Mets greats and 1986 World Series champions Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry take a swing at some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby ahead of being honored this upcoming season. Gooden will have his jersey retirement ceremony April 14 before Mets-Royals, and Strawberry will have his number retired June 1 before Mets-Diamondbacks.

Q: Straw, describe the day you went over to Docs place in 2019 when he was really struggling.

Strawberry: I just went over to tell him none of us are perfect, we all fall short, we all make mistakes in life, and thats just part of life. Theres another side of our life still there if we give ourself that opportunity to visit that part of that life. If I want to stay in that place of the darkness, thats where I stay. Its not like a magic wands gonna hit me upside the head and Im gonna be well, Ill be better. I just wanted to remind him that the uniform on me is no longer there. Ive taken the uniform off and Ive pulled away from that and moved forward in life, and he can, too. And he has, he has done that. … This is forever, this is real history right here two black, African-American, young, coming into the major leagues, New York City, and setting it on fire. We set it on fire. No matter what people have to say, they dont know where we come from, they dont know what happened to us, they dont know the brokenness of us, and coming into the spotlight and being able to play and get to that place there, thats something Ill always share with Doc. They cannot take that away from us. … The Mets were the Mutts when we got there.

8Darryl Strawberry (l.), pictured in 2010, helped Dwight Gooden (r.) nine years later when Gooden was struggling. APQ: Doc, what do you remember about Straw coming over?

Gooden: I was in Piscataway N.J. in 2019, I got two DUis in a week, and I was lost. I didnt trust myself. It was a lot of guilt, shame, embarrassment. I knew I needed a friend. I needed someone that knew what it was like, someone that I can talk to and tell exactly whats going on, what happened. And Im gonna get not what I want to hear but what I need to hear. When I first saw him, the shame, the guilt, the embarrassment was there, but once we got to talking, he let me know it was OK. He talked to me about what has to change, not things that should change, or I was gonna die. Because once youve been to rehab, been incarcerated, the only thing left is the cemetery, and I wasnt ready to go there. He let me know he was serious in where he was at in his life now, and it helped me a lot. It was a turning point in my life. I trusted the things he was telling me, I wanted to be a better person, but I had to start somewhere. He gave me an opportunity to start at that moment. He said I didnt look good, I didnt look healthy, he didnt like the way that I looked. I needed to hear that, because I was in total denial. I was around a lot of people that were telling me things that I wanted to hear. Basically, it helped save my life, and turned me around.

Q: And right after that you went to High Focus in Morristown, N.J.

Gooden: I was there for a year, its a mental health institution. When I knew I had a serious problem was the time that I would be crying trying to get drugs. Something was eating me up inside that I didnt know what it was. I was afraid of being alone. I talked to my kids about where I was going, and some of my kids were in school, my grandkids in school, so theyre gonna get picked on once all this stuff goes public, but to save my life, this is what I had to do, and today Im glad I did do it.

Q: You almost didnt make it beyond 1995.

Gooden: I got a letter from then-MLB commissioner Bud Selig saying youre suspended for the 95 season. I read that letter about five times. I wanted to end it, because it got to the point where I couldnt deal with it. I didnt know what I was gonna do without baseball. … One of the saddest things and one of the things that still hurt today was have my wife, my mom walk in the room. I wasnt like I guess strong enough to pull the trigger. I had the gun to my head, wanted to do it … had a countdown, and once I got to one, my moms screaming and yelling, my wifes screaming and yelling my mom snatched the gun out of my hand. And had that not happened, I wouldnt be here today, to be honest with you. Everything happens for a reason, and I know the good Lord saved me. He wasnt ready for me to go.

8Dwight Gooden, pictured in 2022, opened up about his suicidal moment during the 1995 season, when he was suspended. APQ: Straw, did you have a suicidal moment like Doc did?

Strawberry: Man, I had plenty of moments I wished it was over. I was just such a coward I wouldnt kill myself. … Im quite sure we both felt that way, wish it was over in our life and we didnt have to go through so much public persecution we both have a great heart, and we always treated people well. We just didnt treat ourself well.

Q: Straw, tell me about the conversation you had with Docs mother.

