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NEW YORK (AP) — Dwight Gooden has denied Darryl Strawberry's accusation that he is "a complete junkie-addict ," saying his former teammate is just taking it personally that Gooden couldn't make a scheduled public appearance with Strawberry last week.
Strawberry told the New York Daily News that Gooden skipped an event organized by radio station WFAN and he worried Gooden has been using cocaine. Strawberry told the newspaper that Gooden's son called him to beg him to help his father before he dies, adding that "the condition Doc is in, it's bad."
Gooden says in a statement that he hasn't done cocaine in years. He apologized for Strawberry's "inability to show more character and strength," saying "he obviously was never there for me." Gooden claims he has always supported Strawberry, "during his best and worst days."
Gooden and Strawberry won back-to-back Rookie of the Year awards for the New York Mets in 1983 and '84. Drug abuse cut short both of their careers.
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