Darryl Strawberry is an eight-time MLB All-Star, four-time World Series Champion, and two-time Silver Slugger, and was the 1983 National League Rookie of the Year…but there’s a lot more to this baseball legend than just the statistics you see on the back of his baseball card.
He’s also an author, pastor, and the co-founder of the Strawberry Ministries and Darryl Strawberry Recovery Center (for substance abuse) with his wife Tracy.
Strawberry’s new book, “Turn Your Season Around: How God Transforms Your Life,” is available in bookstores now. As the publisher, Zondervan Books, describes: “Darryl Strawberry has seen it all – the highs and lows of an intense career as a Major League Baseball all-star, drug addiction, marriage challenges, prison time, and battles with cancer. With honesty and transparency, Strawberry shares the same foundational principles that transformed his life from the inside out.”
“People only look at the baseball platform that I had and how well I played and the troubles I had,” Strawberry told WFAN.com via Zoom. “Nobody ever looked at my life of what I’ve been doing now and trying to guide so many people. My main goal is to reach that younger generation so they don’t fall through the cracks.”
Darryl will forever be indebted to Tracy, his wife of 21 years and a woman without whom Strawberry might not be alive today.
“When my life fell apart nobody else was there. Tracy was the only one there to help pick up the pieces. We walked through this journey together,” Strawberry said. “We've been together for about 21 years and learned we wanted to do something different. The importance of people, why you never walk away from people. You never know how God is going to change a person's life and what they're going to be able to do to help somebody else.”
Strawberry’s purpose in life is not the same as it was back in the 80’s, when he was a baseball star. Between his ministry, recovery center and writing books, it's about helping people. In the current COVID-19 pandemic the world is currently battling, Strawberry explains his message resonates now more than ever.
“Totally different. Playing baseball and signing autographs, hitting home runs and winning games. My purpose is being fulfilled out for real now,” he said. “Reaching people and reaching a loss…2021 is really a year to recover, bring kindness back, love back and appreciation for life.”
Mets fans will never forget about Strawberry and the iconic 1986 World Series championship team. Going into ‘86, general manager Frank Cashen added Tim Teufel and Bob Ojeda to an already dangerous core of Keith Hernandez, George Foster, Gary Carter, Mookie Wilson and the young studs, Doc Gooden and Strawberry.
Strawberry hit 27 home runs and had 93 runs batted in that year as the Mets finished with a franchise record 108 wins, winning the National League East division crown by 21.5 games over the second-place Philadelphia Phillies.
“We were created to win,” Strawberry explained. “Day 1 of Spring Training, we had a meeting and Davey (Johnson) said we’re going to win it all…we looked around and said why not? That's when we finally put the pieces together. We didn't look back; we weren't looking at other teams, we were looking at who we were. It was a magical year, a great group of guys who loved to play, and played the game the right way. We played the right way, we played to win.”
In Game 7 of the World Series, with the Mets up 6-5 in the seventh inning, Strawberry hit a solo home run to help clinch the title, their second in franchise history.
The Mets recently started a new era in their team’s history, with Steve Cohen purchasing the team from the Wilpons for $2.4 billion back in November. Cohen, the CEO and president of Point72 Asset Management, initially bought an eight percent ownership in the team back in 2012, valued at $40 million, and has been trying for more ever since.
“He has looked for the opportunity to buy the franchise so he can make it a winner,” Strawberry said. “He’s gonna care about winning. They haven’t seen that consistently…that’s what they’ve needed over the years. He's a Mets fan, he knows the history – the good teams and the bad teams. I think it’s a great thing for them to have a guy like that owning the team.”
Strawberry has the rare luxury of saying he played for both New York teams, too, so he has a unique perspective on the rivalry that seems like it’s going to ramp up now that the Mets have new ownership.
“The fans are always going to hate each other, they’re always going to have this love-hate affair…it’s New York. That’s what you have to have,” he said. “Mets fans have suffered for a long time and that doesn't sit well for me. I grew up as a Mets player and the Mets fans are amazing.”
Strawberry joined the Yankees in 1995 and became part of an all-time great baseball dynasty, winning three World Series titles in his five seasons there.
“Completely built to win,” Strawberry said of the Yankees. “You've gotta put some skin in the game if you wanna be at the top level they’re at.”
Strawberry has certainly lived the highs and lows that fame and fortune can bring, and his advice for the young superstars of baseball today is simple.
“The talent is not going to last forever; you're not going to be healthy forever, the injuries are going to come,” Strawberry said. “There’s not a lot you can tell young players because they think this is the way it’s going to be, it's going to be good forever. You’re going to have some really hard decisions to make…2021 is a different Darryl Strawberry than there was in 1986.”
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