Former New York Mets star Darryl Strawberry, an eight-time MLB All-Star and three-time World Series champion, announced via Instagram on Friday, November 7, that he has been pardoned by President Donald Trump for his former tax evasion conviction.
Strawberry, 63, said in the social media post that he received the call from President Trump on Thursday, November 6. He thanked the president for “finalizing this part of my life, allowing me to be truly free.”
“Half asleep, I glanced over and saw a call from Washington, DC,” Strawberry explained in the post. “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.’ 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 players of the ’80s and celebrating the Mets. Then, he told me he was granting me a full pardon from my past.”
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He continued: “My wife captured the moment on video, and I was overwhelmed with gratitude – thanking God for setting me free from my past.”
Strawberry’s successful baseball career spanned from 1983 to 1999, but was marked with legal troubles and drug abuse. He pleaded guilty in the tax evasion case in 1995, after he was accused of failing to report more than $350,000 in income from autographs, personal appearances and sales of memorabilia between 1986 and 1990.
According to a report from the New York Times, a White House official said Strawberry had served his time and paid back the taxes.
“Following his career, Mr. Strawberry found faith in Christianity and has been sober for over a decade — he has become active in ministry and started a recovery center which still operates today,” the official told the Times.
“This has nothing to do with politics,” Strawberry wrote in his Instagram post, which included three photos of him alongside President Trump. “It’s about a Man, President Trump, caring deeply for a friend. God used him as a vessel to set me free forever!”
The former Rookie of the Year was the No. 1 draft pick in the 1980 MLB Draft, selected by the Mets, and made his big-league debut in 1983. He won his first World Series with the fabled 1986 Mets team that included other greats such as Dwight Gooden and Keith Hernandez.
He also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees, where he ultimately finished his career.
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Strawberry won two more championships with the Yankees in 1996 and 1999.
In 2024, the Mets retired Strawberry’s No. 18 jersey. During the ceremony, he showed some remorse about leaving the Mets in 1990.
“I’m truly, deeply sorry that I ever left you guys,” he told the fans. “I never played baseball in front of fans greater than you guys.”
Strawberry finished his 17-year baseball career with 335 career home runs and 1,000 RBI. He had 1,401 total hits.
