It should be a summer of celebrating Dwight Gooden's prodigious right arm. It's the 20th anniversary of the 1986 Mets and 10 years since he threw the miraculous no-hitter that was part of the 1996 Yankee world championship run. Each team's fans should have had the opportunity to cheer the Doctor one last time, a chance to wipe the slate clean and, as we do, remember only the good times and not the painful realities that cost Gooden a complete career and, possibly, a slot in the Hall of Fame.
That's what Dwight Gooden should be doing this summer, but as today's New York Post reports he will be spending it in far different enviorns than packed New York City baseball cathedrals. Gooden will spend the summer in the Gainesville Correctional Institute instead unable to even watch the celebration at Shea later when his former teammates are honored for their World Series win.
It's a stark difference in locales. At the GCI, Gooden aries at 3:30 each morning in the barrack he shares with other inmates. The prisoners march military style from building to building and have an Army-like protocol as far as keeping their bunks clean. Gooden had to write a 250 word essay after he failed to properly make his bed and is not yet allowed to recieve any visitors. He was, however, the first pick in the prison's softball league draft but opted not to play. He recounted the circumstances that led him back to jail to Post reporter Brian Costello,
Gooden still hasn't figured out what triggered his relapse. Maybe it was an argument with his fiancée, Monique. Maybe it was the memories of his father's death that flooded back to him after attending a funeral days earlier. Maybe it was missing baseball as spring training hit full swing.
Whatever the cause, Gooden pulled into a Raceway convenience store on his way home from his mother's house near Tampa, looking for alcohol.
One beer, he told himself. You can handle it.
The first Budweiser went down quickly. He barely enjoyed it, he was so nervous about being spotted. He began to head home, then turned the car around. The second beer "set him off."
From the convenience store, he traveled to St. Petersburg to see a cocaine dealer he knew. The dealer wasn't home on his first visit but Gooden returned. This time, a woman at the house gave Gooden the dealer's phone number. A few days later, Gooden's urine test came back dirty.
And yes, Darryl Strawberry once did time at the same facility.
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