Free-Agent Pitcher Matt Harvey Testifies In Federal Drug Trial, A Long Way From His “Dark Knight” Days

The 23-year-old pitcher stood in a Far Rockaway, Queens doorway, the devastation of Hurricane Sandy still visible in the surrounding neighborhood. Matt Harvey was with a New York Mets contingent offering meals for the needy at United Methodist Center late in 2012, only months removed from his major league debut with the Flushing baseball club.

“I’d like to hope that I have the job, but it’s all about performance, and going into spring training being ready,” Harvey said that day, according to a New York Daily News story. “Hopefully the success will come pretty early in spring training.”

Success — and fame — came in a hurry: a Sports Illustrated May 2013 cover story with the headline, “The Dark Knight of Gotham”; pitching a perfect game into the seventh inning against the White Sox at Citi Field on May 7, while striking out 12 along the way in an eventual 10-inning, 1-0 Mets’ win; appearing nude in ESPN the Magazine’s “Body Issue”; selection to the 2013 National League All-Star Game roster and then starting the Midsummer Classic at Citi Field.

There was even a little standup comedy mixed in with his baseball day job.

“The starter for the National League team was just announced,” late-night talk show host Jimmy Fallon said prior to the ‘13 All-Star Game. “It’s New York City’s own, Mets pitcher Matt Harvey is going to be starting pitcher! So psyched. This guy’s taken the league by storm and now he’s an All-Star.”

Fallon then showed a humorous clip where Harvey interviewed Mets fans in Bryant Park, behind the New York Public Library, several of whom did not recognize the ascending Mets star until after he introduced himself.

Harvey nearly overshadowed the retiring Mariano Rivera’s All-Star Game farewell, pitching the first two innings for the NL, whiffing three batters — including stud Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera — in two innings of work, although Harvey surrendered a leadoff double to Mike Trout and plunked Robinson Cano in consecutive at-bats.

It looked as if Harvey would be the next great Mets ace for seasons to come.

Then there was a Men’s Journal feature published that summer of 2013, in which Harvey gushed about crosstown rival Derek Jeter, by then a five-time World Series champion.

“That guy is the model,” Harvey said of Jeter. “I mean, first off, let’s just look at the women he’s dated. Obviously, he goes out – he’s meeting these girls somewhere – but you never hear about it. That’s where I want to be.”

Harvey later told the New York Times he was “embarrassed” by the story, but the gossip buzz about Harvey’s penchant for New York nightlife was already in motion.

Then, in late August 2013, the right-hander was diagnosed with a partial UCL tear in his pitching elbow. He had Tommy John surgery that October, and his Mets — and baseball career — was never quite the same, his 2015 World Series heroics notwithstanding.

When Harvey, 32, took the stand as a government witness in the federal drug trial of former Angels communications director Eric Kay this past week, it was a very long way from the “Harvey Day” hype and the sports talk show blather about a generational Mets rotation that featured Harvey as a co-headliner with Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler and Steven Matz.

Kay was found guilty of providing the lethal drugs that killed former Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs, and the 47-year-old Kay faces a minimum of 20 years in federal prison when he is sentenced.

During Kay’s trial, Harvey — who received immunity from the government — testified that he was a cocaine user when he pitched in New York, according to multiple outlets who covered the proceedings in Fort Worth, Texas. Harvey testified that his cocaine use continued when he went to California.

But Harvey also testified that he provided opioids to Skaggs in 2019, when the two men were Angels teammates. Skaggs died on July 1 of that year. According to ESPN, the free agent Harvey could face a 60-day suspension by Major League Baseball for violating the joint drug program, that is, if Harvey signs with a club. Harvey would have to wait until the current lockout ends before he could entertain any MLB team offers.

ESPN.comOfficial: Harvey faces MLB ban for giving opioids

Last year, Harvey pitched for the Baltimore Orioles and was 6-14 with a 6.27 ERA. When he pitched for the Angels in 2019, Harvey was 3-5 with a 7.09 ERA before the club released him July 21. His best season in the majors, so far, was in 2015, when he returned from Tommy John surgery to go 13-8 with a 2.71 ERA for the Mets.

That was also the year Harvey famously talked then Mets manager Terry Collins into leaving Harvey on the mound at Citi Field during Game 5 of the World Series against the Kansas City Royals, with the Mets leading 2-0 in the game. But Harvey never recorded an out that inning, and the Royals stormed back to tie the game, and then eventually clinched the World Series title in the 12th inning.

There were two major surgeries for Harvey that followed the 2015 season — not to mention off-the-field headlines that didn’t help his cause. By 2018, he was demoted to the Mets’ bullpen early in the season. And in May he was designated for assignment before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds.

The Dark Knight of Gotham was no more.

Before one of Harvey’s last starts for the Mets, on April 3, 2018 against the Phillies at Citi Field, then Mets teammate Jay Bruce told the New York Daily News that after all of Harvey’s health setbacks and negative headlines, Bruce was “excited for Matt to have a healthy season and feel like he’s back in control of his body and ready to go for this year.”

“I faced Matt Harvey before his injuries, and he was something else, man,” Bruce told the paper, referring to when Bruce was with the Reds and playing against Harvey and the Mets.

There’s still time for a Harvey comeback, of course, but his own choices and the hurdles they have created, underscore how difficult Harvey’s future baseball path could be.