NEW YORK -- New York Mets star pitcher Dwight Gooden agreed Wednesday to check into a hospital for evaluation of his cocaine use to avoid suspension by Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth.

Gooden, 22, beset by personal problems during his team's 1986 championship season and afterward, voluntarily took a urine test this week to quiet speculation about his worsening performance during this year's spring training, the Mets said.


The results revealed he had used cocaine, but the extent of Gooden's drug use is not known, Mets General Manager Frank Cashen said.

Gooden's lawyer, Charles Echrlich, said the pitcher 'has indicated to me he has partied this year with people involving the use of cocaine.'

Gooden, the youngest player ever to win baseball's Cy Young Award, will check into the Smithers Institute at Roosevelt Hospital in New York. Cashen estimated he will not play again for one or two months.

'There is some indication of past usage,' Cashen said. 'But the extent is uncertain and that will be up to company medical people to ascertain. Gooden will be evaluated and counseled on future remedial action.'

The Mets, scheduled to open defense of their World Series championship Tuesday, said Cashen confronted Gooden with the test results Wednesday morning, and the pitcher left camp. The club refused to disclose his whereabouts.

Cashen said the club learned of the test results this week, then took the matter to Ueberroth and National League President A. Bartlett Giamatti.


The commissioner told the club he was prepared to suspend Gooden immediately, but would withhold disciplinary action if Gooden fully cooperated in an appropriate treatment program and aftercare.

'Baseball has made a great deal of progress in the area of fighting drug abuse,' said Ueberroth from Milwaukee's spring training camp in Chandler, Ariz. 'However we expect sporadic skirmishes and this is one ofthem. Our policy is simple: If a player is willing to help himself, he gets one chance. If he is unwilling to cooperate or a problem occurs a second time, then we will take the penalty route.'

Gooden's agent Jim Neader said he met with the pitcher just before the Mets announcement.

'Well, I'm hoping there isn't a problem. I became aware when the Mets called me this morning it was a potential problem,' Neader said.

'The deal is this, that he be evaluated just to see just where he's at. One of two things. If it's a clean report, fine. If there's some problem, then nip it in the bud, take care of it and get back on the field.'

Gooden, still was considered the pride of New York's outstanding pitching staff, though he slipped from his 1985 form, when he won the National League's Cy Young Award with a 24-4 record.

Controversy has followed him for 15 months, since he mysteriously sprained his ankle while negotiating a contract with the Mets. Since then, he has pitched inconsistently and suffered a series of well-publicized personal problems.

Gooden failed to win a single game in the National League playoffs or World Series last year, prompting speculation over the health of his arm. After the Series, he missed a tickertape parade for the champions. He told one reporter he had a hangover.


Just before Christmas, in his hometown, Tampa, Fla., Gooden and four companions were arrested for brawling with police who stopped their car. Police said blood tests showed that Gooden, driving his Mercedes at the time, had been drinking.

On Jan. 23, a judge placed Gooden on three years' probation and ordered him to perform 160 hours of community service after he pleaded no contest to charges that could have landed him in jail for up to 10 years.

After the negative publicity, Gooden quietly settled contract negotiations with the club, agreeing to a one-year contract for $1.5 million. He earns a higher salary than any other player his age in baseball.

Last April, Gooden, his then-fiancee Charlene Pearson and his sister were involved in a drink-throwing incident with a car-rental agent at LaGuardia Airport. Gooden denied throwing a drink but admitted swearing at the agent.

In November, Gooden called off his wedding with Pearson, with whom he'd lived for years. He also revealed he had fathered a son with another woman.

Gooden is the third Cy Young winner to brush with drugs this year. In February, LaMarr Hoyt, who won the 1983 American League Cy Young with the Chicago White Sox, was barred from baseball for the season by Ueberroth. Hoyt was involved in three drug incidents in 1986 and was sentenced to 45 days in jail after trying to smuggle Valium and other pills from Mexico.

Also in February, Vida Blue, the 1971 AL Cy Young winner, resigned from the Oakland Athletics. A few weeks later, court records disclosed that Blue tested positive for cocaine three times during the 1986 season, violating the terms of his parole on an earlier drug conviction. Federal agents, citing privacy requirements, had not informed Blue's team, then the San Francisco Giants, or Ueberroth.