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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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Dukes Sounds Off On Radio Show

Posted Jun 19, 2007 by Aaron Knox

Updated Jun 19, 2007 at 01:22 PM

Devil Rays outfielder Elijah Dukes called the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE, 620 AM this morning and specifically spoke about allegations leveled against him by his estranged wife, NiShea Gilbert. Dukes also addressed the claim by a then-17-year-old foster child living at his grandmother’s house that the girl had been impregnated by Dukes, who denied the child is his.

Dukes called the show after several members of his family called Monday and Tuesday. Gilbert also called the show Tuesday morning, before Dukes’ call.

His main reason for the call seemed to be to dispute claims by callers that he had told his estranged wife and several other people that his mother used crack cocaine. His father was sentenced to prison when Dukes was 12 for killing a man who he claimed had sold his mother fake crack for $100.

“Ya’ll need to be more open-minded about the situation,” Dukes said. “The situation is, my dad, being who he is, he’s not going to talk to somebody with a crack problem. My dad never did drugs.

“You take $100 worth of crack in the ‘hood, you can flip that, right? So, why are ya’ll not thinking, OK, maybe they was drug dealers or something. Why everybody got to say, oh, she’s a crack head. Oh, that’s what they say.”

Dukes spoke rapidly, angrily and incoherently at times as the hosts occasionally tried to break in during his diatribe. The entire interview can be heard at the radio station’s Web site, 620wdae.com.

Here are exerpts from the interview:

Dukes on why he left Gilbert and whether he does believe he has an anger management problem:“I vowed when my father got locked up that I’d be the best father I can for my kids and I’d always be there for them. And that’s why I left her, because I know that if stayed with her, I’d eventually be in prison. Because she provoked me by hitting me. She done hit me across the head with picture frames and everything. You know what, I eat that because I told my kids that I would never go back to jail again for no domestic violence. I have made strides. Maybe I have a – I probably have an anger problem. But I’ve diminished my anger, and I know how to get rid of some of my problems to my anger. And she was one of my problems.”

Dukes on why he believes he hasn’t been in the Rays starting lineup since accusations surfaced that he had fathered a baby with the foster child:

“I am in a bit of a slump, because I’ve got all this other stuff going on. You know how hard it is to be away from your kids when you always been with your kids? Do anybody know how that feels? Ya’ll looking at all this other stuff. I could care less about what people say. What really hurts is I can’t be around my kids for a year. And that really hurt me, because you know what, I did everything I can.”

Dukes on whether he needs help, emotionally:

“Do I need help? No, I don’t need no help. Everybody needs guidance. Do I need guidance? Yeah, I need guidance. Sometimes you need somebody to talk to. But do I need help? No, I don’t need no help. How many times I ever shot someone? How many times I ever stabbed someone? How many times I ever beaten, brutally beaten somebody? Never.”

Dukes’ defiance:

“First of all, I have had a long … I grew up on the flipside of things. I didn’t grow up with no silver spoon in my mouth. I had to go through a lot to get to where I am today. Every time you get to the top, you always have those hyenas want to knock you down, as a lion.

“Right now, I have come a long way. You think back to where people said, you know what, I won’t make it. I’m here now. Did the people who said I wasn’t going to make it call me back and apologize? No. They try to find something else to knock me down with. But guess what? Nobody’s going to bring me down with all these accusations they making about me.”

Reader Comments

Por (Randy Freeman) on June 19, 2007 (Suggest removal)

Rays need to get rid of this punk now.