Darryl Strawberry's career of unfilled potential

Darryl Strawberry was one of baseball’s best power hitters, but still he had a lot of potential that he never fulfilled. "He can be the most exciting player in the game when he feels like it. The situation is whether or not he feels like it," teammate Mackey Sasser said to ESPN.com. The pressure and expectations he faced early in his career was too much for him. "The drinking and drugging, that was a way of punishing myself and the fans, too," he said.

Strawberry didn’t turn up for the Dodgers final exhibition game in 1994. He wasn’t found until the day after, where he admitted that he had a drug problem. He entered the Betty Ford Center, where he stayed for 28 days treatment. He was tested positive for cocaine and was suspended 60 days from the Major League Baseball.

In 1995, Strawberry signed a contract with the Yankees, but they made it clear that, they had an eye on him. In only a few years, Strawberry faced multiple setbacks, including that of cancer.

Before the World Series in 1999 he was suspended four months because of drug possession, but he came back in time to help the Yankees win it. Right after the series ended, he was again arrested for drug possession. This time he was suspended for a whole year. In that year he underwent a lot of surgeries because of his cancer. After four days of heavy drug abuse, Strawberry was sentenced to stay two years in a drug treatment center. After a year he was thrown out because he had repeatedly broken the center’s rules. He was sentenced to stay 18 months at Gainesville Correctional Institution. He rejoined the Yankees in 2003, but left only three months later.

Not only did he have problems with drugs and cancer, but his family life was also a mess. In 1985, he married Lisa Andrews, but only two years later she wanted a divorce, because she said he had broken her nose the previous year. In 1993, Strawberry was arrested for hitting Charisse Simons which ended with them marrying December that year. Even after he was arrested for a sexual relationship with another patient at the Gainesville Correctional Institution, his wife stayed with him.

Strawberry’s baseball career was problems after problems. After he retired though, he started the Darryl Strawberry Foundation, which works for raising autism awareness. Because of all the experiences he had with problems, he is doing all he can to help people with troubles in their lives.
“I do know that in my life, all my successes, failures and experiences have brought me to where I am today. My strength and the reason that I am here today is proven through the experiences and conditions I have endured. The bat is retired but the true passion and purpose for my life is just beginning,” said Darryl Strawberry.