5. Darryl Strawberry, RF
Darryl Strawberry didn’t just hit home runs. He hit long, towering, and majestic fly balls that would give pause to look in wonder when they finally disappeared over the wall. He hit home runs with a swing that was at least as long as his 6’6” body would allow, uncoiling at the last possible moment to meet the ball in the sweet spot 335 times in his brief, but eventful, major league career. Even his 1,352 strikeouts were something to behold.
Born and bred a New York Met, Strawberry was their first round pick and the number one overall in the 1980 baseball draft. A product of the streets of Los Angeles in the tough neighborhood of Compton, Strawberry arrived in New York with wide eyes and a naive look at the big city that would eventually swallow him up and spit him out.
Blessed with all the God-given talent in the world, Strawberry, with a bat in his hand, took Mets fans by storm for seven years beginning in 1984 and ending with an early departure to his home to play for the Dodgers. Eventually he would return to New York with the Yankees when George Steinbrenner attempted to rescue him from his drug- and alcohol-infested life.
In 1986, Strawberry would contribute 27 home runs and 93 RBI. These were not the best numbers he ever put on the board. But just the fact that he was in the lineup gave pitchers across the league a moment of recognition and trepidation that, “I’ve gotta be careful with this guy.”
That was witnessed by the fact that in Game Six of the 1986 World Series, he came to bat four times and was walked twice while going 0-for-2 in the other two at bats. On one of those walks, he eventually came around to score.
And then in Game Seven, he hit this moonshot…
In 1990, his walk year from the Mets, he slammed 37 home runs and knocked in 108. Oh, almost forgot, he had 110 strikeouts, too. But that was Darryl Strawberry.
As we’ve seen, like many of his teammates, Strawberry’s life spun out of control, especially after leaving baseball. He made several attempts to achieve sobriety and still considers himself a risk for going back to that life. But by all accounts, he’s staying clean by doing a lot of community service work in an attempt to reach the young kids in the New York metropolitan area.
More than most, though, he is looked upon with regret when measured by what could and should have been, versus what is actually there regarding his final numbers. Ah, but that swing and its results were something to behold…