Darryl Strawberry confirms urban legend: Kevin Mitchell cut off cat's head: Report

A wide-spread rumor that former MLB All-Star Kevin Mitchell decapitated his girlfriend's cat has been substantiated after ex-Mets teammate Darryl Strawberry confirmed the incident during an interview. 

The disturbing urban legend goes back to1999, when Strawberry and Mitchell's fellow teammate Dwight 'Doc' Gooden detailed the horrifying incident in his autobiography "Heat."

While Mitchell has denied the story for years, in an interview with Huffington Post Live on Tuesday, Strawberry said it was all true:

"That's a pretty good story. I think that's pretty accurate," Strawberry told host Marc Lamont Hill. "Kevin Mitchell did do that. Kevin Mitchell, he's a different type of guy. Great guy, super teammate...I guess he figured that the girlfriend was acting a little crazy, so I'll kill her cat.

"That's a normal day in the Mets' locker room back in those days, in the eighties," he added. 

Gooden recalled both he and Mitchell's girlfriend tried to clam him down but he couldn't be persuaded.

"Mitch turned to her and raised his anger to yet another level. Still holding the knife in his right hand, he grabbed his girlfriend's little cat, who had the misfortune to be walking near his feet at that very moment. 

"In one awful sweep of his hand, Mitch pulled the cat's head back, exposing its throat. 

'"You think I'm kidding when I say don't ever fuck with me?" he shouted. Before the girl could answer, Mitch took the knife to the cat, and cut its head off. Clean."

In 2002, Mitchell — who retired in 1998 after 13 years in the majors —spoke about the incident with author Jeff Pearlman, who was writing a book about the 1986 Mets. 

"How could I cut off a cat's head with a kitchen knife? Hell, I love animals," Mitchell stated.

All three players were stars on the 1986 Mets World Series championship team.

Doc Gooden evicted from New Jersey mansion: Report

Dwight "Doc" Gooden's struggles in life keep on piling up after it was reported that the former Major League Baseball star is being evicted from the New Jersey mansion he was renting after allegedly falling months behind in his rent.

What makes the situation even sadder — Gooden's estranged wife was living in the home with their two young children — all who were all forced to leave in July, when officials enforced the eviction, reports TMZ.

According to court documents obtained by the gossip site, Gooden and his family moved in to the home back in  September 2011 — and agreed to pay $4,500 per month in rent. 

But things started going bad in March — after Dwight's wife got a restraining order against the former phenom following a domestic dispute — forcing Doc to move out. 

The homeowners claim Doc's family stayed in the home all of March, April, May and June -- but they never got a check from the Goodens for any of those months — adding up to a hefty debt in back rent.

Legal documents were filed against Gooden — demanding the back rent plus penalties, totaling more than $18,984. The homeowners also want legal fees. 

The court also granted the landlord's permission to evict the Goodens -- and on July 11, Gooden's family was forced out of the home. It's unclear where they're living now. Gooden didn't respond to TMZ's request to comment.

The one-time best pitcher in baseball recently penned a brutally honest book about his decades-long battle with drugs, rehabilitation and the downward spiral his life took after he won the '86 World Series Championship with the New York Mets. "Doc: A Memoir" hit the shelves in June.

Let's hope he can add a happy chapter after this sad development.

Dwight Gooden: Hearing a man get raped in prison the 'most devastating' moment of my life

Dwight Gooden has heard a lot of terrible things over his lifetime — fans booing, being told he wasted his talent and policemen saying you're under arrest all come to mind — but he left no doubt this morning as to what was the most harrowing sound that ever crossed his ears.

The former major league star was on WFAN Thursday morning promoting his new book: “Doc: A Memoir” and recalled hearing a man getting raped when he was in prison. Gooden said it was “the most devastating thing that I had to go through in my life.”

“No. 1, once you get into prison, you’re not Doc Gooden the baseball player,” Gooden told the station. “You’re a number. That’s it. And you’re not living; you’re just in the system. So in there, if a guy wants to take you, he’s going to take you, because it’s going to be 10 guys.

“There’s nothing you can do. So me not actually witnessing the guy getting raped in there, but hearing him screaming and fighting for his life, you knew what was going on behind the door. You don’t know if you’re going to be next.”

Besides reliving the horrors of prison, the right-handed flamethrower discussed other subjects including his appearance on "Celebrity Rehab" (Gooden said he "wanted to remove that mask and let everybody know that hey, I do have a disease") and his thoughts on Mets phenom Matt Harvey, who has received the kind of attention Gooden got when he came up. "It seems like he's in the right place," Gooden said. "The thing I like to hear is not so much what he's saying, but what people are saying about him. And so far everybody's saying he's a great kid."