Strawberry: That was really a tough time. I knew his mother was sick, and Doc was up in New York, and I just happened to be down in the Florida area. I spent some time with her and just prayed with her. She was worried about her son, she was worried about Doc being well and taken care of and getting him the help that he needed to get, just like all of us, I needed that. She was a very wonderful lady who cared dearly about her child. She just wanted to make sure that someone would be there looking out for him and never give up on him, and I told her I wouldnt. I spent a couple of hours there with her just holding her hand, just praying for her and talking to her. It was just a moment in time where you reflect back on whats important in this life. And thats friends, family and people that you know and that you have known for a very long time. She just wanted to know that people would stay around him and encourage him to get on the other side of life. We may have went at it, me and Doc at times, but I know for a fact being in that room at her house with her talking to me and telling me, dont give up on her son, that was important to her.

Q: Lets go back to the beginning: Doc, how were you able to get No. 16?

Gooden: In spring training in 84, I had No. 64, and when I made the team then-equipment manager Charlie Samuels put No. 35 in my locker. Then-GM Frank Cashen had told me in spring training if I need anything, come to him. So I asked Charlie Samuels, Can I get 16?

8Dwight Gooden throws a pitch during a 1986 game for the Mets. APQ: What did he tell you?

Gooden: Get outta here kid, just be happy youre on the team. So me like a little kid, I ran into Franks office, I said, Frank, I want 16 and Charlie wont give it to me. Frank Cashen came down to Charlies office, he said, Give Doc 16. But Charlie wouldnt give it to me because Lee Mazzilli had wore 16 and that was like his best friend. Even in 86 when Maz came back to the team I offered him 16, but he said it was my number at that time.

Q: So you didnt like 35?

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Check out more newslettersGooden: No I wanted 16 because most ballplayers, especially pitchers, are superstitious. I had 16 in high school, 16 in the minor leagues and 16 was open.

Q: How did you feel about wearing No. 11 with the Yankees?

Gooden: I thought it was fine, because when I signedwith the Yankees I told clubhouse man Nick Priore, Give me a number as close to 16, but I didnt want to wear 13. I just felt like 13 was bad luck. So I wore 64 in spring training my rookie year, and I was 16, and 11 with the Yankees. My birthday is 11/16/64. It just happened that way.

Q: Darryl, how did you get No. 18?

Strawberry: I kind of wanted No. 8, thats what I wore in high school. But I think No. 8 was taken at that time. I said well, I could take 18 and live with it. Eventually Gary Carter would become No. 8, so Im glad that I didnt have to switch, I stayed with No. 18. It stands as today, No. 18 will be retired forever.

Q: Darryl, describe the first time you saw Doc pitch.

Strawberry: We were just so impressed with how young he was and how he had such great command of his fastball or his breaking ball, and he could throw either pitch at any time.

8Dwight Gooden, pictured in 1988, could throw his fastball or breaking ball “at any time,” former Mets teammate Darryl Strawberry said. APQ: What do you remember about the first time you met him?

Strawberry: (laugh) On my God! … First time I met Doc it was in St. Pete Fla., and we were all out at a club. I had just played in the big leagues, Rookie of the Year, and they were saying, Thats yourall pitcher over there, Doc Gooden, hes gonna be in spring training. Hes got some good stuff, he could pitch. I said, Where? They said, Right over there across at the bar. I said, Well, which one are you talking about? And hes talking about the one with his head down, hes at the bar passed out. I was like, Oh man, hes gonna fit right in with the rest of these guys.

Q: Doc, do you remember the first time you watched Straw swing a bat?

Gooden: You look at Darryl, he had bg forearms. And the bat speed that he had. Even though it was the steroid era or whatever, I will always take Darryl for the most dangerous hitter that I played with or seen at any time. Even the line drives he hit that didnt leave the park, nobody hit a ball as hard as he did and had more of a smooth swing that he had.

Q: Straw, which one was your favorite home run?

Strawberry: Probably off the clock in St. Louis off of Ken Dayley. The Cardinals hated us, they called us a bunch of pondscums. Ken Dayley throws me a hanging breaking ball, they were booing me when I came up, and when I hit that ball off the clock, I was like to the fans, Take that. The Phillies we never worried about because we knew we could always beat them, but it was the Cardinals that gave us fits all the time. That ball was just on the uprise when I hit it, and it just went straight into the clock up there. No telling how far that ball would have went had the clock not been there.

8Darryl Strawberry, pictured in 1988, was the “most dangerous hitter that I played with or seen at any time,” according to Dwight Gooden. APQ: Describe what that electricity looked like and felt like when Doc was on the mound in 1985 at Shea Stadium.

