Mitchell Upset by Report That He Influenced Gooden

Kevin Mitchell, the Padre third baseman who was acquired in an off-season trade with the New York Mets, reacted bitterly Saturday to a report that some of his former teammates thought he had been a negative influence on pitcher Dwight Gooden, who checked into a drug rehabilitation center this week.

“How could I have been a bad influence? I didn’t see the guy off the field,” Mitchell said here Saturday. “I was just a rookie. I probably hung out more with Straw (outfielder Darryl Strawberry), and I wasn’t around either guy off the field. That (accusation) is stupid.”

An article in the Friday editions of Newsday, a New York-area newspaper, reported that several unnamed Met players suspected that Mitchell was traded because of his influence on Gooden.

In response, Met Vice President Joe McIlvaine was quoted as saying that Mitchell “could have been a negative influence on Dwight. He probably was. But certainly not to the point where you say you’ve got to get rid of the guy.”

Mitchell said Saturday that he doesn’t drink or take drugs and that he found McIlvaine’s quote appalling.

“I’ve heard that before,” he said. “I’ve got family back in New York, and they told me. . . . Maybe it’s best I was traded, if that’s how they feel. I don’t know why they’re putting it on me. I don’t drink or nothing. I guess I’m the scapegoat. I just don’t know why they’d want to do me like that. I did my best for that team.

“I stayed to myself most of the time, and when I talked, I talked to (hitting coach) Bill Robinson and (first baseman) Keith Hernandez. I don’t know what happened to Dwight. Maybe it happened (to him) in the off-season. It wasn’t me.”

Mitchell used to be in a street gang in Southeast San Diego. When Robinson first met Mitchell last year, he said Mitchell had the “worst attitude he’d ever seen.” But they grew closer as the year went on.

“Shoot, he (Gooden) comes from a bad neighborhood, too,” Mitchell said. “Look at Florida. Florida’s drug-related. . . . I’m a young player, and I’m just trying to make my grandmother happy. I don’t drink. I don’t go out.

“I don’t see why my name keeps coming up with their problems. I’m here trying to make a name for myself. . . .

“I want people on the streets to look up to me. They see me now and know how I used to fight, and they say, ‘Look how he’s changed.’ ”