Stopped Going to Meetings? –
July 12, 2019 – Known by the nickname “Doc,” Gooden was electric as a starting pitcher. He had a fastball that approached 100 miles per hour and a devastating curveball, and he dominated immediately for the Mets. As a 19-year-old rookie in 1984, he was named an All-Star, and his 1985 season is considered one of the best in baseball history. Gooden went 24-4 with a 1.53 E.R.A., averaging almost a strikeout an inning, on his way to winning the National League Cy Young Award … But in 2016, Darryl Strawberry — a teammate of Gooden’s on the Mets who has also struggled with substance abuse — went public with concerns that Gooden had relapsed and was in desperate trouble, calling him “a complete junkie-addict.” Gooden denied Strawberry’s claims and said in a statement that he hadn’t used cocaine “in years.”
