Gooden Enters New York Clinic for Drug Evaluation

Dwight Gooden, flanked by bodyguards as schoolchildren screamed his name, today rushed into the clinic where he will undergo evaluation for drug abuse.

The New York Mets right-hander, the youngest player to win the Cy Young Award, arrived at the Smithers Alcoholism and Drug Treatment Center in a crimson van.

He wore a dark suit, said nothing and looked straight ahead. Two bodyguards, one on each side, shielded him from about 80 reporters, photographers and cameramen. From a nearby schoolyard, children yelled, “Dwight, Dwight,” and assailed the waiting press corps as “ghouls.”