Dr. Kocaine

Not all kids get to be sports fans, but those who do also get to enjoy the pleasures of nostalgia of games, players, moments past. But when you look back as an adult, you realize how much you missed.

That's how I felt when I read Jeff Pearlman's The Bad Guys Won, a chronicle of the 1986 New York Mets. Back in the '80s, Florida didn't have a major league baseball team in spite of being home to spring training and a solid A-level minor league. So I embraced my New York roots, and adopted the Mets. (I was born the Bronx, but rooting for the Yankees just seemed so boring and Establishment.)

In '86, the Mets' championship season, I probably watched 80 games on WOR cable (back when cable was full of random indy "superstations" from other markets) and listened to another 70 simulcasts on Miami's WQAM radio (then a country station with Mets games -- go figure). I was too anti-jock to consider the Mets to be personal heroes or anything, but I was a mega-fan. And as a 12-year-old, I just didn't notice what a bunch of rowdy bastards they were.

The Bad Guys Won sets the record straight. And among that gaggle of alcoholic, philandering monsters, no one comes across as tragic as Dwight Gooden, Dr. K, Doc. My friends and I loved Doc. He was from Florida, and he was just a teenager when he showed up in '84 and started dominating the grown-ups of the National League.

It was in 1986, when Doc had just reached 21 and was the best pitcher in baseball, that he discovered debauchery, mostly via his tight friendship with the deeply troubled Darryl Strawberry. As a kid, to me 1986 just looked like an off-year for Doc. But according to The Bad Guys Won, by the end of the season Doc was pitching high, and I ain't talking about his fastball location. Doc was juiced on white powder. He had a habit of showing up to the stadium minutes before his starts, fidgeting on the mound, eyes bloodshot, sweat gushing, and basically blowing most of his post-season starts.

The Mets eventually took the World Series from the Red Sox, a series that included my favorite baseball moment ever, when they won Game Six, the famous Bill Buckner game, while I happened to be visiting NYC with the folks. It was a joyous experience to see the city erupt in excitement after that unthinkable victory.

But after winning the Series, it was all downhill for Doc. Arrests. Suspensions. Lawsuits. And big problems with coke.

Gooden's retired to his hometown, Tampa, a few years ago, but it hasn't been easy since.

Gooden Surrenders After Fleeing DUI Stop

Former baseball star Dwight Gooden turned himself in at a county jail Thursday, three days after police said he fled a DUI traffic stop.

Gooden, 40, showed up at the jail warrants facility about 5 p.m., police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said. He had been missing since early Monday, when an officer pulled over his 2004 BMW near downtown Tampa on suspicion of drunken driving. 

He twice refused to get out of the car for a field sobriety test, then drove away suddenly, police said.

Gooden, who has a history of substance abuse and currently has a domestic violence charge pending in the court, was booked on a felony charge of fleeing police, and misdemeanor charges of DUI and resisting arrest without violence.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella said Gooden's situation is sad.

"He needs to get his life in order," Piniella said before Thursday's game against Cleveland. "He's a good young man. He just needs to get his priorities straight. He's got a long life ahead of him and a lot of people that care about him. The only problem is he's got to help himself."

Gooden was arrested by Tampa police in 2002 on a drunken driving charge, but later pleaded guilty to reckless driving and received a year probation. He was arrested in March and charged with hitting his live-in girlfriend in the face during an argument.

During his playing days, Gooden was suspended for 60 days in 1994 for testing positive for cocaine while with the Mets. He tested positive for cocaine again while on suspension and was sidelined for the 1995 season.

He recently worked for the Yankees as a special adviser but quit in April.

I've made to age 31 without having ever said yes to cocaine, and I think the cautionary tales of Gooden and Strawberry had more to do with that than Nancy Reagan's appearance on Diff'rent Strokes. (Some good that did for the cast.) So don't despair, Doc. You've helped people make happy lives for themselves, whether you know it or not.

Update: Eric at OffWingOpinion, who's both my favorite sports blogger and favorite nuclear industry speechwriter, adds:

This is an incredibly sad day. This Summer, as Ryne Sandberg and Wade Boggs were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, we should have honored another pitcher five years removed from his final day in the big leagues. We should be talking about 300 victories, thousands of strikeouts, and more than a handful of awards and championships.

Instead, what we have is a broken man and a mug shot. Oh to be 17 again.

Comments

[denisdekat]

I tried it once and found it yucky. Snorting it is gross, the taste that seeps into your mouth from your nasal areas is disgusting. You can get just as wired with about 4 espressos...

I cannot understand its appeal...

[bobby]

i would like to know if i send doc gooden a picture would he sign it for me. hes still my all time favorite player.