Darryl Strawberry! Mets HOF, #1 overall pick, Rookie of the Year, preacher, and overall great guy joins, “The Happy Hour!”

Unknown Speaker (0:03): Can I get your attention, please?

Unknown Speaker (0:05): Yo yo. You ready for this? Coming at you from Wicked Big Studios in Peabody, Massachusetts. Ladies

Unknown Speaker (0:16): and gentlemen.

Unknown Speaker (0:19): Sit back. Buckle up because you're in the happy hour with your boy, Kick Hap.

King Hap (0:29): What is up, everybody? And welcome back to the happy hour. It's your boy, Hap. I'm coming to you live here from the Wicked Big Studios and Lounge in West Peabody, Massachusetts. Need to let everybody know we're being brought to you today by our good friends at Liquid IV.

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King Hap (0:59): Grab yourself a pair of sunglasses. They're already made for everybody's budget. Promo code king hap will save you 20% site wide. Now one of the things that I wanted to start the show off with, number one, we will be dropping a business brand new song at the end of that, but we got a we got a ways to go, and we got some things to talk about before then. Ladies and gentlemen, your guest tonight, very special guest, I gotta say, is a seventeen year Major League Baseball player, rookie of the year, two time silver slugger award winner, four time world series champ, eight time all star.

King Hap (1:32): I'm running out of breath here. My man, Darryl Strawberry, welcome to the happy hour. So good to have you.

Darryl Strawberry (1:38): Well, thank you. Thank you for reaching out to me and allowing me to be on your show. It sounds like a very special show, and I'm glad to be here. I appreciate that.

King Hap (1:48): Absolutely. Everybody here's been itching and very excited to have you on as as have I for a lot of for a lot of reasons. Number one, I still haven't forgave you for that nineteen eighty six World Series thing. I'm not gonna lie. You know, that was one of those things that I remember.

King Hap (2:02): I was actually woken up and said, you don't wanna miss this. They brought me down. I sat at the TV and what? Time to go back to bed. But, yeah, wasn't

Darryl Strawberry (2:11): Of course. I mean, I mean, everybody remembers that eighty six years against the sox. And, you know, the problem with that more than anything, everybody just persecuted Billy Buckley.

Unknown Speaker (2:21): Oh, yeah.

Darryl Strawberry (2:22): Great player. And, you think about the guy Stanley didn't get nobody else. Sherrod, he didn't get nobody else. They had every opportunity. It was two outs.

Darryl Strawberry (2:31): The only reason I think I'm sitting here and and on the show with you from the Boston area is because my daughter went to Boston College. So I spent a lot of time up there, and she graduated from there. She played volleyball. Yep. And, and people used to ask me in Boston, what are you doing here?

Darryl Strawberry (2:47): I I say, I know. What am I doing here? You know, I'm a New York guy. So Absolutely. It's good.

Darryl Strawberry (2:53): It's good to it's good to be a part of your show, and really be able to talk about life.

King Hap (2:58): I appreciate that also. But I I gotta say one of the things too, you mentioned your daughter newly married. Correct? So that's a that's a good thing. And, you dealt with that.

King Hap (3:07): You know, you had to go and, you know, give her away. I mean, that was, something that at one point you might not even thought you would have made it to do. Correct?

Darryl Strawberry (3:15): Correct. That's, you know, that's my other daughter, Jay. She went to Yukon. Uh-oh. So the other one, the other one went to Boston college and they did each one of them played volleyball and yet she got married and it was just a beautiful ceremony, a beautiful family.

Darryl Strawberry (3:28): It's just amazing how family come back together when restoration comes

Unknown Speaker (3:32): Yes.

Darryl Strawberry (3:32): And redemption come more than anything because the healing process of of family of families are so important, so dear to my heart. And, you know, that's why I do what I do because I I know it can happen. It's just a matter of people having a little bit of faith in stepping out, stepping outside of themselves and and and looking at somebody else. And I think that's what I've been able to do with my life over the last twenty seven years, you know, because of my wife and because of my mother. You know, my mother prayed for me, and my wife was a helping hand, getting me out of my addiction, helping me through my addiction, and and leading me back into church and and becoming the man that I am today as I sit here with you.

King Hap (4:10): Absolutely. And you you know, you weren't always you weren't always mister New York. I mean, you started off originally back at, Crenshaw High. I mean, six three in ninth grade. How does this happen?

King Hap (4:22): I mean, you know, I I, you know, I sit here and, you know, my brother, you know, Beantown, who's, on tomorrow night for his birthday here on the show. But I gotta say, he's he's six four, and I gotta say, six three in ninth grade is something that's almost unheard of. And the fact that you you you did love basketball back then, but baseball is just where I mean, life brought you. You're obviously amazing with the stick. But back in Crenshaw High, did you ever think it was gonna lead you to the New York Mets?

