Trump pardons former Mets on tax evasion, drug charges

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump pardoned former New York Mets player Darryl Strawberry on previous tax evasion and drug charges, citing the 1983 National League Rookie of the Year’s embrace of his Christian faith and long-standing sobriety after his career.

Strawberry was an outfielder and eight-time All-Star, including seven with the Mets from 1983 to 1990. He hit 335 home runs, 1,000 RBIs and 221 stolen bases in 17 seasons.

Beset by subsequent legal, health and personal problems, Strawberry was charged with tax evasion and eventually pleaded guilty in 1995 to a single felony. That was based on his failure to report income of $350,000 from autographs, personal appearances and memorabilia sales.

Strawberry agreed to pay more than $430,000 as part of the case. He was diagnosed with colon cancer and underwent surgery and chemotherapy in 1998.

The following year, Strawberry was sentenced to probation and suspended from baseball after pleading no contest to charges of cocaine possession and soliciting a prostitute. He eventually spoke in court about his struggle with depression and was accused of violating his probation on numerous occasions, including when he turned 40 in 2002.

Strawberry eventually served 11 months in Florida State Prison and was released in 2003.

A White House official said Friday that Trump approved a pardon for Strawberry, who had served time and paid back taxes. Speaking on condition of anonymity to detail a pardon that had not yet been formally announced, the official noted that Strawberry found faith in Christianity and has been sober for more than a decade, and that he had become active in ministry and started a still-active recovery center.

via News

Strawberry posted a photo of himself and Trump on Instagram and wrote, “Thank you President @realdonaldtrump for my complete forgiveness and for ending this part of my life, allowing me to be truly free and clean from all of my past.”

He described being home Thursday afternoon, taking care of his wife, who was recovering from surgery, “when my phone kept ringing off the hook.”

“Half asleep, I looked 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 New York, praising me as one of the best players of the ’80s and celebrating the Mets. Then he told me he was giving me a full forgiveness for my past.”

Trump was a New York real estate mogul before becoming a reality television star and twice winning the presidency.

Strawberry said he was “overwhelmed with gratitude, thanking God for freeing me from my past and helping me become a better man, husband and father.”

“This experience has deepened my faith and my commitment to work for His kingdom as a true follower of Jesus Christ,” Strawberry wrote, noting, “This has nothing to do with politics; this is about a man, President Trump, who cares deeply about a friend. God used him as a vessel to free me forever!”

The president has broad constitutional powers to grant pardons, which do not expunge the recipient’s criminal record but can be seen as acts of justice or mercy, often in cases that can promote the public welfare.

Strawberry’s decision came after Trump this week granted pardons to a former Republican speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives and a former aide accused of public corruption. He also joins a list of celebrities and political allies who have similarly received unlikely pardons, including a former Republican governor of Connecticut, a former Republican congressman and reality TV stars who had been convicted of defrauding banks and evading taxes.

Strawberry played for the Mets, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants from 1983 to 1999. He won the World Series with the 1986 Mets, starring alongside players such as Dwight Gooden and Keith Hernandez, and with the Yankees in 1996, 1998 and 1999.

Strawberry was hospitalized with a heart attack in March 2024, one day before his 62nd birthday. That same year, the Mets retired his number 18, and an emotional Strawberry told the Citi Field crowd, “I’m really deeply sorry for leaving you. I’ve never played baseball in front of bigger fans than you guys.”