Strawberry: You cannot describe it. This generation of people will never know how good No. 16 was. They will never understand what it was like playing behind him, they will never understand the atmosphere at Shea Stadium. The parking lot was packed at 4 oclock. The atmosphere at the ballpark was just different when it was the night he was pitching. The crowd was there early and they didnt leave. Te K Korner guy was up in the corner, he was running crazy all the time when Doc got two strikes on people. Being in the outfield, you could just look up and see and you see the crowd, and you just know you will never experience anything like that … ever again. That comes once in a lifetime where you have that, where youre able to see that, where you ever see a guy that young, at the age of 20, pitch like that. Can you imagine major league hitters Andre Dawson, Ryne Sandberg, all these guys coming to the park and you gotta face Doc Gooden? A lot of guys were taking themself out of the lineup after BP and said they hurt their back or shoulder. They didnt want to take that three-punchout night.

Q: Doc, the ball is in your hand, describe the feeling knowing how dominant you were.

Gooden: I accepted the challenge what was going on that year. Gary Carter demanded nothing but the best out of me. And when I had the ball at Shea Stadium, with the crowd behind me like that, it just felt like it was your show. It put the pressure on the opposing hitter, and the umpire, because once I got two strikes on a guy and everybody started clapping, the guy in the K Korner running around, if I made a close pitch, if he didnt call it a strike, the fans will let him know. And the hitters, they dont want to go down looking, so anything close theyre gonna swing.

8Dwight Gooden, pictured in 1985, helped the Mets win the World Series the following year. APQ: Did you ever show up hungover?

Strawberry: Im quite sure I did. I was out one time in New York all night with one of my teammates, we didnt get in until like 8, got to th ballpark about 10:30, and my first at-bat, I hit a bullet in an alley triple, and I slid into third, my head was throbbing, and he was looking at me over there in the dugout shaking his head, couldnt believe I could actually do that. I never had that type of problem worrying about performing.

Q: Doc, did you ever pitch hungover or high?

Gooden: I never pitched hungover or high, but Im sure my nightlife was starting to take a toll on my performances. When you have an addiction problem, I know I was in denial and you start justifying everything well, as long as I get my rest for two days or three days before I pitch, Im fine. Then its two days, then its one day. And then the day that you pitch, after that game, it was already premeditated what you were gonna do. If you lost, youre gonna self-medicate to get over it. If you won, youre gonna celebrate and self-medicate. It had a big effect on my career, without a doubt.

Q: Straw, talk about surviving cancer twice.

Strawberry: The first time I was worried because my mother died at the age of 55. I was pretty scared that I wouldnt get through that process. Then got it to reoccur in 2000, and have my left kidney removed in the second surgery. … Man, weve been through hell and back. But were still here standing today. That must have been a sign from our mothers prayer that cared about us and covered us, cause had it not been, we probably wouldnt be sitting here today.

Q: How many World Series should your Mets have won?

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Gooden: One. On paper, everybody said we shoulda won more, but a lot of times when you get to the playoffs, its the hottest team, its not always the best team, and a lot of things happened after the 86 season. Its easy to say we left a lot of championships on the table, thats hard to do. Looking back at it, I think we had a team and the talent to win more, but Im happy with the one that we did win.

Strawberry: We should have won more. We left that 88 on the table, the Dodgers did get hot, but we left that on the table. Ive never gotten over that series, never gotten over Game 7, we should have started El Sid Fernandez I thought, because Sid didnt have a lick of fear inside of him. I think that will be with me for the rest of my life. I think the 88 team was a better all-around talented team, but didnt have enough guts like that 86 team.

Q: Lets talk about some of your old teammates: Wally Backman.

Gooden: We had nicknames for everybody, we used to call him Little Wetness.

Strawberry: He was the chain-smoker. He would sit there and he would chain-smoke like crazy, and just talk, talk, talk.

Q: Nails … Lenny Dykstra.

Gooden: Hard-nose player. I dont think wed win it in 86 without Lenny. He was definitely a gamer, whatever it takes to win.

Strawberry: Nails is the toughest player I ever seen, as far as his size and everything. Nails was fire at the top of the lineup.

Q: Mookie Wilson.

Gooden: Led by example. Came to play every day. Didnt complain, as far as I know.

Strawberry: Like Doc said, Mookie never complained. He was quiet and very professional.

