A few months ago, the ongoing saga that is the relationship between former New York Mets teammates Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry appeared to be on its way to finally being good. An ESPN 30 for 30 documentary about their relationship and a joint public appearance were on the way.
It all changed in the past few days, as Gooden no-showed said public appearance and Strawberry went public with his concerns over Gooden’s status as a drug addict. Strawberry went as far to say his former teammate and friend’s current status was that of a “complete junkie addict.”
“He’s a complete junkie-addict,” Strawberry told New York Daily News about Gooden. “I’ve been trying behind the scenes to talk to him and get him to go for help, but he won’t listen.”
Gooden didn’t love that statement and took to the airwaves on Monday, calling in to the Joe Piscopo Show. He made it clear that he was hurt by Strawberry’s statement and was re-evaluating his friendship with his former teammate and fellow addict.
“The Darryl thing hurt me a lot because I had just thought we reestablished our relationship,” Gooden said.
“I forgave him for a lot of stuff. I never threw him under the bus, never said anything about him publicly. For him to say that stuff, you have to draw a line somewhere and I guess do a better choice of picking friends.”
Gooden also denies being an active drug user today.
“Everything’s good,” he told The Joe Piscopo Show. “I am healthy. I don’t have a drug problem. I mean, I am an addict … that don’t mean I’m an active addict.”
That would stand in stark contrast to what Strawberry had to say about his friend recently. In fact, Strawberry has claimed that even Gooden’s own son reached out to him to try and get his dad the help he apparently desperately needs.
Gooden’s son, Dwight Gooden Jr. issued a statement about his father’s health on Sunday, per ESPN:
Between the death of Gooden’s mother last month and his father’s work schedule, “he has been under an extraordinary amount of stress, pressure and above all sadness.” Gooden Jr. said his father was “planning on taking a break from the spotlight to rest and regroup and address his health” and that will be pushed up.
Strawberry has also claimed that Gooden’s condition is so bad that his family and friends (including himself) are worried his current state of affairs may end up killing him.
“I just felt like I needed to do this,” Strawberry said in the interview. “And regardless what anybody else thinks or they can call me whatever they want to call me. As long I’ve known in my heart that I stepped up to do the right thing to help this man try to save his life, maybe just one day if he gets there and gets a recovery and realizes how good he is, he can come back and say ‘thank you, you helped save my life.’ “
As Strawberry also pointed out, Gooden is one of the best BSers in the world, and he isn’t fooling those around him with what is happening at this point in time.
“If he wants to get well he’s going to have to get real. Because this is crunch time for him. This is public for him. Everyone knows that I’m telling the truth.”
[ESPN]
