ESPN is about to air the documentary Doc & Darryl, a film about Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. While the New York Mets are the team that immediately jumps to mind with those two players, the film features a unique connection to the Omaha Storm Chasers (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League).
Premiering Thursday at 8:00 p.m. EST, Doc & Darryl offers plenty of intrigue. With Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio as co-directors , the film focuses on the highs and lows of Strawberry and Gooden, two key players in the memorable Mets’ teams of the 1980’s–including the 1986 championship squad. Doc & Darryl is largely centered around a rare moment in which its two subjects are together, and that reunion was reportedly facilitated by Storm Chasers owner Gary Green.
Green, who serves as a co-executive producer for the film, is a Mets fan and has known Gooden and Strawberry for years. While there were other attempts in the past to make a documentary about the two players, Green says that Radical Media–the production company behind Doc & Darryl–put forth a vision he believed would work.
At that point, Green felt comfortable approaching Gooden and Strawberry about sitting down together for the film. Green believes that what Doc & Darryl has captured will resonate with viewers. More from the Omaha World Herald:
“It was interesting because I went to each one individually,” he said. “What I soon came to learn was that they are connected together. But besides seeing each other in passing at paid events for the team, team reunions and attending games together, they haven’t really spent any time together in 30 years.
“I was kind of in the middle of these guys, and I realized that they’re bound together, but they’re not super tight. There was probably a moment that they were, but never as much as people thought.”
The documentary reunited Strawberry and Gooden for a conversation at a diner in Queens. And “certain things come out that they haven’t been able to ask each other in 30 years,” Green said.
The World Herald also reported that Green did not make money on the film, which he views as a passion project. Doc & Darryl is part of ESPN’s 30-for-30 series.