Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry were subjects of the recent ’30 for 30′ documentary Doc and Darryl, and despite both of their struggles over the years with drug addiction, the film paints an optimistic picture at the end for the future of the two Mets legends.
Now, however, Strawberry has come out and said that Gooden has relapsed, saying his ex-teammate is a “complete junkie addict” and that he has to step in before it’s too late.
In an interview with the New York Daily News, Strawberry said his former teammate is in “horrible” condition and that his family has asked Strawberry to help.
“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.”
Rumors about Gooden’s condition in recent days have picked up after the former Cy Young award winner failed to show up to a joint autograph signing with Strawberry. The former Mets and Yankees outfielder thinks that Gooden may be particularly vulnerable right now since his mother passed away last month.
The Daily News also spoke to a woman named Janice Roots who had a relationship with Gooden for four years before his cocaine addiction caused her to break it off in February.
“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.”
Gooden’s problems with drugs caused him to never reach his full potential as a player, and now it appears to be doing the same to his life after baseball. At only 51, Gooden still has plenty of life left in him if he can fight off his addiction, but it seems like he now appears to be spiraling down a dark path.
(Via The New York Daily News)