Darryl Strawberry (4:52): No. I didn't. I mean, growing up in South Central LA, and, you know, they had a lot of crime. There's a, you know, a lot of gangs. You can either go either way.

Darryl Strawberry (5:01): You know? And I I decided I wanted to play sports, and I went to Crenshaw and, you know, got involved. It didn't start off great in my first year. You know, I thought I was mister hotshot, you know, running off the baseball field, and then I walked off. My coach knocked me on the head like that and said, don't you ever walk off this field again?

Darryl Strawberry (5:18): And I took the uniform off and threw it in his face and quit, you know, my freshman year in high school. And he was a coach. My coach was a white coach, and it was all black high school team. But you know what's what's so great about that? He brought discipline to us.

Darryl Strawberry (5:31): He he made us great. I wouldn't have been great had it not been for the start of him. You know, we went to the city championship in 1979, and we lost to Granada Hills, John Elway, and I'm at Dodger Stadium. And and then I came back into my senior year, you know, playing at Crenshaw with him, and and I played basketball too. I had a scholarship to go to Oklahoma State to play basketball and baseball.

Darryl Strawberry (5:55): But baseball was something special to not only me, but Chris Brown, Eric Davis, you know, Eddie and Ozzy, Chili Davis, Hueby Brooks, all these guys, Tim Wallach, all these guys we grew up in Southern California. So we played baseball year round, and and it was just a part of our DNA, being a baseball player.

King Hap (6:15): Yeah. And, that led you to be the number one overall pick for the New York Mets. And, I mean, right there, you ended up getting an offer to not go to college. Basically, they actually gave you a signing bonus, which back then, I mean, was a substantial amount to you. You went ahead and accepted signing bonus to not go to college or to go ahead and play minor league ball if I'm correct.

King Hap (6:35): Right?

Darryl Strawberry (6:36): You're correct. I mean, I was at the time in the number one pick, I made 200,000. I was just born at the wrong time. Now they give 12 me. Yeah.

Darryl Strawberry (6:45): But no, I don't take anything away from that. I mean, you go through the process of this life and your journey is supposed to be your journey and your time. It's just learning how to accept it. I think more than anything when you look back over it. And I I I think getting into baseball and starting off and going through the minor leagues and been in the minor leagues two and a half years and then coming to the big leagues at 21 and then winning rookie of the year and then going on to, you know, be successful and winning a couple championships in New York.

Darryl Strawberry (7:16): It's the most incredible thing that you can ever experience in life. No one can ever take that away from you. And people say, well, if I coulda shoulda. Everybody's journey is not gonna go the way people think it should go. It doesn't mean your life is over.

Darryl Strawberry (7:31): So many athletes wear the uniform, and that's who they identity are. I wore the uniform. My identity was Daryl Strawberry major league baseball player. But once I took that uniform off and got rid of it for real, then I became Darryl Strawberry in the man.

King Hap (7:46): Yes. And one of the things that you say is that, you know, you if you had stuck if you and this is pretty powerful. If you hadn't fallen so hard when you did, and we'll touch on that in a minute, but if you hadn't fallen so hard when you did, you probably would have stuck around, made an extra 40 or $50,000,000, but you would have never found God. You would have never ended up and and to be honest, Daryl, I I wanted to ask you, do you think you'd be here today with us at the Happy Hour Social Club had you not fallen so hard back then when, you know, you were still at the peak of your health and your you know what I mean? You're you're still in your prime.

Darryl Strawberry (8:21): You make a great point there and and that's for some people life out there. They need to know that. Falling doesn't mean it's over. It means that you get you have a new beginning for yourself. I think a lot of times so many celebrities don't fall and they lose a life like Elvis like Whitney like Prince, you know, they have everything but they have nothing and and what I mean they have material things.

Darryl Strawberry (8:45): Yep. But I'm saying they have nothing on the inside. So had I not fallen like I did. I would have never been able to look up and never been able to find, you know, this faith that I was always searching for in my life. I didn't know I was searching for it.

Darryl Strawberry (8:59): Yep. But I was I was helped by other people along the way. Okay. I just always remember how my mother used to tell me it's not important to be important. You know, so many of us so many of us think it's important that we have these platforms.

Darryl Strawberry (9:13): And if we utilize the platforms in the right way, it can have a great impact on people. Sports can too. But if, we really use our platform for what we were created for like I am today

Unknown Speaker (9:27): Yes.

