Dwight Gooden was one of the youngest phenoms in baseball history. At the age of 19, he was throwing ridiculous stuff off the mound for the Mets and earned the nickname "Dr. K" along the way for striking out so many batters.

Gooden eventually won three world titles with the Mets and the Yankees and even tossed a no-hitter in 1996. Off the field, however, his life has been marred by an addiction to drugs and alcohol, and his latest offense has many questioning whether he will be able to make it back.

Gooden, 45, was arrested for driving under the influence in Franklin Lakes, N.J., after getting in to an accident. Gooden's 5-year-old son was unrestrained in the car. Gooden now faces charges of driving under the influence of drugs, leaving the scene of an accident, child endangerment and various motor vehicle violations.

Gooden has battled his addiction for more than 20 years now. According to The Star-Ledger of New Jersey:

Gooden has battled the demons of alcohol and cocaine addiction since he was a star pitcher for the Mets back in the mid-1980s. He first entered drug rehab in 1987, the year after the Mets won their last World Series, and has been arrested numerous times since his playing career ended in 2001, following his release by the Yankees. He had appeared to have turned his life around since spending six months in jail for a parole violation in 2006.
Gooden had taken a job as vice president for the Newark Bears, an independent league team, and had been invited to work as a spring training advisor or instructor for the Mets this year.

"He was moving on to bigger and better things,'' Tom Cetnar, the Bears senior vice president, told the Ledger. "That being said, he did great things for us while he was here, and we're saddened to hear about this latest news, though we don't know all the details.''

The other driver, Ronald Schmidt, 71, of Franklin Lakes, said he he recognized Gooden right away. "I looked at him, and I knew it was Dwight Gooden," Schmidt told WABC-TV in New York. "I think he was surprised I recognized him, (and) he shook my hand."

In another sign of how deep the addiction is, Gooden, despite having just been in an accident, allegedly left the scene to continue to drive his son to school. Not only did Gooden endanger his own life and the lives of others on the road, but he put the life of his young son in jeopardy.

Gooden's immense talent and his struggle with addiction should be a cautionary tale for young people. The best way to avoid drug addiction is to not even try drugs. I'm sure it all started out as fun and games for Gooden when he was young, but he is battling this disease in to his middle ages now. There is nothing fun or cute about drugs for him, and his decision making is so impaired by drugs that he would endanger the life of his young son. I know this is not the way he wants to live his life.

If his career had not been marred by drug use, Gooden could be a pitching coach somewhere and making money off of workshops and teaching others how to pitch.

The focus for Gooden now should be taking it one day at a time and finding a way to stay off of drugs, so that he can reclaim his life. In an interview, he vowed to recover from this mistake:

"I'm not going to let one day of bad judgment ruin four good years of sobriety," Gooden said.

I wish him the best of luck