11/07/25 01:14:00
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11/07 13:13 CST Trump pardons former Mets great Darryl Strawberry on past tax
evasion and drug charges
Trump pardons former Mets great Darryl Strawberry on past tax evasion and drug
charges
By WILL WEISSERT
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) --- President Donald Trump has pardoned former New York Mets
great Darryl Strawberry of tax evasion and drug charges, citing the 1983
National League Rookie of the Year's post-career embrace of his Christian faith
and longtime sobriety.
Strawberry was an outfielder and eight-time All-Star, including seven with the
Mets from 1983-90. He hit 335 homers and had 1,000 RBIs and 221 stolen bases in
17 seasons.
Plagued by later legal, health and personal problems, Strawberry was indicted
for tax evasion and eventually pleaded guilty in 1995 to a single felony count.
That was based on his failure to report $350,000 in income from autographs,
personal appearances and sales of memorabilia.
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 in court about struggling with
depression, and was charged with violating his probation numerous times ---
including on his 40th birthday in 2002.
Strawberry ultimately served 11 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 back taxes. Speaking on background to detail a
pardon that had not yet been formally announced, the official noted that
Strawberry found faith in Christianity and has been sober for a decade-plus,
and that he'd become active in ministry and started a still-active recovery
center.
Strawberry posted on Instagram a picture of himself and Trump and wrote, "Thank
you, President @realdonaldtrump for my full pardon and for finalizing this part
of my life, allowing me to be truly free and clean from all of my past."
He described being home on Thursday afternoon, caring for his wife who was
recovering from surgery, "when my phone kept ringing relentlessly."
"Half asleep, I glanced over and saw a call from Washington DC. Curious, I
answered, and to my amazement, the lady on the line said, ?Darryl Strawberry,
you have a call from the President of the United States, Donald Trump,'"
Strawberry wrote. "I put it on speakerphone with my wife nearby, and President
Trump spoke warmly about my baseball days in NYC, praising me as one the
greatest player of the '80s and celebrating the Mets. Then, he told me he was
granting me a full pardon from my past."
Trump was a New York real estate mogul before becoming a reality television
star and twice winning the presidency.
Strawberry said 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," Strawberry wrote, while also
noting "This has nothing to do with politics --- it's about a Man, President
Trump, caring deeply for a friend. God used him as a vessel to set me free
forever!"
Strawberry's followed Trump issuing pardons this week for a former Republican
speaker of the Tennessee House and a onetime aide on public corruption charges.
It adds to a list of celebrities and political allies who have similarly
received unlikely pardons --- including a former Republican governor of
Connecticut, an ex-GOP congressman and reality TV stars who had been convicted
of cheating banks and evading taxes.
Strawberry played for the Mets, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, and San
Francisco Giants between 1983 and 1999. He won the World Series with the 1986
Mets, starring alongside the likes of Dwight Gooden and Keith Hernandez, and
with the Yankees in 1996, 1998 and 1999.
Strawberry was hospitalized with a heart attack in March 2024, a day before he
turned 62. That same year, the Mets retired his No. 18 and an emotional
Strawberry told the Citi Field crowd: "I'm truly, deeply sorry that I ever left
you guys. I never played baseball in front of fans greater than you guys."
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