Q: Ray Knight.

Gooden: Ray Knight was the ultimate warrior. He was like the quiet assassin. Old-school ballplayer, and he brought the winning mentality in from when he was with the Big Red Machine.

Q: Ron Darling.

Strawberry: Mr. P (laugh). He was about the perfect uniform, the perfect fit, the perfect way to sound. Mr. P, Mr. Perfect.

Q: Sid Fernandez.

Gooden: I think if Sid played in the game today, hed have been a 20-game winner. Sid would always go a good six innings, and then something would happen in the seventh, eighth inning whether its a walk, or bloop single.

Q: Kid. Gary Carter.

Strawberry: Kid was a true gamer. Loved everybody, I never heard him say a bad thing about anybody.

Q: Keith Hernandez.

Gooden: To me, he was a pitching coach on the field, hitting coach on the field, a true captain. Keith demanded nothing but the best out of all the players.

8Keith Hernandez greets Darryl Strawberry after Strawberry homered during a 1987 Mets game. APQ: Davey Johnson.

Strawberry: He was just like a player. He played the game and he understands what a player goes through. He just never really got in your face about anything. Well, if you were late, like I was, he would fine me, hed fine me 500 bucks and Id just go get all ones and Id take em in there and throw em on his desk (laugh). He would just sit there and laugh at me. He was just like us.

Q: Steve Cohen.

Gooden: I think hes a caring guy, he cares about alumni, obviously cares about the fans, and I think hes a winner. I love the Wilpons as well, but Im happy that Steves there.

Strawberry: Im truly happy that Steve and wife Alex have taken over this franchise. It takes time to move it in the right direction. … I think its important to develop the farm system again, cause thats where we came out of.

Q: Jay Horwitz.

Strawberry: Super Jay (laugh).

Gooden: How do you get bit by a dog in every city that we played at in the National League?

Strawberry: (laughing) We love Jay. Hes always been there for me and Doc. Hes been there for every player. He is the most kindest person that you could ever meet in that business. And he loves people, and he cares. They just dont make em like that most of the time.

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Q: What message would you have got the 2024 Mets and Mets fans?

Strawberry: Have fun. If you really want to be in New York, play, and dont listen to the noise. Get off of social media. Its about baseball, its not about my brand, this is about us, about what we need to do, and how we need to conquer it. Thats what baseballs all about. We did that. And about the 2024 fans, enjoy the ride. Dont complain so much. Everybody wants that winner right away. They might be another year away. But I tell you what, they got some young players in the organization thats very talented, so now they got a chance. They didnt have that before, so now theyre moving in the right direction.

Gooden: You play as a team, youre playing to win every night, the numbers will be there. Theyre closer than I think people think. Theres no better place to win than in New York and the fan support behind you. The fans will always remember you, your legacy will live forever. The fans deserve a winning team.

Q: Doc, your youngest son Dylan is an outside linebacker at Maryland.

Gooden: I still think he probably should have been a pitcher with his size, 6-foot-5, 215 pounds, but he likes football. I just talk to him about all the mistakes that I made along the way. You can do everything right, but you make that one mistake, thats what youll be remembered by.

Q: Darryl, describe your wife Tracy.

Strawberry: My wife is the most incredible person Ive ever met. Shes the reason why Im standing today and the man I am today. Behind every mans success theres a great woman that has to be there, because they need to help us, you know why? Because were like knuckleheads (laugh). We like to do things our way and we have to pay a price for doing things our way.

Q: Doc, if you could face one hitter in MLB history to test your skills against, who would it be?

Gooden: I would probably say Hank Aaron. He was one of my dads favorite players.

Q: If you could engage in a pitchers duel with any pitcher in MLB history …

Gooden: Cy Young. Youre trying to win the Cy Young award, so I guess he was the best, over 500 wins. Basically the best brings out your best.

Q: Darryl, if you could face any pitcher in MLB history …

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Strawberry: Steve Carlton. Left-handed, tremendous slider. Most left-handed hitters didnt really want to be in the lineup, from what I understand, when he was pitching.

Q: 1986 Mets versus 98 Yankees.

Strawberry: You have to remember, in 86 Mets, I was in my prime, Doc was in his prime. Itd have been a really tough matchup to face a group of guys like us. The 98 Yankees were a great team a great bunch of players, a lot of guys drink milk but the 86 Mets didnt drink milk (laugh). On our plane rides, Doc will tell you, we knew we were gonna kick butt. That team was probably the best team I ever played on.

