An older generation of Mets fans remember the moonshots, the strikeouts and the 1986 World Series. They remember the time Darryl Strawberry smashed a homer that dinged off the roof of Olympic Stadium in Montreal and K Korner in Shea Stadium. They remember Strawberry and Dwight “Doc” Gooden, the ballplayers.
A younger generation heard the lore but didn’t see it themselves. They saw the arrests and the substance abuse issues. They heard about all of the unfulfilled potential of the two former Mets greats.
But Strawberry and Gooden never ran from their past. Instead, they now opt to embrace their checkered histories with the Mets early on and the Yankees in their later years. This season, they’ll be enshrined in Mets history when the club retires their numbers. They’ll be remembered for the highlights and the lowlights, which is exactly what they want.
What good is history if you never learn from it?
“I can’t beat myself up with that anymore or hold that against myself because I think I excelled more than I really expected out of myself [to],” Gooden said Wednesday on a Zoom call. “Yes, obviously, the off-the-field stuff played a part. But by going through that, I’m now able to help others in need.”
Gooden and Strawberry are two of the most decorated players to ever wear blue and orange. One of the most electric right-handers of his era, Gooden, now 59, was a four-time All-Star and won the NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Awards with the Mets in his first two seasons.
Strawberry, 61, was an eight-time All-Star. The former outfielder also won a Rookie of the Year award (1983), won two Silver Slugger awards and led the NL in home runs in 1988.
They both won World Series championships with the Mets and Yankees, battling with themselves internally as much as they battled on the field. Arrests, prison and legal troubles diminished their play and likely cost them spots in Cooperstown.
“We were mentally crazy at the time, so we needed a lot of help,” Strawberry said. “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.”
They didn’t know how to take care of themselves. Two young superstars found fame seemingly overnight in a city that is synonymous with partying and wasn’t equipped to handle it. It was a high-flying, hard-partying era of baseball.
Relationships were fractured, even their own at times. Their play suffered. They suffered.
They didn’t ask for help because they didn’t know they could.
“A lot of times in black households, men don’t cry, men don’t hurt, men don’t share any real feelings,” Gooden said. “You deal with it, or you have a drink. I had to put it aside and really dig deep and find out what the real issues would be. I remember times that I cried going to get drugs, crying while going to buy alcohol. That’s a problem. That’s a mental problem. So this last time, instead of going to rehab, I put myself into a mental hospital.”
“Putting on a uniform is such a great privilege,” Strawberry added. “But at the same time, there are a lot of things covered up. You can take it out on the field and perform, but you don’t deal with the real issues that are on the inside.”
The Mets have had Strawberry and Gooden come to spring training to talk to young players about all that comes with playing in the city — good and bad. Giving back has helped them stay close with the organization and stay close with the fans. They’ve become fans in their own way as well.
“All the other teams that I played for, they were just teams,” Strawberry said. “The Mets are my team.”
Doc and Darryl have always been intertwined in history. Their legacies are their own, but ultimately the debate about them has been the same: What could have been had it not been for addiction? But it’s no longer about that.
Like so many other Mets fans, owners Steve and Alex Cohen see them as historic figures worth celebrating. But maybe the most important part is that Gooden and Strawberry finally see that in themselves as well.
“Off-the-field stuff played a part,” Gooden said. “But by going through that I’m able to help others in need as well.”
Gooden’s No. 16 will be retired April 14, with Strawberry’s No. 18 being retired June 1. Tickets are available for presale. Single-game tickets will go on sale Jan. 19.