Darryl Strawberry (9:27): Has a even tremendous impact on people's lives, and I think that's what's more important.

King Hap (9:32): Yep. One of the things I was, one of the things I was gonna say was you you just mentioned the fact that, you if you have, you know, you have everything, then you may oh, did we lose Daryl? What I was gonna say, and we'll see Daryl be right back, guys. If if you have there he is.

Darryl Strawberry (9:49): There you go. Lost you. There we go.

King Hap (9:51): It's all good, big man. So what I was gonna say is you stated, when you you when you're speaking, you said that, you know, sometimes you have everything, but you really have nothing. A quote that I say a lot of times to people is that if I was to offer you $10,000,000, how quickly would you take it? And people say, oh, I would take it right away. And then I said, if the only caveat was you weren't gonna wake up again tomorrow morning, would you take it?

King Hap (10:13): And they say, absolutely not. Then I say, you already have something worth over $10,000,000 to you already value wise. You know, you should be grateful for that. That's something that I've always said. It's, you know, something that, you know, people kinda look at me funny and they think about it.

King Hap (10:26): It's like, if that's worth more than $10,000,000, then I mean, you're doing pretty well. Wouldn't you agree?

Darryl Strawberry (10:32): They they would say that, but if $10,000,000 were put in front of them to have it and and they wouldn't be here that long. They most would take it

Unknown Speaker (10:40): Yeah.

Darryl Strawberry (10:40): Because they would they would take it to try to enjoy something that they think is going to fulfill happiness, and and it doesn't. Money is just a tool just to be used to live, and it's how you control it. And this is why celebrities end up in so much deep trouble because they have so much money that they don't think anything can ever happen to them. And you can get hurt. I mean, today today culture that we're living in and you have a lot of money and people don't like you, they will kill you.

Darryl Strawberry (11:12): Yep. They will kill you if you're out there speaking about something that they don't like. And that's why I I I'm glad, you know, I'm glad I went through what I went through to be who I am because see my heart is about compassion. My my heart is about sympathy. It's not about battling with people about things.

Darryl Strawberry (11:30): I I've been through the top of the mountain. Yep. I it's I could tell you there's nothing there. There's nothing at the top. All it is is a bunch of phony people that come along with you.

Darryl Strawberry (11:39): And when you're done, you know, they scatter. You know, they just they just scatter away because it's all over. There's nothing else there for them. So they're going in a different direction. They're looking for somebody else to hang out with.

Darryl Strawberry (11:51): Yep. And I'm pretty I'm pretty okay with that because I remember when I started making this transition in this journey to go in this this direction, guess what? Everyone fell off like flies.

King Hap (12:03): Yep. And then they, like you said, they scatter like cock like the cockroaches they are. But here's here's one thing that I gotta say about that though, is you you went from, you know, hanging out with major league baseball players. You you know, you all this now, the people you hang out with are much different. You still have celebrities and stuff in your circle.

King Hap (12:21): We're gonna talk about that in a second, but I wanted to make sure that I threw this your way. So when you first started with the Mets, you, you know, in the minor leagues, you, you know, you started off struggling a little bit. One of the things that I found kind of, peculiar that I did read in the book now you guys know I'm not giving the book away, but this is something I wanted to make sure I brought up. You dealt with heckling, racism, etcetera, from the home crowd. Now this isn't just this isn't just from, you know, on the road people yelling at you to try to, you know, take you off your game.

King Hap (12:53): This is the home the the home fans were giving you this crap.

Darryl Strawberry (12:57): Of course. I mean, when I went through the minor leagues in Lynchburg, Virginia, you know, I dealt with a lot of racism, you know, being called out of my name. And and then my coach is Gene Dussanna. I love to death. You know?

Darryl Strawberry (13:08): And he was white. He was like a father figure to me. I was just like my high school coach. And he was like, don't look up there. You know?

Darryl Strawberry (13:14): Because he figured if I looked up there, I might have ran up there with my Louisville slugger and started eliminating people. Like, I left from South Central LA. Hey. And you saying some you saying some things that don't make sense. But, I mean, I kept my composure and it you know, it really helped me have a clear understanding about what I was gonna deal with even getting to the major leagues, you know, even when I started playing in Queens and and fans started booing you when you when you suck.

Darryl Strawberry (13:39): They supposed to boo you when you suck. You know? I think some players don't understand that because, they think, well, why are they booing me? Well, you're not doing your job, and you and they know how talented you are and you do your job. So guys used to ask me, say, well, what are you gonna do?

