YANKEES TO DOC: LET US HELP YOU
BOMBERS OFFER TO PAY FOR GOODEN REHAB EXCLUSIVE:
THE YANKEES are stepping up to help former flamethrower Doc Gooden battle his fiercest opponent — addiction.
The Bronx Bombers were so moved by Darryl Strawberry’s plea to get his former teammate help, the franchise vowed to help pay for Gooden to get treatment, if that’s what he wants. The offer came after Yankees officials saw the front page of Monday’s Daily News that featured Strawberry sounding the alarm about Gooden’s cocaine abuse — urging him to get help before it’s too late.
“The Yankees saw the story and they called me and said, ‘What can we do to help?’ ” Strawberry, 54, told The News on Tuesday. “A lot of individuals have reached out to me, too, but for the Yankees to show that type of support to Doc, I’m very grateful to them for that.”
Gooden’s former drug counselor Ron Dock also said he spoke with a team official about helping the Cy Young Award winner. “They said they’re willing to pay for Dwight’s treatment, which is a huge gesture on their behalf,” Dock said. “They’ve always tried to do right by (Gooden), going back to George Steinbrenner when he gave him a chance to play again.”
Through a spokesman, the Yankees confirmed making the offer but declined to comment further.
Gooden was Dock’s first client when he became a certified addiction and recovery coach in 1995. Convincing Gooden, 51, to get help now will be a challenge — because he says he doesn’t need it.
Sporting the same tank top and gym shorts he’d worn the day before, the rail-thin Gooden reiterated outside his Jersey City apartment Tuesday that he was healthy and not on a cocaine bender. “I don’t have time to talk right now,” he said, appearing in good spirits as he got into a silver BMW with his girlfriend. “I feel great.”
He left open the possibility that he and Strawberry could reconcile — one day after declaring their friendship over.
“Maybe, who knows, me and Darryl could be hugging,” Gooden said. “Anything’s possible.”
Gooden spoke Tuesday about how he struggled to deal with his mother’s failing health and death earlier this year.
“I wasn’t healthy; there were ups and downs and massive depression because I knew my mom was at the end,” Gooden said during a Facebook Live chat prior to a Steiner Sports autograph function in New York. “Once I got through that and got on the medicine, started talking with people who had some of the same experiences, things got better. Things are going a lot better right now.
“(I) haven’t done anything wrong, haven’t broken the law or anything like that,” Gooden said.
Dock, the counselor, made clear he believed Gooden had much more urgent matters to attend to.
“He can’t hide anymore, he can’t smoke-screen, because everybody knows,” Dock said. “He’s getting ready to hit bottom now. His (paid) appearances are going to go away. I’m sure his drug dealer is running for the hills now.”
Dock worked for the Yankees for 17 years until he left the team in January. He now works for Strawberry’s recovery centers in Florida.
Not everyone agreed with Strawberry taking the drastic measure of calling Gooden “a complete junkie-addict” in The News.
Ray Negron, a longtime Yankee consultant and Gooden confidant, said a public intervention was inappropriate.
“In these situations, ‘anonymity’ has always been the magic word,” said Negron, who years ago partnered with Dock to help Gooden through his drug problems.
“You don’t do it in a public forum because all the guy is going to do is deny, deny, deny. In this case, if Doc is doing drugs — and I say ‘if’ because I don’t know — he’s going to deny it all the more because he’s embarrassed by the headlines,” Negron said.
He noted Gooden has seven kids and others who depend on him who could be unfairly affected by the extreme intervention.
But Dock argued Strawberry was left with no choice but to speak out. Gooden failed to appear last week with Strawberry at a WFAN event. That prompted Strawberry to speak out, saying he feared for his frighteningly thin friend’s life.
A person close to Gooden told The News that when he was about to leave for the Thursday event, the hurler locked himself in a bedroom and refused to come out.
“Darryl absolutely did the right thing by going public,” Dock said. “We’ve tried to help him privately. I asked him again at his mother’s funeral service (in July) to let me help him. But he’s in denial, and now (he) is angry because the disease is angry.”
Gooden did not respond to a question regarding the Yankees’ offer. But earlier Tuesday, he had grown tired of speaking publicly about his feud with Strawberry.
“It’s been a bittersweet summer. I’m ready for the summer to be over,” Gooden said, referencing the death of his mother.
He said he was focused on returning to his daily routine.
“Same thing I’ve been usually doing: take care of my kids, charity events . . . . I got the two little ones I gotta get ready for school. I’m still a baseball fan. I’ll still be cheering on the Mets, Yankees — I mean, I’ll be around,” Gooden said.
His girlfriend accompanying him out of his apartment joked as photographers snapped away.
“I’m not coming over here again,” she said.
“Next time we’ll go to your place,” Gooden replied.
darryl absolutely did the right thing by going public. … It’s not dwight lashing out, it’s the disease. ron dock