" Oh what could have been !!"
Throughout the years the Mets have had their share of power hitting outfielders. Whether it was Jim Hickman or Cleon Jones, Dave Kingman or Rusty Staub, Kevin McReynolds or Carlos Beltran. But none of these men could induce the most stoic of pitchers to soil their uniforms like infants like the player that belted his way to the number four spot on this countdown as voted by you the fans. Than man is Obviously the best ” homegrown” power hitter in Mets history, Darryl Strawberry .
Darryl Eugene Strawberry was born in Los Angeles California on March 12, 1962. As a teenager, Darryl played high school baseball for the Crenshaw High School Cougars. His childhood friend, and later fellow Major League ball player, Eric Davis played for his high school rival, Fremont High School. Upon graduating from high school, Darryl was selected the first player overall by newly minted Mets G.M, Frank Cashen in the 1980 Major League Baseball Draft.
Darryl spent two and a half seasons in the Mets minor league farm system when he was (in many peoples opinion way too early) called up to the big league team. He made his Mets debut on May 6,1983. Darryl played well even though he was on a losing team. He finished his first season with a batting average of .257, belting a Mets rookie record of 26 home runs, 74 runs batted in. Darryl was named the National League’s Rookie of The Year.
In 1984, Darryl’s batting average remained almost unchanged ( down to .251 from six points from the previous season) and his home run numbers stayed the same at 26 and a 97 RBIs. But the Mets had surrounded him with the nucleus of a winning ball team with late ’83 addition Keith Hernandez, late ’84 acquisition, Ray Knight and scrappy second baseman , Wally Backman . As well of a starting rotation that included Dwight Gooden Walt Terrell and Ron Darling. Darryl was elected to his first All Star game that season. Darryl and the Mets were almost unstoppable for the better part of the decade. In 1986, Darryl batted .259 with 27 homers and 93 RBIs while helping the Mets propel into the playoffs.
In the ’86 NLCS against the Houston Astros, Darryl hit a anemic .227, but he hit two homers and drove in 5 RBIs while the Mets defeated the Astros in five games. In the ’86 World Series against the Boston Red Sox, Strawberry hit .208 with one home run. While he was playing in Boston’s Fenway Park, Darryl was taunted with the cries of DAAAA-RYYYLLL DAAA-RYYYLLL. It would be affectionately used by Mets fans whenever he came to the bat after that season.
During the later years of Darryl’s career with the Mets, his behavior became more and more disruptive ( pick up ” The Bad Guys Won” by Jeff Pearlman for a complete dissection of his antics). During Picture Day of either ’07 or ’08, he got into a fist fight with first baseman Keith Hernandez. He also got into verbal altercations with Wally Backman.There were always rumors of substance abuse but they didn’t come to light until he left the Mets after the ’90 season. In 1990, his last year under contract with the Mets, the newspapers ran stories on how Straw was being greedy for wanting to break the bank during the off season. Darryl felt hurt by the media and betrayed by the Mets front office. In his last season with the Mets Darryl hit .277 with 37 homers and 108 RBIs. He was second in the MVP vote.
Sadly Darryl didn’t resign with the Mets after they reportedly low balled him during contract negotiations. He signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a free agent in 1991, inking a lucrative five-year $22.25 million contract. Mets fans every where had feelings of both anger and melancholy towards both Darryl and the Mets after his defection to the west coast.
In his first season in Los Angeles, Darryl blasted 28 home runs and driving in 99 runs. But injuries sidelined him for much of the ’93 and ’94 seasons. He would hit a combined 10 hone runs for the Dodgers in those two years. Darryl would be released by the Dodgers mid season and was quickly snatched up by the San Francisco Giants. Darryl saw limited playing time with the Giants that season, hitting four homers and plating 17 RBIs that season.
In the beginning of the ’95 season, Darryl was suspended from baseball after testing positive for cocaine as well of charges of tax evasion. He was soon released by the Giants.In ’06 he was out of the Major Leagues completely. Darryl signed with the Saint Paul Saints of the Northern League in order to prove he was both sober and healthy. The New York Yankees, spurned on by then owner, George Steinbrenner’s penchant for tweaking the Mets signed Darryl signed Darryl to a contract on July 4,1996.Darryl was used as a reserve outfielder as well as a DH. He hit11 homers for the Yanks that season while being reunited with former Mets teammates Dwight Gooden as well as David Cone. He won his second World Series ring that season. In 1997, Darryl was out of action for most of the season due to injuries.
