By Mark Halpern
So, for those of you who don’t know whom I am talking about, I am talking about former Mets and Major League Pitcher Matt Harvey. The New York Mets selected Harvey with the 7th overall pick in the 2010 M.L.B. draft. It didn’t take him long to reach the majors, as his first start was on July 26, 2012. Most major leaguers spend years in the minors before the hopes of making it to The Show. It didn’t take him long to reach the majors, as his first start was on July 26, 2012. In his first game in Arizona, Harvey struck out eleven batters setting a new club record. Over the next two years, Harvey was one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball. In 2013 he had arguably his best season, posting a 9-5 record with a 2.30 E.R.A. However, Harvey needed the most feared surgery a pitcher can face the following season: Tommy John surgery. He came back strong the following year and helped the Mets win the Pennant.
Over the next several seasons, Harvey dealt with so many surgeries from head to toe that his heroics from 2013 and 2015 were soon forgotten. After many surgeries, Harvey was a shell of what he once was, and the Mets declined to resign him. Over the next four years, he bounced from the Reds to the Orioles and failed. However, things were just about to get even worse for Harvey.
In 2019 a pitcher named Tyler Skaggs was unfortunately found dead of an overdose from the famous pain killer known as Oxycodone and Fentanyl. Skaggs had a promising career taken from him because of this drug. Rumors since Skaggs overdose was going to trial that names were starting coming up, and one of those was Harvey. Matt Harvey admitted to getting hooked on the painkillers after his surgeries, and he also got into cocaine usage (This is not the first Mets player to deal with substance abuse.) Matt Harvey also admitted to giving his “dealer” information to Skaggs. It also has come to light that the Mets organization knew of his drug issues during that time. I was deeply saddened to hear this news as I loved “The Dark Knight” during his time on and off with the Mets.
Here is my official take on this matter. I am utterly disgusted as a Mets fan (not because he used drugs) that he is now and forever will be linked with Skaggs death. Harvey needs to take responsibility here, even if he didn’t hand over anything or pay for Skaggs’s habit. I want nothing to do with Harvey or his legacy and hope he sees the error in his ways. Sorry but, that is how the old man sees it.
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