Darryl Strawberry (13:52): I said, well, I'm a hit two home runs off the scoreboard tonight. Yep. And they're call me out for a curtain call, and I'm not coming out for a curtain call. I'm going down in the tunnel and smoking a cigarette because that's just the way I was. I mean, I had this insane mentality, and you have to have that when you play in certain places.

Darryl Strawberry (14:08): If you play in Boston, you gotta be tough. Yep. If you play in New York, you gotta be tough. You gotta have tough skin because, you know, people are going to get on you because they want to see you do well, they believe that you should do well. But a lot of times, they don't understand you're gonna struggle to it.

Darryl Strawberry (14:21): Everybody that plays in this game is going to struggle. Yep. And that's just the way it is.

King Hap (14:26): I couldn't agree more. And I'll tell you, I mean, playing in a 100 and, 1,547 games, you went out with, 1,401 hits, 335 homers, a thousand ribbies. You you you had your times where you shined, but you also, like you say, had times where you struggled. The fans let you hear it. And like you said, if it's in, you know, you stink type of way, that's cool.

King Hap (14:49): But some of the stuff you heard in the miners wasn't exactly that great.

Darryl Strawberry (14:53): The No. That wasn't that wasn't great in the miners. You know? And and and like I said, Gene Dussain, bless his heart. You know, he was he was like like a father figure that I didn't have in my life helped me get through that process.

King Hap (15:05): Yep. And then, while you were in the minor leagues, you also bumped into a man that did also influence you in your professional career. One Davy Johnson, who was the, you know, the the man the world series winning manager in '86. Davy Johnson, he was, very special to you in, you know, his passing recent you know, fairly recently is something that, probably affected you, I imagine. I wanted to see if you could let us know exactly how that relationship was and how you're doing with the fact that you did lose a man that was very, important to you.

Darryl Strawberry (15:35): It was a wonderful relationship. Davy Johnson was a player, and he played the game, and he played at the highest level himself. So he had a clear understanding about players, and he just lets you be players. He didn't wanna put these handcuffs on you and say, don't do this. Don't do that.

Darryl Strawberry (15:50): He just said, be here. Be ready. Be ready to play, and be ready to kick butt. Yeah. And I think that's what it was really all about.

Darryl Strawberry (15:57): And and his knowledge of the game that he had, he gave it to his players. Of course, you know, the passing of Davy Johnson was very tough for me because I think I saw him, like, maybe two or three months before, he passed away. And I went went to his house and just shocked him and visited, and he just looked at me. He's like, he called me the preacher man. He couldn't believe it.

Darryl Strawberry (16:17): You know? I I I me out of all the players, the wild one. You know? He go he goes to the preacher man. He goes, you preaching, and he goes, you're doing it well.

Darryl Strawberry (16:25): And he just, you know, encouraged me that I was doing great. And, you know, he has his wife called me after his passing, and she asked me, would I speak into the U u his, excuse me, for his for his funeral, and I did. And and it was such a great honor to be able to stand there and talk about a person that cared about people.

Unknown Speaker (16:46): Yes. He was

Darryl Strawberry (16:47): Everybody in every everybody in this business is not gonna care. You know, they they say they do, but it it sometime it it becomes an agenda to to other people for their own status. But David didn't want it the status. He just wanted to take us to the next level of playing baseball like we should as a team, and that's what was so great about him.

King Hap (17:08): Yep. I I couldn't agree more in the things that you spoke about in the book. And ladies and gentlemen, you guys are gonna wanna make sure you get this because, yeah, you go into detail on a lot of different subjects. This isn't this book isn't a a quick breeze over stuff. This gets in deep, and I enjoy that.

King Hap (17:24): So, in the chat room, they wanted to know what they wanted to know, Daryl, if you had a moment, what player, what player do you think today is, what player do you say, what player today do you thank the most for where you are? So I so what person do you thank the most for where you are today was what they meant? And I think I know the answer to that, but I'll let you say

Darryl Strawberry (17:42): it. Well, the most, you know, the most person I think of today is Aaron Judge. You know, he's six eight. He's two seventy. I mean, everybody talks about Otani, and Otani is great.

Darryl Strawberry (17:53): Don't get me wrong. I'm not taking anything away from him. But Aaron Judge has to run out on the field every day when you have to be that big and run out on the field every day. And he's not hitting two thirty. He's hitting three fifty with 50 home runs.

Darryl Strawberry (18:07): Unbelievable. You know you know how incredible that is to do. I don't think people really understand and recognize it with the way the game is today where people hit two seventy, two sixty. And for him to be able to hit three forty and three fifty and be up at the top with, like, 50 home runs and driving a 130 or whatever, 40 That's crazy. Ribbies.