In 1998, Darryl rebounded to have his best season in years. He walloped 24 home runs, and he earned his third World Series rings ( second with the Yanks). That off season Straw was diagnosed with colon cancer. He recovered and played sparingly with the Yanks during the ’99 season. After the ’99 season Straw’s cancer came back and needed to have his kidney removed. He had a relapse in his battle with cocaine and wes sent to jail , and after that rehab where he has been clean ever since.
Since his retirement after the ’99 season, Darryl has been a familiar face during Mets games. He was a roving instructor with the Mets during the ’05 season. He attended the Mets’ 1986 World Champion team reunion on August 19, 2006. Darryl was given the honor of throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at Shea Stadium before Game 1 of the ’06 NLCS against his one time nemesis, St Louis Cardinals.From ’07-’08, Darryl co hosted the Mets pre and post- game shows on SNY. He was a part time analyst for the Mets in 2009. Darryl attended the closing ceremonies at Shea Stadium in September of ’08. He was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame last season along with teammate, Dwight Gooden, manager, Davey Johnson, as well as the architect of those dominant Mets teams fromt he ’80′s , Frank Cashen.Th e late Bob Mandt was also inducted that day. This past year, Strawberry opened his own restaurant, the aptly named Strawberry’s Sports Grill in Queens .
In his seven years with the Mets, Darryl had a batting average of .263 with 252 homers and 733 RBIs. In my opinion he is still the best offensive power threat the Mets ever had.
Tomorrow we will profile at number three the second best pitcher to ever wear a Mets uniform .
And with that said… HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!!
Mets alumni celebrating a birthday today includes:
Mets reserve outfielder from ’64-’66, Larry Elliot is 73 (1938) .
Mets spot starter/long reliever from ’67-’69, Les Rohr is 65 (1946) .
Middle reliever from the 1990 team, Kevin Brown is 45 (1966) .
Reserve infielder, Mike ’Crash Davis“ Hessman is 33 (1978) . He lived up to his reputation as being a prototypical AAAA player.
And while you give into watching the monotony that is Grapefruit League baseball, just remember that there are just 27 Craig Swan days until the Mets open the 2011 season against the Florida Marlins in Miami, and only 34 more days to go until the Mets 2011 home opener against the Washington Nationals at Citi Field.
Mo Vaughn thinks he can beat out Luis Castillo for the starting second base job !!!
11 comments
Dirtysanchez
3/5/2011-11:02am at 11:02 am (UTC -4)
Sigh…would have loved to remember him in a Met uniform but growing up, I only remember him in yankee stripes…what a player.
stickguy
3/5/2011-11:18am at 11:18 am (UTC -4)
the funny thing is, I don’t even remember him at all playing with they Yanks. Everytime that gets mentioned, I go “oh, yeah”.
ajgmets
3/6/2011-1:59am at 1:59 am (UTC -4)
Darr-Rell Dar Rell…the exact spelling on the sign I observed at Veterans Stadium in September 1987.
Darryl Strawberry, the tall, lean, strong, fast promise of hope for the dying Mets franchise. The can’t miss top draft pick who was indeed “rushed” to the big leagues at the ripe old age of 21 to be the power hitting savior for a club which had experienced little success over the previous decade. “Straw’ assumed his position in right field and immediately put his stamp on envelopes of Hall of Fame voters and stars in the eyes of Mets fans, A player with Cooperstown written all over him. As he became the charismatic slugger for a group that in the next few years, blended with the likes of Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, Ray Knight, Mookie and Nails became the most dominant and thus hated lineup in the National league from 1986-1989. Darryl’s contributions were often counted by the rise and fall of Shea’s Home Run Apple although the stability and leadership he brought as a 3 year veteran to the 1986 championship run is often overlooked. Certainly, by all accounts, this was Mex’s team and Kid and the young pitchers did their parts, but through just about every up and down there was Darryl Strawberry batting fourth in Right Field, as feared as any slugger in the game. Through his Mets career Darryl averaged better than 30 Hrs, 90 RBI and 20 steals per season. His inclusion as the 4th Greatest Met of All Time is absolutely irrefutable.
I take you back to the sign in Philly. As the 1987 season was drawing to a close and the Mets were chasing down the hated St. Louis Cardinals, a couple of my buddies and I from the local tavern decided to take a road trip down to Philly on the last day of September since after that game the club would be heading to the Gateway City for the final and hopefully “deciding’ series of the year. At about 1 PM, after blowing off work for the rest of the day, 3 of us piled into Jerry’s ’78 Monte Carlo and left Caldwell, NJ for “The Vet” along with some “beverages” wearing our Mets gear.
