Former New York Mets star Darryl Strawberry, an eight-time MLB All-Star and three-time World Sequence champion, introduced by way of Instagram on Friday, November 7, that he has been pardoned by President Donald Trump for his former tax evasion conviction.
Strawberry, 63, mentioned within the social media submit that he acquired the decision from President Trump on Thursday, November 6. He thanked the president for “finalizing this a part of my life, permitting me to be actually free.”
“Half asleep, I glanced over and noticed a name from Washington, DC,” Strawberry defined within the submit. “Curious, I answered, and to my amazement, the girl on the road mentioned, ‘Darryl Strawberry, you have got a name from the President of the US, Donald Trump.’ I put it on speakerphone with my spouse close by, and President Trump spoke warmly about my baseball days in NYC, praising me as one the best gamers of the ’80s and celebrating the Mets. Then, he informed me he was granting me a full pardon from my previous.”
He continued: “My spouse captured the second on video, and I used to be overwhelmed with gratitude – thanking God for setting me free from my previous.”
Strawberry’s profitable baseball profession spanned from 1983 to 1999, however was marked with authorized troubles and drug abuse. He pleaded responsible within the tax evasion case in 1995, after he was accused of failing to report greater than $350,000 in revenue from autographs, private appearances and gross sales of memorabilia between 1986 and 1990.
Based on a report from the New York Occasions, a White Home official mentioned Strawberry had served his time and paid again the taxes.
President Donald Trump, Darryl Strawberry Getty Pictures
“Following his profession, Mr. Strawberry discovered religion in Christianity and has been sober for over a decade — he has develop into lively in ministry and began a restoration middle which nonetheless operates at present,” the official informed the Occasions.
“This has nothing to do with politics,” Strawberry wrote in his Instagram submit, which included three photographs of him alongside President Trump. “It’s a few Man, President Trump, caring deeply for a buddy. God used him as a vessel to set me free perpetually!”
The previous Rookie of the 12 months was the No. 1 draft choose within the 1980 MLB Draft, chosen by the Mets, and made his big-league debut in 1983. He received his first World Sequence with the fabled 1986 Mets staff that included different greats resembling Dwight Gooden and Keith Hernandez.
He additionally performed for the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees, the place he in the end completed his profession.
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Strawberry received two extra championships with the Yankees in 1996 and 1999.
In 2024, the Mets retired Strawberry’s No. 18 jersey. Throughout the ceremony, he confirmed some regret about leaving the Mets in 1990.
“I’m actually, deeply sorry that I ever left you guys,” he informed the followers. “I by no means performed baseball in entrance of followers better than you guys.”
Strawberry completed his 17-year baseball profession with 335 profession residence runs and 1,000 RBI. He had 1,401 complete hits.
