to get some help.
[NYDN]
