WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has granted the former New York Mets a major pardon Darryl Strawberry about tax evasion and past drug charges, citing the 1983 National League Rookie of the Year’s post-career embrace of his Christian faith and long-term sobriety.
Strawberry was an outfielder and eight-time All-Star, including seven with the Mets from 1983 to 1990. He hit 335 home runs and had 1,000 RBIs and 221 stolen bases in 17 seasons.
Plagued by later legal, health and personal problems, Strawberry was indicted on tax evasion charges and eventually pleaded guilty to one felony count in 1995. That was based on his failure to report $350,000 in income from autographs, personal appearances and memorabilia sales.
Strawberry agreed to pay more than $430,000 as part of the case. He was diagnosed with colon cancer and underwent surgery and chemotherapy in 1998.
The following year, Strawberry was sentenced to probation and suspended from baseball after pleading no contest to charges of possession of cocaine and soliciting a prostitute. He eventually spoke out in court about his struggles with depression, and was accused of violating his probation several times – including on his 40th birthday in 2002.
Strawberry ultimately served eleven months in Florida state prison and was released in 2003.
A White House official said Friday that Trump approved a pardon for Strawberry, who had served time and paid taxes. Speaking on condition of anonymity to provide details about a pardon that had not yet been formally announced, the official noted that Strawberry had found faith in Christianity and had been sober for more than a decade, and that he had become active in the ministry and started a still-active recovery center.
Strawberry posted on Instagram a photo of himself and Trump and wrote, “Thank you, President @realdonaldtrump for my complete forgiveness and for completing this part of my life, allowing me to truly be free and clean of my entire past.
He described being home Thursday afternoon, caring for his wife, who was recovering from surgery, “while my phone kept ringing relentlessly.”
“Half asleep, I looked over and saw a call from Washington DC. Curious, I answered and to my surprise the lady on the phone said, ‘Darryl Strawberry, you have a call from the President of the United States, Donald Trump,'” Strawberry wrote. “I put it on speakerphone while my wife was nearby, and President Trump spoke warmly about my baseball days in New York, praising me as one of the greatest players of the ’80s and celebrating the Mets. He then told me he was granting me a full pardon for my past.”
Trump was a New York real estate mogul before becoming a reality TV star and serving as president twice.
Strawberry said he was “overwhelmed with gratitude – thanking God for freeing me from my past and helping me become a better man, husband and father.”
“This experience has deepened my faith and commitment to work for His kingdom as a true follower of Jesus Christ,” Strawberry wrote, while also noting, “This has nothing to do with politics – it is about a man, President Trump, who cares deeply about a friend. God used him as a vessel to set me free forever!”
The president has broad constitutional powers to grant pardons, which do not expunge the recipient’s criminal record but can be seen as an act of justice or mercy, often in cases that could promote the public good.
Strawberry followed Trump granting pardon this week for a former Republican speaker of the Tennessee House and a former aide on government corruption allegations. It also adds to a list of celebrities and political allies who have received similar awards unlikely grace — including a former Republican governor of Connecticut, an ex-GOP congressman and reality TV stars who had been convicted of defrauding banks and tax evasion.
Strawberry played for the Mets, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants from 1983 to 1999. won the World Series with the 1986 Mets, starring alongside Dwight Gooden and Keith Hernandez, and with the Yankees in 1996, 1998 and 1999.
Strawberry was hospitalized with a heart attack in March 2024, one day before he turned 62. That same year, the Mets retired his number 18 and one emotional Strawberry told the Citi Field crowd, “I’m really, really sorry I ever left you guys. I never played baseball in front of bigger fans than you guys.”
