Darryl Strawberry understandably has a lot to be thankful for.
The former MLB All-Star overcame substance abuse issues that derailed his Hall-of-Fame trajectory and New York Mets career while also plaguing him through his post-playing days. While he got sober and became a pastor where he practices in his home state of Missouri, the 62-year-old suffered a heart attack on his birthday just two months ago on March 12.
He felt good enough to attend his teammate and friend Doc Gooden’s No. 16 jersey retirement ceremony and Citi Field on April 14 and is doing well enough that he will be able to be the center of attention when the Mets retire his No. 18 jersey on June 1.
“This does bring a lot of closure to my career with the Mets that I’ll always be a Met, no matter how people look at it,” Strawberry said on Monday. “Those eight years were the greatest years of my career and I will always cherish those years. I will always keep those as something very special. There was nothing greater for me to be able to play in Queens and have the success I had.”
Across those eight seasons, Strawberry was a seven-time All-Star, slugged a franchise-record 252 home runs, ranks second with 733 RBI and 580 walks, third with 469 extra-base hits and 662 runs scored, and fourth with a .520 slugging percentage. He was one of the centerpieces of an organization that had its most successful decade in the 1980s, including the 1986 World Series title.
“You’re not a great player unless you’re on a great team,” Strawberry said. “The thing I look at more than anything was that we had great teams every year going into the season. We had a chance to win. I didn’t finish lower than second in the division on every team besides that first year in 1983… After that, every year, all the way to 1990, I finished no lower than second.”
To get to the majors after being drafted No. 1 overall by the Mets in 1980 was no easy feat despite how awe-inspiring his play was. Strawberry described his first year in the minors down in Lynchburg, TN where he was constantly berated and exposed to racist epithets as one of the most difficult experiences of his ball-playing career. So much so that he considered quitting baseball altogether.
Had it not been for the likes of some of his teammates on that Single-A club, including fellow 1986 champion Kevin Mitchell and Lloyd McClendon, who went on to have a prominent managerial career with the Seattle Mariners and Pittsburgh Pirates.
“Straw was so blessed and so graceful on the baseball field that a lot of time, it looked like he wasn’t trying,” McClendon said. “But he was so talented, his talent came out and the game was so easy for him at that level and people didn’t quite understand what he was all about. He was a tremendous competitor, he wanted to win, he was 18 years old. What a tremendous talent.”
McClendon was the veteran presence on that Lynchburg team, often called “The Godfather,” by Mitchell, and one of many who will be on hand to celebrate one of Strawberry’s finest accomplishments.
“I’m looking to embrace the fans who have always been there more than anything,” Strawberry said. “Those who stood up and cheered us on in our good times and our bad times. I’m also looking forward to my teammates… that’s family. The organization is family… We all were part of this big family. We came together, we came through this together. you just don’t come along. I might be standing alone and being honored for my success, but the people who helped get me there, those are the people I want to embrace. The fans are a part of that [too].
“I get to keep this forever.”
For more on the Mets and Darryl Strawberry, visit AMNY.com
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