Gooden Enters New York Clinic for Drug Evaluation

NEW YORK — 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.”