Kevin Mitchell Sets the Record Straight About Whether or Not He Cut a Cat’s Head Off

Sometimes the craziest rumors are spread about public figures. And while the world of sports has some verified urban legends, like Doc Ellis pitching a no-hitter while tripping on acid, there are some fairly heinous ones that haven't been confirmed. Lately, people are wondering if former major league baseball player Kevin Mitchell did indeed decapitate a cat.

While discussing the incident with sports media personality @TheCousinSal, Kevin categorically denied ever decapitating his ex-girlfriend's cat and expressed his disappointment in former teammate Darryl Strawberry for "verifying" this story.

The story goes that Kevin, in a "fit of rage," took a knife to a former girlfriend's cat and cut its head clean off.

Kevin stated that when he was a younger player the story didn't bother him all that much mostly because it was just a rumor or a crazy tale.

@TheCousinSal started the conversation by stating, "It's a crazy claim, that a cat was decapitated at your hands. You're going to defend yourself here."

Kevin responded, "Everybody got a gimmick. Dennis Rodman wore dresses. That's a gimmick. It was all cool in the game when we were young. ... It was all fun. But when you start writing stuff in books and stuff that's not true and don't ask nobody about it then I got to defend myself.

"I'm a much older man and what's upsetting about that is a couple of years ago Straw was on a talk show with his new wife," the World Series champion said.

Kevin then said that his former teammate stated that the story was accurate. Strawberry, while promoting his new book on HuffPost Live, said of the cat decapitation story, "That's a pretty good story. I think it's pretty accurate. Kevin Mitchell did do that. Kevin Mitchell, he's a different type of guy."

The purported feline decapitation was also referenced in Doc Gooden's 1999 autobiography, Heat, in which the pitcher wrote that both he and card show promoter Meade Chassky were with Mitchell when he killed the cat.

"Mitch took the knife to the cat and cut its head off. Clean," he wrote. Doc didn't write whether or not Strawberry was present that night.

During his HuffPost Live interview, Strawberry went on to say about Mitchell, "He was affiliated with gangs quite a bit. I guess he figured that the girlfriend was acting a little crazy, so I’ll kill her cat. ... He cut the cat’s head off."

Kevin cleared the air on the podcast and stated that he spoke with Darryl and asked him to recant his statement, He threatened that he could provide true stories of implied clubhouse debauchery that would grab headlines if Strawberry didn't comply.

Kevin also stated that from a practicality standpoint, cutting off a cat's head would probably be a bad idea, given how strong the animals are. He also said that he wouldn't want to potentially injure his hands and jeopardize his ball-playing career.

Mitchell, along with Strawberry, was a part of the infamous 1986 "Scum Bunch," the Mets team that won the 1986 World Series.

The 30 for 30 documentary chronicles the development of the 1986 Mets team and their hard-partying and hard-playing ways that helped take them to the World Series championship victory.

The ESPN docu-series has been receiving rave reviews and has introduced a ton of new viewers to a wild moment in sports history.