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Report: Gooden searches for Straw

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 2, 2001

TAMPA -- Former New York Yankees slugger Darryl Strawberry remains missing after leaving a drug treatment center in Tampa on Thursday, said Debbie Buchanan, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Corrections.

An arrest warrant was issued for Strawberry on Friday because he violated his probation by leaving the center, where he was serving a two-year house-arrest sentence.

The New York Post reported that former Yankees pitcher Dwight Gooden, who retired Friday, is searching for Strawberry with two friends in areas of high drug traffic in Tampa. Gooden, a teammate of Strawberry with the New York Mets and the Yankees, is from Tampa and is a recovering drug addict.

Strawberry, 39, was released from jail in November after serving 21 days of a 30-day sentence for a drug relapse.

The eight-time All-Star was sentenced for leaving a drug treatment center without permission for four hours in October. Tests later showed he had used cocaine and had taken Xanax, a prescription sedative.

After being released from jail, he was fitted with an electronic monitoring device to alert officials if he left the treatment center, although it can't pinpoint his location after he leaves the site.

Strawberry, who also was arrested in September on a charge of driving while intoxicated, is battling colon cancer and has had two operations for it.

The career .259 hitter had 335 home runs and drove in 1,000 runs in 1,583 games with the Mets, Dodgers, Giants and Yankees.

He was named National League rookie of the year with the Mets in 1983.

The Yankees offered him a job last month teaching their minor-league players to avoid drug and alcohol abuse.

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