Former NY Mets Pitcher Sentenced After Holmdel Cocaine Arrest

HOLMDEL, NJ - Former New York Mets Pitcher Dwight “Doc” Gooden has been sentenced after he was found with cocaine during a traffic stop in Holmdel.

Gooden, 55, of Piscataway, appeared in state Superior Court on Thursday and was sentenced to one year of probation. He pleaded guilty last year to one count of cocaine possession during a traffic stop in Holmdel on June 7, 2019.

The former pitcher was initially pulled over for failure to maintain a lane and driving too slow, according to a complaint filed by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. He was subsequently found with two plastic bags - allegedly containing cocaine - in his car, according to the Associated Press.

His guilty plea in August 2019 afforded him the opportunity to evade a jail sentence in place of a drug rehabilitation program.

According to an Asbury Park Press report, the judge hearing the case said Thursday that the former baseball player was "obviously under the influence of drugs," with cocaine in his nostrils and in his vehicle. A substance abuse evaluation subsequently found the man to be afflicted by a “severe cocaine use disorder,” the publication reported.

Gooden was previously suspended from playing for some of the 1994 season and the entire 1995 season after testing positive for cocaine.

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