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Former New York Mets star Darryl Strawberry expressed his gratitude toward President Donald Trump on Sunday during a sermon at a church in Oklahoma.
Trump pardoned Strawberry earlier this month on previous tax evasion and drug charges. Strawberry was welcomed into a Tulsa church by Jackson Lahmeyer, the founder of Pastors for Trump. He received applause from the congregation of more than 400 people when he mentioned forgiveness.
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Former New York Mets player Darryl Strawberry speaks during a pregame ceremony to retire his number 18 before the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citi Field on July 1, 2024. (Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports)
“God completely delivered me when he gave me a pardon from President Donald J. Trump,” she said. “Other presidents had opportunities, but they didn’t take advantage of them.”
Strawberry was the first overall pick of the 1980 MLB Draft. He made his debut at the age of 21 in 1983 and played for New York until 1990. He spent time with the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees.
He won three World Series titles, hit 335 home runs and batted .259 with an .862 OPS.
Strawberry battled legal, health, and personal issues throughout his career. He served 11 months in a Florida prison for a 2002 parole violation.
The 63-year-old credited his Christian faith for helping him turn his life around and allowing him to remain sober for more than two decades.
“All glory to God because he found me in a hole and put me in a pulpit,” Strawberry said.
The devil “should have killed me when he had the chance,” he joked.
Former Major League Baseball player Darryl Strawberry, second from left, poses with some of the people who heard him preach on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, at Sheridan Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (AP Photo/Bobby Ross)
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Strawberry said he was surprised to hear from Trump on Nov. 6 when the president revealed he was pardoning the former MLB star. The two met during “Celebrity Apprentice” in 2010.
“We just talked about my baseball career in the 1980s and what kind of player I was,” Strawberry told The Associated Press. “He was just telling me what a great player he was… and he just joked that he couldn’t hit a baseball. I said, ‘Well, the same way you hit a golf ball, you can hit a baseball.'”
He said the two discussed his 1999 guilty plea to tax evasion for failing to report $350,000 in income from autographs, personal appearances and memorabilia sales.
“He said, ‘You know you did some really bad things,'” Strawberry said. “But he said, ‘Today, because of the way your life is and what you’re doing, your faith, your helping people and your sobriety, I give you total forgiveness. You’re going to be clean. I’m going to erase everything.'”
Strawberry and Doc Gooden have been notoriously close due to their immense talent while playing for the Mets while battling drug and alcohol abuse. Strawberry was able to turn his life around long before Gooden, but Gooden seems to have been on the right path in recent years. The two appeared together in last year’s National League Championship Series between the Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers and were the stars of ESPN’s 30 for 30 show, “Doc and Darryl.”
New York Mets outfielder Darryl Strawberry batted against the Cincinnati Reds at Shea Stadium on July 6, 1989. (USA TODAY Sports)
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Both numbers were retired by the Mets last season.