Darryl Strawberry (18:26): It's just insane. It's it's hard to do. I mean, he's already won three MVPs. He should have been four. You know?

Darryl Strawberry (18:34): But but none of them will never ever come close to Barry Bonds. Barry Bonds is the greatest player I ever seen play.

King Hap (18:41): How he's not in the hall of fame, Daryl? I can't I I can't wrap my hands around him, the rocket. I mean, there were some players. I just can't get over it.

Unknown Speaker (18:49): Yeah. It's just it's just it's just stupidity

Unknown Speaker (18:52): Yeah.

Darryl Strawberry (18:52): You know, for them to even think these guys are not Hall of Famer players. These are some the rocket is one of the best to ever do it on the mound. Barry is the one of the best to ever do it on the field. Maybe the best. He's one he's got seven MVPs.

Darryl Strawberry (19:06): You know? Seven. You know how hard that is to do. I don't I don't think people realize how hard that is to be that good for so long to be able to accomplish, you know, the things that he accomplished. Even Alex Rodriguez.

Darryl Strawberry (19:19): Alex Rodriguez is one of the greatest offensive players all around players in the game. You you you go you can go down the list. You can go Manny Ramirez. He's another one. One of the greatest, you know, offensive players and and hitters in baseball.

Darryl Strawberry (19:33): You know, that everybody has just pushed to the side and said that numbers don't mean anything. Yes. It does. Yesterday numbers do mean a whole lot because you have to go out there and perform and and put those numbers up.

King Hap (19:44): Do know who looks the worst in my opinion in this? And I've said this plenty of times. I think the person the the what looks the worst with all these people not being on the hall of fame is the hall of fame. I mean, they're making themselves kinda look like when you think Manny, Alex Rodriguez might have been and and I'm gonna say, you know, I'll I'll take some crap from my Boston friends here. But Alex Rodriguez might have been the most dominant, offensive baseball player to ever step in a batter's box.

King Hap (20:08): And when he came up and you were on the opposing side, if you had $3 on the other team, you are sweating. You would start all of a sudden, you would start sweating. You know, Manny Ramirez, I imagine it's the same for other people. Manny was so great.

Darryl Strawberry (20:21): Doubt about it. You know, those guys were just phenomenal baseball players, and you go down the list. But the one that hurts me more than anything is that they didn't put Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame before he passed away. And now they And and how how do you talk about, he's not he's not the only person that has fallen short. We all have fallen short.

Darryl Strawberry (20:41): Everybody in all the fame has fallen short. So what are they talking about? You know, he was he Charlie Hussle, what he did for baseball was different. He wasn't a home run hitter, but he was the most exciting player. He was my favorite player because Yep.

Darryl Strawberry (20:54): He was the most exciting player the way he played the game and how dirty his uniform was. Every time you looked up, he's diving into head first into second, third, home. It didn't matter in the way just the way he played the game and the energy that he brought to the game. It's a shame that they didn't put him in the hall of fame.

King Hap (21:11): And then they say that his lifetime, his lifetime ban is now up. That his lifetime's up. And I think that that's one of the most pathetic things I've ever heard personally. I can't stand to think that they may put this man in the hall of fame now and make money off of him on admissions and stuff. That actually hurts my feelings.

King Hap (21:28): And, I, you know, as as somebody who loves the game of baseball, that's just something I can't get down with. I mean, I'm sure that you probably feel the same way. That would be a financial thing if they put him in now that he's passed, wouldn't you think?

Darryl Strawberry (21:40): It would be. And, hopefully, if if they really did that, make his family benefit from that, you know, because they held him hostage for a very long time

Unknown Speaker (21:50): Yes.

Darryl Strawberry (21:51): While he was alive. And, you know, it's unfortunate. You know, some of the guys that didn't really go to bat for him that played with him and realized that they had problems too. They did things too. Theirs just wasn't exposed.

Darryl Strawberry (22:03): Pete just happened to get his exposed just like me. And when you when you do that, they they put this x on you just like they put on Roger Clemens and Barry Bond. You you you can't you can't deny greatness when they've done it on the field. It's hard to do. Everybody's not gonna come alone and have that type of success, like we have as players.

Darryl Strawberry (22:24): And you just miss it when you when you do that to people like that. So it's unfortunate. But if they do decide to put him in, which they should have should have a long time ago. Yep. Hopefully they give the benefits of every penny.

Darryl Strawberry (22:41): What they make off of him would go to his family.

King Hap (22:44): I would hope so too. One statistic that I'm gonna I'm gonna throw y'all away that I'm not sure that you I mean, I'm sure I'm almost sure you know about it, but the chat room, I probably don't think does. Do you know, Daryl, that y'all one of only three players to ever play for all four New York teams? And and what I see this is the Mets, the Yankees, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the Giants were the New York Giants. You've played for all four New York teams, and that I mean, there's only three people that have ever done that.

