Darryl Strawberry has a powerful message and he wants it to be heard, especially by college students.
He has spoken to two college football teams this year — Alabama and Florida State — about the mistakes he made that ended his professional baseball career. He battled alcohol and drug addiction and found himself in jail more than once.
He eventually had to give up baseball after also battling cancer. He said he found himself at the bottom of the pit of life and decided to turn to God and form a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
He now spends his days spreading his faith and talking to groups about overcoming addiction. Strawberry shared his message with several East Mississippi Community College student-athletes and Scooba area residents Wednesday night at Keyes Currie Coliseum in an event co-sponsored by the Mississippi Prevention Alliance for Communities and Colleges.
“I think college students and athletes on the campus…struggle a lot with who they are,” Strawberry said. “I think they identify themselves with the uniform. They have to get beyond that. Just because you put on a uniform and you have fame and fortune on the campus, and you think nothing’s going to happen to you, that’s not true.”
Strawberry spent 17 seasons in Major League Baseball with the New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees. He earned Rookie of the Year honors in 1983 and was a part of four World Series winning teams.
Now an ordained minister, he stepped away from baseball after the 1999 season, coming back to play that season following a bout with colon cancer.
Strawberry is the co-founder of Darryl Strawberry Recovery Center in Orlando, Florida. He and his wife, Tracy, co-founded Strawberry Ministries.
Strawberry opened his message Wednesday by talking about a time his alcoholic father pulled a shotgun on his family, and Strawberry and his brother fought him off. Strawberry was 13.
His father’s addiction to alcohol and drugs started at a young age, but Strawberry never thought he would have a problem.
Strawberry’s message was especially important to EMCC football quarterback De’Andre Johnson, who was kicked off the Florida State football team in 2015 after a video surfaced showing him punching a female bar patron in Tallahassee, Florida. Johnson later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery and transferred to EMCC. However, he didn’t play his first year in Scooba.
Johnson has become the starter this season and has played well. He was named the National Junior College Athletic Association Offensive Player of the Week after passing for 417 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for 171 yards in a 44-42 victory against Itawamba C.C. last Thursday.
Surrounded by his teammates Wednesday, Johnson said it was great to hear Strawberry speak.
“It’s a sign of redemption and humility,” Johnson said. “It kind of reminds me of what I’m doing. This summer, I went out and gave back to the community. I spoke to kids about what I did and how it affected me and my family. …Hopefully I can take what he talks about and add it into my arsenal and get a couple of new ways to engage a crowd.”
Strawberry’s struggles have been well documented, most recently in the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary “Doc and Darryl.” The film focuses on Strawberry and former New York Mets teammate Doc Gooden’s rise and fall because of alcohol and drugs.
Strawberry said he wouldn’t go back and choose a different path.
He said it’s not about how a story starts, but how it finishes. His story, he said, isn’t finished.
“It’s important to speak the message to people, but it’s important for them to receive and accept it,” Strawberry said. “Those that say it can never happen to me, it ends up happening to them. That’s the whole reason why I bring the message of hope is for people to make the right choices and the right decisions, especially young people.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.