We got into the Philly area in about 3 hours after stopping for more “supplies” and set about getting tickets. This proved easy enough as we parked in the lot amid a group of what we perceived as Mets fans. They had Mets bumper stickers. We shared a few brews with these folks and asked if tickets were available. Sure enough one guy pulled out a handful of tix he’d gotten from other fans who weren’t making the trip since the Mets were 3-1/2 games out with 4 to play. We offered to pay him, but he said they weren’t good seats and just take them. We hung out until the gates opened up and told our new friends we’d see them inside. Once inside the stadium and seeing that our seats were way up in Bob Uecker land my buddy Gabe, quite the salesman and smooth talker convinced some female usher to let us sit down low for batting practice along the 3rd base line. Once the park started to fill up we moved back a few rows and sat apart from each other for the first inning or so until this same usher came down to tell us that a regular ticket holder who had 4 seats in the front row just past the visiting dugout and had told her he was going to spend the game in a meeting with a client in a suite. We couldn’t thank her enough; she just told us to have fun and not antagonize anybody. She did mention that she hated the way Phillies fans acted. Looking at the Phillies fans now, I can say not much has changed. As the game started we heard the chants from down the right field line and noticed the sign/banner reading Dar- Rell…we all immediately said and thought ignorant and dumb. We spent the game enjoying our Mets behind Doc Gooden and homers from Darryl and Timmie Teufel, battle back to tie the game at 3 in the sixth after a Mike Schmidt homer in the 4th inning had given the home team a 3-0 lead. Surprisingly, many of the “Phaithful” had left by the time Darryl hit his homer in the 5th off Shane Rawley who’d faced the minimum number of hitters through 4 innings. This had allowed us the chance to be directly behind the Mets dugout and we were drunkenly pounding on the dugout roof when Darryl came back after his HR and he took the time to look up and semi wave at us. After Teufel hit his 2 run shot in the sixth to tie it and Hernandez had doubled, I swear Straw looked back at us and grinned a little. He proceeded to strikeout and McReynolds grounded out, ending what would turn out to be the Mets last chance to drive in a runner from scoring position. The Mets sent Darryl, McReynolds and Carter to the plate in the 9th and went down in order. Doc had pitched very well allowing only the 3 runs (2 on Schmidt’s 2 run shot) and proceeded to strikeout the side in the bottom of the ninth (giving him 10 K’s for the game) to keep the score knotted at 3. As the game headed into extra innings and we saw on the scoreboard that the Cardinals had lost to the Expos our spirits rose as we held out hope that we could win and maybe the Cards would lose the finale against the Expos the next day meaning we would head into St. Louis only 2-1/2 games back with a chance to still win the East over the weekend. By this time our friend the usher had come down to remind us to “behave”. I think she was hot 4 Gabe. Anyway as our Mets came in for the top of the 10th we were on our feet yelling at our guys that we still had a chance. Our guys , Hojo, Raffy Santana and Bill Almon, pinch hitting for Doc, went down with a whimper in the tenth though we were on our feet screaming for something to happen and banging on the dugout roof. As he Mets took the field for the bottom of the 10th unbelievably, Darryl stopped on the top step of the dugout and turned to us and pulled 2 balls out his glove and rolled them to us along the dugout roof. To say we were thrilled is an understatement. We cheered wildly as our 1986 saves hero Jesse Orosco took the mound knowing that the bottom of the Phils order was due up and that our top was due up in the 11th. After getting a pop up to Carter from pinch hitter Ron Roenicke, Luis Aguayo, pinch hitting for Steve Jeltz, took Orosco’s 3rd pitch over the left field wall to pretty much put a dagger in our hopes for a return trip to the playoffs for our Mets to defend the World title. As our dejected Mets solemnly walked off the field we stood and applauded them heartily and offered the encouragement that the Cards could still lose tomorrow and we’d go into Busch Stadium with a chance to tie. As they ducked into the dugout Rafael Santana looked up at us, the few Mets fans still there, and held up his finger as if to say wait. A few moments later he reappeared and motioned us to the end of the dugout where he met us and handed us 3 Mets caps, 2 signed by Darryl and 1 from himself. (I still have his cap) He shook our hands and thanked us in some broken but understandable English, for being there. As we attempted to look into the dugout Darryl and Lee Mazzilli were looking out and waved at us with smiles. We stood applauding as the bullpen guys walked in getting a few nods and smiles as our boys headed home before leaving for St. Louis and hopeful of having a chance that we now know never came to fruition as the Redbirds beat Montreal on Thursday to open an insurmountable 4 game lead over the Mets, end the 1987 season. Yet another Mets memory I’ll never forget though I may not have the exact details of the end of the game correct. Adult beverages may or may not have had something to do with that or the pure excitement of this great moment in my Mets history.
