WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has pardoned former New York Mets nice Darryl Strawberry on previous tax evasion and drug prices, citing the 1983 Nationwide League Rookie of the Yr’s post-career embrace of his Christian religion and longtime sobriety.
Strawberry was an outfielder and eight-time All-Star, together with seven with the Mets from 1983-90. He hit 335 homers and had 1,000 RBIs and 221 stolen bases in 17 seasons.
Affected by later authorized, well being and private issues, Strawberry was indicted for tax evasion and finally pleaded responsible in 1995 to a single felony rely. That was primarily based on his failure to report $350,000 in revenue from autographs, private appearances and gross sales of memorabilia.
Strawberry agreed to pay greater than $430,000 as a part of the case. He was recognized with colon most cancers and underwent surgical procedure and chemotherapy in 1998.
The next yr, Strawberry was sentenced to probation and suspended from baseball after pleading no contest to prices of possession of cocaine and soliciting a prostitute. He finally spoke in court docket about battling despair, and was charged with violating his probation quite a few occasions — together with on his fortieth birthday in 2002.
Strawberry in the end served 11 months in Florida state jail, and was launched in 2003.
A White Home official stated Friday that Trump permitted a pardon for Strawberry, who had served time and paid again taxes. Talking on situation of anonymity to element a pardon that had not but been formally introduced, the official famous that Strawberry discovered religion in Christianity and has been sober for greater than a decade, and that he’d change into lively in ministry and began a still-active restoration heart.
He described being house Thursday afternoon, caring for his spouse, who was recovering from surgical procedure, “when my phone kept ringing relentlessly.”
“Half asleep, I glanced over and saw a call from Washington DC. 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,’” Strawberry wrote. “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 player of the ’80s and celebrating the Mets. Then, he told me he was granting me a full pardon from my past.”
Trump was a New York actual property mogul earlier than changing into a actuality tv star and twice profitable the presidency.
Strawberry stated he was “overwhelmed with gratitude — thanking God for setting me free from my past, helping me become a better Man, Husband and Father.”
“This experience has deepened my faith and commitment to working for His kingdom as a true follower of Jesus Christ,” Strawberry wrote, whereas additionally noting, “This has nothing to do with politics — it’s about a Man, President Trump, caring deeply for a friend. God used him as a vessel to set me free forever!”
The president has broad constitutional powers to grant pardons, which don’t expunge the recipient’s legal file however might be seen as acts of justice or mercy, typically in circumstances that may additional public welfare.
Strawberry’s adopted Trump issuing pardons this week for a former Republican speaker of the Tennessee Home and a onetime aide on public corruption prices. It additionally provides to a listing of celebrities and political allies who’ve equally obtained unlikely pardons — together with a former Republican governor of Connecticut, an ex-GOP congressman and actuality TV stars who had been convicted of dishonest banks and evading taxes.
Strawberry performed for the Mets, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants between 1983 and 1999. He received the World Sequence with the 1986 Mets, starring alongside the likes of Dwight Gooden and Keith Hernandez, and with the Yankees in 1996, 1998 and 1999.
Strawberry was hospitalized with a coronary heart assault in March 2024, a day earlier than he turned 62. That very same yr, the Mets retired his No. 18 and an emotional Strawberry informed the Citi Area crowd: “I’m truly, deeply sorry that I ever left you guys. I never played baseball in front of fans greater than you guys.”