King Hap (23:14): Isn't that crazy? Three others?

Darryl Strawberry (23:15): And then it is crazy. The only couple people ever done that, you know, played for. And I don't even realize that. Most people didn't even realize that. Yep.

Darryl Strawberry (23:24): All these teams are come from New York. Ricky Lee Day and Vescainos.

King Hap (23:29): Yep. Jose Vescainos the other.

Darryl Strawberry (23:31): Yeah. Yeah. And I thank me, and I think they said it was one more because I can't remember who the other one was, but I might have missed that.

King Hap (23:38): Yeah. I might have too because I when I was looking at it today, it just said, this guy ain't all a day in yourself, but, you know, it is what it is. If I'm off there, that's still a crazy statistic. But now before I go ahead and I jump in because I I I gotta tell the people about this book and what you're up to now. I just wanted to make sure that people remember number one, that back I mean, truth be told, in 1998, people don't remember that you had, you know, your your personal struggles, etcetera, but you were diagnosed with colon cancer, and they removed, like, a a a good portion of your intestines.

King Hap (24:12): You still came back to play the next year. This is this is an accomplishment of, I mean, epic proportion, but that's something that probably hindered you the rest of your career, would you say?

Darryl Strawberry (24:23): Well, it's a heavy thing when you, you know, end up with cancer. Yep. Eighteen inches of my colon removed, and you don't know how you're gonna recover. You go into that off season, not recover, work out, get back, get strong. And, it really, really wasn't really all well because I was still in the midst of chemo Yep.

Darryl Strawberry (24:42): And taking chemotherapy. And they left me back in spring training, then I relapsed, you know, because I was, you know, I was taking chemo every three, four days, and I just was feeling terrible. And anyone that goes through cancer and take chemo radiation, it just feels like you wanna die. You'd just rather not be here. So it was a process that I had to go through, and I fell off.

Darryl Strawberry (25:03): And and boy did, you know, did it cost me? It cost me, you know, a lot, you know, after going through that because not only that, my cancer came back. You know, you I was in a five year window, and it came back in 2000 and reoccurred. Now I have to lose my left kidney in my second surgery. So I I've been operating for the last twenty six years with one kidney.

Darryl Strawberry (25:24): And and and I'm I'm healthy. And I'm I'm here. And I'm I'm traveling and I'm doing things. So so I'm forever grateful, you know, that the calling was greater than I could ever imagine that I would have to go through so much to get to this place where I'm at today. And when I talk about this place where I'm at today, it's really not about me Aph.

Darryl Strawberry (25:45): It's about who I can help.

Unknown Speaker (25:46): Yeah.

Darryl Strawberry (25:47): It's about carrying a message to help somebody else because somebody else is out there is straddling the fence and don't believe that life can be different and they can get on the the other side of life. I'm telling you, if I got on the other side of life from all I did and what I've been through publicly, you sure can too.

King Hap (26:05): Absolutely. And one of the things that you say, in your book that I love, and I actually wrote it down, I got three stars next to it on my notepad right here, Is that you said that right now, one of the best things you have going for you is the fact that you are straw. The fact that you are Darryl Strawberry. And sometimes people that might not listen to other people that don't have, you know, the celebrity factor behind them, you actually maybe can grab some attention from somebody and they can listen to you and you can say, listen. I was Daryl freaking strawberry, man.

King Hap (26:34): I was, you know, I would, you know, Mets Hall of Famer, etcetera. And I was going through these struggles, and here I am now. That opened some eyes, especially where a lot of, people have, you know, sports fans and you're a very recognizable celebrity type. So, I mean, that's something that you use. And, I mean, I commend you for that.

King Hap (26:51): Is that something that you take pride in now?

Darryl Strawberry (26:54): Well, I do. I mean, I do use the fact that, you know, the platform and I use my mess for the message. And and I think that what most people don't realize that athletes have and people in the entertainment business have when God give you platform and you continue to struggle, you continue to fall through the cracks of things, he's trying to get he's trying to get your attention so he can use you from a totally different perspective. Let's just say for instance, like Tiger Woods, you know, he's God is trying to get his attention. He should be dead after two car accidents and flipping cars and all the things he's been through.

Darryl Strawberry (27:29): And, you know, everybody's persecuting him and talking to Roddy, but he has an addiction problem. You know? And I understand that I had an addiction problem. I know what that looks like. I coulda I shoulda quickly killed myself some several times.

