Darryl Strawberry has always commanded the room with his mesmerizing combination of size, talent and charisma, whether on the field as a player or in more recent years as a Man of Faith, preaching across the country in an attempt to save others from the mistakes he made. done in your own life.
Saturday was a powerful reminder of all that, as Strawberry turned his retirement ceremony into a fun rebirth of sorts at Citi Field, celebrating family members, former teammates and Mets‘ fans of the joyful manner of a man with a new appreciation for life itself.
“This means more than ever,” he said into the microphone beyond second base, “after suffering a massive heart attack three months ago.”
Strawberry’s heart attack in March wasn’t exactly news, except that on Saturday he offered details about how frightening the experience was for him.
“I came close to losing my life,” he said at his press conference before the ceremony. “It is a gift from the Lord to be sitting here today. I appreciate life more now because of it. And I have my wife to thank for that.”
Yes, it was Strawberry’s wife, Tracywho insisted on taking him to the hospital when he didn’t feel well.
“I didn’t want to go,” Strawberry said. “She raised me, thank God.”
It wasn’t the first time Tracy saved his life, as most Mets fans probably already know. They met in drug rehab 18 years ago, when Strawberry was still struggling with the addiction problems that partly derailed a Hall of Fame career during his eight years with the Mets, and she was the driving force in Darryl establishing the Strawberry Ministries.
“She’s the real heroine of Darryl’s story,” is the way Jay Horwitzlongtime public relations director for the Mets and confidant of Strawberry and Doctor Gooden put it. “There is no doubt that she saved his life long before he had his heart attack.
“I remember going to Florida to interview Darryl in prison during our 40s.th anniversary stories we were doing (like a Mets franchise). That was a scary experience. At that point I really didn’t know what could happen to Darryl.”
Strawberry truly had a remarkable journey, surviving what he calls “a broken home without a father” to become the No. 1 pick in the 1980 baseball draft by the Mets, and then transforming into a superstar whose hitting was unmissable. TV, only to leave as a free agent when G.M. Frank Cashen wouldn’t give him a long-term contract and would endure years of drug use before meeting his wife and committing his life to helping others.
“It’s really amazing to see Darryl’s turnaround,” Gooden said Saturday. “We’ve both been through a lot. I admit I was skeptical about how he said he changed his life until he visited my mother years ago when she was sick and spent two hours talking to her, doing everything he could to make her feel better about her situation.
“That’s when I said, ‘OK, this is real.’ And that is. He does great things to help people who need to hear his story. For him to have his day, after I had mine in April, it really comes full circle.”
At this point Gooden smiled and noticed there was a significant difference.
“He left on his own terms,” Doc said. “I couldn’t leave on my terms. But I know he really didn’t want to leave. He kept saying he would go and even tried to convince me to leave. But I never believed he would leave. If he had stayed, many things could have been different.”
Was Strawberry to blame for leaving the Mets? In part, for sure, because, as he said on Saturday, “I was crazy when I was young,” and that translated into a lot of headaches for the Mets front office, even as he was hitting 252 home runs in his eight seasons. in Queens, the most in specialties at that time.
As a result, Frank Cashenthe GM who built the ’86 championship team grew impatient with Strawberry and let it affect his better judgment.
“He wanted less disruptive players,” admits Horwitz.
As a result, Strawberry said Cashen offered him just a two-year contract, knowing it wouldn’t be enough to keep him from returning home to play for the LA Dodgers on a five-year deal worth $20 million. Instead, Cashen went and signed Vincent Colemanand the Mets went downhill from there, becoming irrelevant for several years.
“My relationship with the board has broken down,” Strawberry said Saturday. “But still, as I’ve said many times, leaving the Mets was the biggest mistake I made as a baseball player.”
Ultimately, returning home led to unhappiness and drug abuse, and then a downward spiral of lost seasons before his celebrated late-career revival with the Yankees.
His time in the Bronx provided a happy ending of sorts to his baseball career, but like Gooden, he always wanted the chance to make things right with the Mets.
He took Steve Cohen buying the team to make it happen and, again like Gooden, Strawberry appreciated the long-awaited opportunity to thank the fans in person.
“There’s nothing like being home,” he shouted as he began his speech. “I will always be a Met.”
His joy came through loud and clear as he thanked the many people who helped him along the way. He made a point of saying how much, in retrospect, he appreciated Mookie Wilson and the late Gary Carter for living the God-fearing life he ended up living.
“They were drinking milk and I was drinking alcohol,” was how he put it in his press conference. “I didn’t have the courage to be like them at that time in my life.”
But most of all, Strawberry spoke to fans.
“My biggest thank you is to you, the fans,” he said. “You encouraged me to be great. The curtains, the boos, all of this made the eight seasons here the best of my career.
“From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry I left you. There was nothing better than playing in front of you, the fans, here in Queens and at Shea Stadium.”
Fans reciprocated with cheers of approval and chants of “Dar-ryl, Darryl,” which made Strawberry laugh. In fact, he exuded joy from start to finish, which created an appropriately festive atmosphere.
It was only when he hugged his wife, before going to the microphone, that the emotion of the day, and certainly everything he had been through, including the heart attack, brought tears to Darryl and Tracy’s eyes. And so they hugged each other for a long time, each finally wiping away their tears.
On such a grand and memorable day for Strawberry, nothing seemed more meaningful than that hug.
