President Donald Trump has approved a pardon for baseball legend Darryl Strawberry, according to a White House official.
Strawberry is a three-time World Series champion and eight-time MLB All-Star who “served time and paid back taxes after pleading guilty to one count of tax evasion,” the official said.
“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 White House official said.
Strawberry thanked the president in a post on Instagram.
“Thank you, President @realdonaldtrump for my full pardon and for finalizing this part of my life, allowing me to be truly free and clean from all of my past,” he wrote.
The Mets great said he learned the news on Thursday.
"I was home caring for my wife as she recovered from surgery, 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,'" he wrote in his post.
"President Trump spoke warmly about my baseball days in NYC, praising me as one [of] the greatest player[s] of the ‘80s and celebrating the Mets. Then, he told me he was granting me a full pardon from my past. My wife captured the moment on video, and I was overwhelmed with gratitude—thanking God for setting me free from my past, helping me become a better Man, Husband and Father," Strawberry wrote.
He added that this "has nothing to do with politics — it’s about a Man, President Trump, caring deeply for a friend."
Strawberry became a superstar while playing for the 1986 World Series champion Mets, but also spent several years playing for the New York Yankees, where Trump was often a fixture at the ballpark.
His career was plagued by drug, health and personal issues, and in 1995 he pleaded guilty to a charge of tax evasion.
The "Straw Man" has been sober for over a decade, and he and his wife Tracy now run the Darryl Strawberry Recovery Center in Florida, as well as a foundation aimed at helping people struggling with addiction.
"Today, Darryl’s purpose and passion is serving the Lord Jesus Christ and helping others transform their lives through the power of the gospel," his website says.
