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Gooden out of jail, must avoid girlfriend

The former pitching phenom was released on his own recognizance.

By VANESSA GEZARI
Published March 15, 2005

TAMPA - Former baseball star Dwight Gooden left jail Monday, about 36 hours after he was arrested on charges of punching his live-in girlfriend during an argument at their Harbour Island home.

Hillsborough County Judge Walter R. Heinrich ordered the former New York Yankees pitcher released on his own recognizance. Gooden was charged with striking his girlfriend, Monique Moore, in the forehead after she threw a cell phone at him early Sunday. Heinrich ordered Gooden to have no contact with Moore.

Police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said Moore was not charged with domestic violence for throwing the phone "probably because there was no injury, whereas she had a welt on her forehead."

When Gooden was divorced last year, court papers mentioned a woman named "Monique." She was described as Gooden's girlfriend, and Gooden said he had bought her gifts and jewelry. Moore and Gooden "have lived together as a couple for two years," according to a police report. They have a 4-year-old child.

"Doc" Gooden was a major league pitcher for 16 seasons for the Yankees, Mets, Indians, Astros and Devil Rays. In 1985 when he was 20, he became the youngest player to win the Cy Young Award, as the league's best pitcher.

Injuries and cocaine helped end his career. He retired in 2001 to become a coach and assistant to Yankees boss George Steinbrenner.

--Ed Price of the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger contributed to this report.

[Last modified March 15, 2005, 01:06:08]