Darryl Strawberry (27:41): And, you know, what happened was he finally got my attention, and he utilized a platform of what I've achieved to walk in soup to some doors where most people can't. And you can go in and you can speak to people and they're going to listen because they're to know you've been through something. They're to know you had success, but they're going to know they're going to also know that you've been through something publicly. And it's no different than anybody else. I'm just saying what what I'm trying to say here is is what people need to realize.

Darryl Strawberry (28:08): People with high high profile platforms, they are going to be publicized when they fall through the cracks. Yep. And the media is going to tear them up and they're gonna especially in the day of social media. Oh. They're gonna make they're gonna make fun of you, and they they and they're gonna say all kind of things about you.

Darryl Strawberry (28:27): If you get up and you get transformed, you allowed your life to be not what you've been through, but a light, you can help somebody else.

King Hap (28:36): Definitely. And I find that awesome. And I I thank you for that personally because that's pretty amazing. Now you weren't always mister athlete and all this. You started up when you when you were when you were younger and you were playing sports, etcetera.

King Hap (28:47): You had it pretty tough growing up. Your mom was your rock. And I mean, I know we spoke about cancer earlier. I mean, unfortunately, she lost her battle of breast cancer. I've had people in my family that actually have had the same fate, unfortunately.

King Hap (28:59): But I gotta say, you know, she was she was your rock back then. You you know, you didn't have the greatest relationship with your father when you were younger, and you still continue to be tough and and push through. And she always said that she said prayers for you. And now you're sitting here and you're saying to yourself, I now get it. Correct?

Darryl Strawberry (29:19): Right. I'm living the legacy where she prayed behind the scenes. He was dying from terminal breast cancer, and she will pass away at the age of 55. My father was never in my life. He rejected us.

Darryl Strawberry (29:29): He used to beat us and tell us we would never amount to anything. And and and was just one of those things that we had to go through growing up, and it was really tough and never had a male figure in my life. So mom was the rock. Mom was the one behind the scene, and she didn't really care about what people were saying about us. But she just kept praying behind the scenes that God will save us, and God would knock me off my throne.

Darryl Strawberry (29:51): And the best deal would come to pass. I'm living the legacy of what she prayed behind the scene and I tell people that all the time is, you know, people say well prayer don't work. It might not work in your eyes, but if you out of here and God pick take that person that you've been praying for and change him, then you know, works, you know, and I think that's what we fail to realize because we you were like instant gratification people. We want it now, you know, we want it to happen now. It didn't happen now.

Darryl Strawberry (30:16): Yep. Mama had to die. I tell people all time mama had to die so I can live. I'm living the legacy of what she prayed over my life. She prayed that this would be the man that I would be, and and and it has come to pass.

Darryl Strawberry (30:27): I've turned out to be that man.

Unknown Speaker (30:29): You you may not have made it this far if you made any more collect calls too when you were in minor leagues. Right? I mean, that was some you might not have made it up.

Darryl Strawberry (30:39): Yeah. I like to tell you, I was telling mom, I don't think this is for me. She go, you made that decision. You're gonna stick there and you're gonna play it. You're gonna play and you're gonna work through it.

King Hap (30:47): Yep. And and you did. And I gotta say, well, you know, she she prayed and you were going through your struggles and then here comes Tracy. And Tracy is, I mean, right away, you get the smile when I say it. I love it, my man.

Darryl Strawberry (31:00): She's the queen. She's the she's the queen. I mean, she's the she's the light that I always say God's always gonna use people to help people. It's just when do we listen. And she was that person, you know, that was pulling me out of places, pulling me out of dope houses when I was lost in the Dixon and telling me god has a plan for me.

Darryl Strawberry (31:18): She's in recovery. She's got twenty five years. I got over twenty She was way ahead of me. So but she didn't let go, and we broke up. But we went our separate ways because I was stuck in addiction, and she stayed on her journey and kept going forward.

Darryl Strawberry (31:34): And then I finally, you know, got to that place and surrendered and then we came back together and then we came back together and we did it right and we got married. We've been together married for been together for twenty five years when we first started. But we were married for nineteen years now, and and it's it's been just a tremendous blessing. We got nine kids. Always always have a great sense of humor and tell people.

Darryl Strawberry (31:55): God gave me my own starting nine. He's teaching me a lesson. He get when I'm with nine kids, I got my starting nine as a baseball team.

Unknown Speaker (32:02): Right? Hey. They got they got a good cleanup hitter. Right? They they got dad.

King Hap (32:06): It was a good cleanup hitter. But so she's your rock. She you you actually call her a miracle worker. She goes ahead, gets you out of debt, get you straightened out, and she taught you something that that you said, and I love this quote. Like I said, there's some things you say in here that I take as quotes that I don't know if you really meant to have them that way.

