Gooden, Strawberry regret bad times
Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden thought back to what might have been, how their starry accomplishments would have been so much greater had they not succumbed to the drugs and alcohol that shattered their careers.
On the day the New York Mets announced they will retire Gooden's No. 16 on April 14 and Strawberry's No. 18 on June 1, the pair held a Zoom news conference and candidly discussed their failures to resist the fame and fortune that followed the swashbuckling Mets' 1986 World Series title, leading to prison and a string of suspensions that perhaps cost them entry to baseball's Hall of Fame.
“We were mentally crazy at the time, so we needed a lot help,” Strawberry said Wednesday. “We could have used every doctor and every psychiatrist — they probably would have ran away from us every time because we were so young and so focused on what it was like to be on the field and doing what we was doing on the field and we was not taking care of ourselves.”
Strawberry, 61, was an eight-time All-Star, including seven during his time with the Mets from 1983-90. He hit .259 with 335 homers, 1,000 RBIs and 221 stolen bases in 17 seasons.
“My heart and soul bleed blue and orange,” Strawberry said of the Mets colors. “Always have. Always will.”
He recommended star first baseman Pete Alonso, who can become a free agent next fall, not depart like Strawberry did when he signed with the Dodgers for the 1991 season.
“I just hope Pete doesn't leave because I ended up personally with a bellyful of regrets for leaving because there is nothing like playing in New York. There is nothing like the atmosphere. There is nothing like the fans. There is nothing like being booed and fans letting you know when you suck,” Strawberry said.
Gooden, 59, was a fourtime All-Star while playing for the Mets from 198494, winning the 1984 NL Rookie of the Year and the 1985 NL Cy Young Award. He went 194-112 with a 3.51 ERA and 2,293 strikeouts in 16 seasons.
“I remember at times literally crying, going to get drugs, crying to go buy alcohol. That's a problem. That's a mental problem,” Gooden said, recalling his last descent in 2019. “Last time, instead of going to rehab, I put myself into a mental hospital.”
Gooden was 157-85 with a 3.10 ERA with 1,875 strikeouts for the Mets, and Strawberry hit .263 with 252 homers, 733 RBIs and 191 steals for New York.
“I was never well. Had I been well, what could I have done?” Strawberry said. “When I was young, I thought this was going to go on forever, I'm going to be hitting home runs forever.” Johns, a former Indianapolis Colts executive, will become Grasshopper's interim president. She declined to reveal the price paid for the Swiss club, which has fallen far from its former glory. Its last Swiss league title was in 2003 and the team was playing in the second tier three years ago.
LAFC adds Grasshopper to European investments that include Austrian club Wacker Innsbruck. The 2022 MLS Cup champion also has business projects with Bayern Munich, owning a club in Uruguay and a youth academy in Gambia, Freedman said. under the Bally Sports banner. Those networks have the rights to 37 professional teams — 11 baseball, 15 NBA and 11 NHL.
Diamond Sports has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the Southern District of Texas since it filed for protection last March. The company said in a late 2021 financial filing that it had debt of $8.67 billion.
The terms of the agreement were announced by Diamond Sports on Wednesday morning and then presented before Judge Christopher Lopez at an afternoon hearing in Houston.
“There's lots to digest, especially when you consider where things were the fourth quarter of last year,” Lopez said. “It is certainly a very interesting development to say the least. The thought the company is moving in this direction is a positive development.”