Q: Do you guys envy guys like Derek Jeter and Eli Manning, who stayed with one franchise their entire career?

Gooden: I dont envy em, but I wish I coulda did the same.

Strawberry: I kinda wish I coulda stayed in Queens, but they allowed me to get to the free agency. Had I stayed there, my career probably would have went in a totally different direction. It was really a bad choice for me to go back home Los Angeles with all of my friends and all of the back roads that I know. You can get in a lot of trouble when you know a lot of back roads (chuckle), and thats what happened to me. I wish I colda stayed there and ended my whole career in Queens, cause I did love the fans.

Q: Do you think you could have been a Hall of Famer if you had stayed?

Strawberry: A lot of things had to happen. I had to change the course of my life. I had a lifestyle of drinking and drugging and womanizing. Derek Jeter protected himself, he safeguarded himself when he played in New York. He didnt make those bad choices. I wish it was a magic pill that me and Doc coulda taken and said, OK, were not gonna do this anymore.

8Darryl Strawberry will have his jersey retirement ceremony June 1 before the Mets host the Diamondbacks. APQ: Doc, you speak at schools now about the evils of drugs and teenage addiction.

Gooden: It helps me as well. It reminds me of where Im at. I think my purpose now is to carry that message what was given to me, because playing baseball, that was my dream. At one point, I was embarrassed to talk about things that happened. I feel privileged to talk about that cause Im still alive to talk about that, and Ive been given another opportunity to share that.

Q: Straw, youve spoken to death row convicts. What do you say to them?

Strawberry: For the grace of God, there go I. What theyve done is fallen short just like all the rest of us out here. That could have been any one of us fallen short in some areas of our life like they did. Some of the crimes are just unbearable of what they do, but theyre still human beings. Going behind the prison gates and speaking to maximum security prison and guys that have been in prison 30, 40 years, they did something to get there. But thats not for m to judge or anybody else to judge. Who is it for us to say where they come from? We dont know what their childhood was like, we dont know what happens to people. We always assume that we know everything about a person because someone ends up falling short. Its just like me and Doc … everybody has opinion about what coulda happened for us. You dont know the story of our life, you dont know what happened in our life. You dont know the loneliness, the emptiness, the brokenness in our life. All you saw was us putting on the uniform and excelling and doing well on the baseball field. I always tell people my pain led me to my greatness, but my greatness would eventually lead me to my destructive behavior, because I was not well on the inside, and I needed to get well on the inside and be healed. So thats what happens to most of those guys in prison. I love going in there. Im not in any fear of about being in there. Theyre just people, they made mistakes just like all the rest of us. And when you make your mistakes, I always tell people you can pick your sins but you cannot pick your consequences. … I try to go in there and encourage them and tell em, Youre not a mistake, you just made a bunch of mistakes.

Q: Straw, how would you describe Doc today?

Strawberry: Hes more settled into what life is all about, and not what it used to be about. A lot of times we carry that baggage with us if I coulda, shoulda …. Things were done the way they were done for his life and my life for a reason, and you have to come to that place to accept those things, and I think hes more of at a place of accepting that. … I see a guy that has reached a place where hes comfortable with himself and not have to be everything for everybody. Cause thats what we had to be in our life, me and Doc, everything for everybody. We were the stars that everybody looked to for everything, and we didnt get a whole lot of breathing room for ourself when we were young and trying to excel and achieve all these great things. I had to carry that burden, too, on myself that he had to carry for so many years, because everybody looked at us for what we could accomplish on the field, but they never looked at us like Who are they?

Q: Straw, you wrote this: Once upon a time I swing for the fences. But now swing for the heavens.

Strawberry: Now Im swinging for winning souls and saving lives and leading people into eternal life.

Q: Why is the best yet to come for Darryl Strawberry?

Strawberry: Because of my love for God, my love for my wife and my love for my kids. Im talking about true love and true understanding of being a father, and being available, and not being distanced from people like we were when we had the uniform on. … Its about my faith. Its about my family, and thats really what its all about at the end of the day.

Q: Why is the best yet to come for Dwight Gooden?

Gooden: Im finally healthy, seeing things with clear eyes, I love myself again that I didnt do for a long, long time. Today Im in a good place, and I know tomorrow if I do what Im doing today, Ill be fine.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.