Gooden had several well-publicized run-ins with the law involving alcohol and drugs after his retirement from baseball in 2000 following a second stint with the Yankees. He was sentenced to prison in 2006 after showing up to a meeting with his probation officer high on cocaine. Gooden chose prison over probation in hopes it would help him get over his addiction. He said he was not clean until March 2011, though.

“You’re as sick as your secrets,” Gooden said of the book. “I had to come clean with everything, and so basically it was just strictly therapy for myself and hopefully (it will) help someone else.”

For some reason I think Gooden got this message across loud and clear.

Doc Gooden says downward spiral began minutes after Mets won 1986 World Series

Dwight "Doc" Gooden was so tweaked out on cocaine and booze the night the Mets won the 1986 World Series that he missed the team's ticker-tape parade down New York's Canyon of Heroes the next morning, the former All-Star pitcher writes in a brutally honest new memoir.

In "Doc: A Memoir," Gooden writes that the first person he called as his teammates celebrated their victory over the Boston Red Sox was his dad. The next person was his drug dealer.

"Champagne corks were flying as the TV crews grabbed their postgame sound bites," Gooden says, describing the chaos in the Shea Stadium locker room after the Mets won Game 7 of the Series.

"The players were shouting each other's names. People started pouring champagne on other peoples' heads. All of us agreed how great we were. But in the early craziness of the locker room, two thoughts were crowding all the others out of my head: I gotta call my dealer. And I gotta call my dad."

Gooden describes how his first inclination that night included telling his dealer he would be heading over to pick up a pile of coke. 

"Just make sure you're available, okay? It's gonna be a big party," Gooden told the dealer in a secret call made from a trainer's office.

"I got whatever you need," the dealer responded.

Gooden spent the night in a "sketchy" apartment in a Long Island housing project snorting lines and downing shots of vodka until dawn — when he blearily drove himself home.

While teammates including Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter were being showered with ticker-tape, Gooden recalls how he regretfully spent the next morning alone, not answering the phone and covered in shame. A moment he describes as the loneliest he's ever been.

"As my teammates rode through the Canyon of Heroes, I was alone and in my bed in Roslyn, Long Island, with the curtains closed and the TV on, missing what should have been the greatest moment of my life."

The unflinching memoir also chronicles Gooden's rise as the best pitcher in baseball, his descent into drugs and alcohol, his years with the Yankees and his ultimately successful battle against his inner demons and the substance abuse that derailed what should have been a Hall of Fame career. He goes into vivid details about his numerous rehab attempts and finally getting clean on VH1's "Celebrity Rehab."

The book, written with veteran journalist Ellis Henican, will hit bookstores on June 4, but excerpts are already posted on Amazon.com.

Former Yankees prospect Brien Taylor arrested on drug charges

The former No. 1 overall pick in Major League's amateur draft by the New York Yankees, former pitcher Brien Taylor, was arrested in his home town of Beaumont, N.C. on drug charges.

The flame-throwing pitcher— who's career was snuffed out even before it had a chance to glow— was arrested and charged with various drug charges on Thursday.

After the Yankees selected the left-hander with the top overall pick in the 1991 draft— the East Carteret High superstar— who had 213 strikeouts in 88 innings during his senior year— signed a contract worth  $1.55 million with the Bombers— an unheard of sum back then for an untested prospect.

George Steinbrenner was so desperate for the Yankees to sign their own equivalent of Dwight Gooden, he reportedly told his GM if he didn't sign Taylor at any cost, he would be "shot."

If you never heard of the highly-touted prospect— you probably weren't a pinstripes fan in the '90's— and you're not alone.

Taylor's long and sad road to obscurity began after the normally mild-mannered Taylor injured his shoulder in an off-season bar fight in 1993.  After a couple of decent minor league seasons, he never lived up to expectations after the brawl and was released by the Yankees in 1998.

The current charges against Taylor include possession and intent to sell and distribute cocaine after investigators bought " a large quantity of cocaine and crack from Taylor over a period of several months," according to the Newark Star-Ledger.

"Taylor is charged with 2 counts of trafficking in cocaine by possession, trafficking in cocaine by selling, trafficking in cocaine by manufacture, trafficking in cocaine by transport, and felony maintaining a vehicle."

He was also charged with one count each of possession with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver cocaine.

Taylor was placed in Carteret County jail and scheduled for a court appearance today.

The Yankees went all-in on Taylor and lost it with that one fight.  Fans never got to see him on the mound at Yankee Stadium.

After brief stints of rehab in the minor leagues— he disappeared from the Yankees radar and out of sight within a couple of years.

Taylor was so highly regarded, he was expected to be in the Yankees rotation by the age of 19.   Now, Taylor's only legacy is what could have been.  His name has become synonymous with those few years of Yankees' futility.

After being released by the Yankees, Taylor supported himself with odd jobs and occasionally appeared in the news for various legal troubles.

Such a waste of talent and life.