AMAZIN REUNION
Baseball greats Darryl, Doc bury hatchet after slugger s junkie slap
IN AN AMAZIN’ comeback, Doc and Darryl are back together.
The former Mets stars, who also teamed up with the Yankees, have made up after feuding since last summer, according to Darryl Strawberry.
The eight-time All-Star slugger posted a picture of himself with Dwight Gooden on Instagram Sunday letting fans know the two are speaking to each other again and have renewed their friendship.
“Truly grateful for awesome friends bringing me and Doc Gooden back together talking about the real friendship and what life is all about,” Strawberry wrote. “Today was real healing for me and Doc . . . God is crazy about people!!! Forgiveness is so we can be made well inside ourselves and God can get all the glory . . . Blessings!! Always trust God. Proverbs:3:5-6”
Neither Gooden nor Strawberry responded Sunday when the Daily News attempted to reach them.
Just a few weeks earlier at Mets spring training, Gooden said he and Strawberry had not spoken to each other since Strawberry accused him of being back on drugs last summer.
Strawberry, 55, made the accusation after Gooden failed to show up for a scheduled appearance together in August.
He told the Daily News’ John Harper that Gooden’s “a complete junkie-addict” and that he’s “got to get it out there because nobody else is doing anything to help him, and it might be the only way to stop him.”
The two avoided each other at a charity event in Midtown in September as Gooden, 52, maintained he was “fine” any time he was reached for comment. Sources said Strawberry’s people made sure to keep the two apart.
The two stars, who were part of world championship teams with both the Mets (1986) and Yankees (1996) but saw their careers derailed by drug suspensions, kept their distance throughout the winter, as Gooden indicated in his March 13 visit to the Mets’ spring training camp.
“Not at all,” said Gooden when asked if he had spoken to his longtime pal. “I mean there’s no hard feelings there. Unfortunately, he spoke how he felt, whether I like it or not, I respect that. But it wasn’t true. We move on. Maybe one day we’ll get together and talk. Right now is not the time.”
Gooden went on to say the only thing he was dealing with last summer was the death of his mother and that he was not mad at Strawberry for speaking out.
“No. At the time I was. Just the timing of it; I just lost my mom,” the 1985 NL Cy Young Award winner said. “No, I am not angry with him.”