Pardoning Darryl Strawberry, Trump Restores an American Hero Who Makes the Most of Second Chances

A baseball legend, Darryl Strawberry, is “thanking God” for using President Trump as “a vessel to set me free forever.” By pardoning a conviction for evading taxes, Mr. Trump is leaving his fellow Queens, New York, native “clean” and restoring a hero to fans.In 1995, Mr. Strawberry pleaded guilty to hiding income from personal appearances, autographs, and memorabilia. He paid restitution and fines along with three years’ probation — six months of it confined at home.Mr. Strawberry acceded to stardom with the “Miracle Mets” of New York in 1986, powering a come-from-behind victory in the World Series. He was voted into the All-Star Game for eight straight seasons starting in 1984. His record for most home runs with the team, 252, stood until it was broken in August.The cameras captured all of Mr. Strawberry’s highlights and champagne showers. Off the field, though, he struggled as MLB handed down three suspensions when he tested positive for cocaine. He brought shame to the national pastime. “Millions,” Mr. Strawberry recounted in his 2023 memoir, “Straw: Finding My Way,” were perplexed. “What the heck,” they asked, “was wrong with that guy? He was blessed with a phenomenal talent” and “paid millions.” He “had legions of adoring fans” and “was everything Americans want to be. How could he throw that all away on alcohol and drugs?”The explanation was “simple,” Mr. Strawberry wrote. “I did not love myself” or “even like myself.” He heard the “poison” of his father’s voice in his head. “You’re no good,” it said. “You’ll never amount to anything.” Baseball “was fun,” the right fielder said. It just couldn’t silence the phantom taunts.Mr. Strawberry was tainted when the New York Yankees signed him in 1995. The Straw Man made the most of the second chance, helping to win World Series titles in 1996 and again 1999 — the year he was arrested for cocaine possession.The old demons were louder than the cheers and new ones soon emerged. Mr. Strawberry had a cancerous tumor removed from his colon in October 1998. After losing a kidney to the disease in 2000, he again tested positive for cocaine, ending his career. When Mr. Strawberry sought a job with the Bronx Bombers in 2003, the team owner, George Steinbrenner, made him a player development instructor. “I will not,” he said in a statement, “turn my back on a man who has failed and is doing everything possible to turn his life around.” As he had done when the Mets were left for dead in the 1986 series, Mr. Strawberry kept swinging. Although he shared being “radically saved” at a Christian event in 1991, it wasn’t until he met his wife, Tracy, in 2003 at a drug recovery convention that he surrendered — as many who confront substance abuse do — to a “higher power.”When the call came from the White House on Thursday, Mr. Strawberry was at Ms. Strawberry’s side as she recovered from cancer surgery of her own. In a Facebook post, the baseball great wrote that the president “spoke warmly about my baseball days in NYC, praising me as one of the greatest players of the ‘80s.”Mr. Strawberry said that he “was overwhelmed with gratitude — thanking God for setting me free from my past, helping me become a better man, husband, and father. This experience has deepened my faith and commitment to working for His kingdom as a true follower of Jesus Christ.”Although his private failings contributed to Mr. Strawberry being denied entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the biggest strike against him is now expunged. In a statement to the press, the White House said that he’d “served time and paid back taxes … become active in ministry and started a recovery center” with Mrs. Strawberry to lead others out of the darkness.The pardon, Mr. Strawberry wrote, “has nothing to do with politics.” It was about “President Trump caring deeply for a friend.” The ballplayer declared himself “humbled” and “overwhelmed with gratitude” at the forgiveness. “I’m free,” he said. “I’m free.”

Pardoning Darryl Strawberry, Trump Restores an American Hero Who Makes the Most of Second Chances

Pardoning Darryl Strawberry, Trump Restores an American Hero Who Makes the Most of Second Chances

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