It's been 25 long years since the New York Mets won their last championship, and that's also how long the team's star pitcher has been keeping a secret.
Dwight Gooden missed the team's victory parade through Manhattan's legendary Canyon of Heroes after the Mets shocked the Red Sox in the 1986 World Series.
The team said he overslept.
It turns out Gooden was in the projects on Long Island. Dr. K, as he was known in his glory days, admitted to ESPN he was using illegal drugs at a team party just hours after the Fall Classic wrapped up.
"When the party started winding down, for myself, a lot of times I get to a certain point of using drugs, the paranoia sticks in," Gooden said in an interview with ESPN (via the New York Post). "So I end up leaving the party with the team, going to these projects, of all places, in Long Island. Hang out there.
"Then you know what time you have to be at the ballpark to go into the city for the parade, but I'm thinking 'OK, I've got time.' And the clocks, I mean the rooms are spinning. I said, 'OK, I'll leave in another hour. OK, maybe in 30 minutes I'll leave. Well, maybe 15 more minutes I'll leave. Then the next thing you know, the
parade's on and I'm watching the parade on TV. Horrible, horrible feeling."
Gooden was 17-6 with a 2.84 ERA for the 1986 Mets, while going 0-2 in the World Series with an ERA of 8.00 against Boston.
The 1985 Cy Young winner pitched for the Yankees, Indians, Devil Rays and Astros in addition to the Metropolitans over a 16-year career. He was a bit player on Bronx Bombers championship teams in 1996 and 2000.
Arrested several times over the years for substance abuse, Gooden appeared on the fifth season of VH1's celebrity rehab with Dr. Drew.
Popular Stories On ThePostGame:
-- Video: Unsuspecting Woman Blindsided By Dirt Bike
-- The Al Davis Fashion Statement
-- Cardinals' Rally Squirrel Is Latest 'Mascot' With Real Animal Instincts
