TAMPA, Fla. -- Dwight Gooden pleaded innocent Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving.

Gooden's attorney entered the written plea and the 37-year-old former All-Star did not appear in court. A court date has been set for April 30 in Tampa.

Gooden was arrested in February when Tampa police said they saw him swerving while driving on an expressway. He had an open beer bottle in his 2002 Cadillac Escalade and was driving with a suspended license for failing to pay a fine from an unrelated traffic infraction, police said.

Gooden refused to take a blood alcohol test, police said.

Gooden had been employed as a special assistant with the New York Yankees, working with young pitchers during spring training. Since his retirement from the Yankees last spring, he has represented the team in the Tampa-area community. He has not worked with the Yankees since his arrest, although he did have a telephone conversation with manager Joe Torre. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who has not talked to Gooden since the arrest, said he is waiting for the legal process to play out.

Gooden ended his major league career with a 194-112 record and a 3.51 ERA, striking out 2,293 in 2,800 2/3 innings.

He played 11 seasons with the New York Mets and became the youngest Cy Young Award winner in 1985 at age 20, pitching for a World Series championship team a year later.

Gooden also pitched for the Yankees, Indians, Astros and Devil Rays in his 16-year career. He threw a no-hitter against Seattle for the Yankees on May 14, 1996.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.