Darryl was one of the Greatest Mets of all Time. While his later battles with booze, drugs and other demons basically railroaded his life and potential Hall of Fame career, he was able to win another World Series as a member of the dreaded Yankees thanks to a gesture of faith from George Steinbrenner. While it seems Straw still has his problems, it sure is fantastic to see him being a participant in many Mets events.
Ed, my friend this was an excellent post on our “Slugging Savior” of the late 1983’s, My St. Louis area neighbor…LOL
So I guess it’s going to be Doc (3) Piazza (2) and Tom Terrific (1) as the final 3. NICE!!!!
metsfan4decades
3/6/2011-8:00am at 8:00 am (UTC -4)
Great story. I enjoyed reading it.
I attended opening day at Shea in 1987, sure of the fact that we would repeat and head towards post season. As you pointed out, it wasn’t meant to be. What should have been a dynasty never materialized for a number of reasons.
stickguy
3/5/2011-11:18am at 11:18 am (UTC -4)
he was the guy in those days you stopped what you were doing to watch an AB.
definitely someone that seems to have had more talent than results. always wondered what you would have gotten if you could combine a crazy talent with an obsessive worker?
and actually, his 1st year #s were pretty similar to Ike’s.
metsfan4decades
3/5/2011-1:31pm at 1:31 pm (UTC -4)
What a force, back in the day. Every time he came to bat, you almost expected a HR.
I really believe had it not been for his off field behavior, the Mets would have offered a more lucrative contract to keep him. But think it was in the back of their minds they might be paying big bucks for rehab stints, suspensions, etc. After going through that with Doc, they probably were just a little gun shy.
This has been what is missing these past two decades. A good draft signing of someone with spectacular talent where the sky is the limit.
njstuckintx
3/5/2011-1:32pm at 1:32 pm (UTC -4)
There isn’t a much more pronounced upper cut swing that I can recall. Use to love mimicking that swing during whiffle ball.
metsfan4decades
3/5/2011-1:41pm at 1:41 pm (UTC -4)
http://miserablemetsmedia.tumblr.com/
Uh, oh….will we find TRDMB mentioned here one day? LOL.
kingman 26
3/5/2011-2:26pm at 2:26 pm (UTC -4)
HAHA!
Never saw that site before, but the first two examples there most certainly deserve their place under the title of that site!
kingman 26
3/5/2011-2:44pm at 2:44 pm (UTC -4)
Wow, Dirty remembers him as a Yankee! Damn, I guess now matter how young I feel and act, 44 is just not that young….
I can proudly say that I was at Darryl’s very first MLB game in May 1983. Mario Soto struck him out a couple times. Dave Kingman hit a 2-out, 2-run HR to tie it in the bottom of the 9th, and Darryl scored on George Foster’s HR to win it in the bottom of the 13th. A bad team, but one of the most memorable games I ever attended. Yes, Kingman hit a LOT of HR at games I went to.
Like Stick says, a guy who you made sure to stop and pay attention to when he came to the plate. Some days he listlessly whiffed at the ball when hung over, but when he was on, he hit the hell out of the ball.
I remember his 3-HR game in Wrigley, and he came up with a chance to hit a 4th, but hit a line drive single to right that was hit SO hard; it was in the outfield instantly.
And let’s not forget his HR off of Ryan in Game 5 in the 1986 NLCS–without it, we lose that game 1-0 and go to Houston down 3-2 having to win Game 6 to face Scott in Game 7.
Three rings, nine postseason HR, eight all-star games, a great career, and one of the true Met legends.
Maybe he failed to live up to media hype, but I remember the day they drafted him, I remember stories about how he would write to his Mom Ruby when in rookie ball in Kingsport, Tennessee, I remember his 34 HR and great year in Jackson MS in AA, I remember that first game like it was yesterday, I remember the HRs in the 1986 postseason….
Darryl is the kind of player whose whole career was just an integral part of the lives of fans of a certain age.
Darryl Strawberry, for better or worse, is the Met Mickey Mantle.
And seeing him sober and reformed and back in the Met family brings it all full circle in a beautiful way. Maybe he can be Wally’s hitting coach in a few years.
But it SUCKS that there is just Doc, Piazza and Tom to go! After the next three days we will all be diminished by the ending of TRDMB’s all-time best series and all of us authors will have to step it up to try to stay in Rusty’s majestic wake!
rustyjr
3/5/2011-2:49pm at 2:49 pm (UTC -4)
I appreciate the compliments but I’m going to be sick lol