King Hap (32:23): But she told you that, you know, when you go ahead and you spend on big purchases, etcetera, a lot of times you're covering up for something else. And when I heard that, I was like, I I'd done that before. You know? I've that I've been there. And I mean, I gotta say, I mean, her saying that, that's something that stuck in your head so much as it made it into the book.

King Hap (32:43): Correct?

Darryl Strawberry (32:44): Of course. Yeah. I mean, she taught me she taught me about stuff, you know, because we buy stuff to make ourself, you know, feel good. And we need we need our own personal affirmation how I look. And and she took me to Walmart one day, and I was like, what is this?

Darryl Strawberry (33:00): She said, this is where you need to shop. You know? And I was like, Walmart? I've never been there in my life. She goes, they got shoes that with underwear stuff.

Darryl Strawberry (33:07): But it was a great humbling experience for me, and I needed that at that time because I've always have lived on this high level of thinking, if I have enough of this, I'm gonna be okay. And you're not. You're really not. And I think too many of us get conformed to that that that it's gonna make me well. It can't make you well.

Darryl Strawberry (33:26): A car is a car. And and as soon as you go get a new one off the lot and drive it a week, it's not new anymore. Nope. And and you and you have to realize that these things are not important. You have to realize that the time that you have here and what you do with it what God puts in your hands and what you do with it is what counts.

Darryl Strawberry (33:45): Rest of this stuff will not count at the end of the day and everybody said, well, I would just like to try you be careful what you ask for. You just might get it. And when you find yourself in the middle of it, you'd be really confused. You can't get out of that dark hole because that's truly where the enemy wanna keep us. He wanna keep us in this dark hole of I'm successful and I have all this.

Darryl Strawberry (34:06): Let me tell you in sports ninety five percent of athletes will end up in divorce. Yep. And they have everything And entertainment business too, ninety five percent will end up on divorce. It's only five percent. It's only a five percent that will probably stay together and be with their wives forever.

King Hap (34:26): And that's that's a tough statistic to think about, especially because when you do have everything, you know, like you like we said earlier, when you have everything, you sometimes have nothing. And I I personally I I'm almost embarrassed to say this, but it was about a year and a half ago that I actually came into my mind and I started thinking to myself, instead of wanting, wanting, wanting, I became grateful for what I already have. And that that's something that I now, me myself, I find myself a lot happier in like the last year and a half because I stopped wanting for everything. And now I realize that I'm I'm very grateful for the people and, know, the peep, the people, the places I go, the people I get to meet all that stuff. And, and, you know, I don't try to say that to sound cliche, but once I realized how good my life was, I stopped reaching.

Darryl Strawberry (35:11): But that's real. Yeah. You know, that's real when you become grateful. You know, most of the time most of the time, we're not grateful. You know, we just think this is the way it's supposed to be.

Darryl Strawberry (35:20): Yep. But when you become grateful, you see it totally different. You you're thankful for what you have. You're thankful for who's around you. I no longer around I'm I'm no longer wanna be around foolish people.

Darryl Strawberry (35:32): Yep. I no longer wanna be around wicked people because everybody has some type of agenda until they find real inner peace with themself. And then when you do find that you remove yourself from all of that stuff, now your life becomes the life that you were always looking for.

King Hap (35:47): Yep. And, one other thing about the the the statistic on divorce that was put into the chat room must be tough on the road. You know, with the even if you're not even if you're not womanizing, which I'll let you know, you and I both know a lot of the people that are on the road that much, they are, you know but even if you're not, it just causes friction. You leave in the middle of a small argument and, know, like a fine wine that ages very, very, very poorly. Correct?

Darryl Strawberry (36:14): Well, it's it's a it's a really dark life. Everybody think what the road and traveling and this and that. And, you know, for men, men get out there and they get in all the traps. And where's the traps? They're sitting right in the bars.

Darryl Strawberry (36:26): What what's in the bar? The ladders and Gisabel's. What you're looking for? You're having a conversation with somebody you don't know and before you know it, you're taken aback and you you you're sleeping with it. Yep.

Darryl Strawberry (36:35): It's just the it's the way the vicious cycle of life is. And if you don't find discipline in yourself and learn how to walk, in a different direction, you'll keep going in that direction. You'll keep trying to fill the empty void that's on the inside of you. And we all have it. We try to fill it with all this other stuff, and it doesn't work.

Darryl Strawberry (36:56): And like you say, you can get into it with somebody when even if you're not think you're out there and you get mad, and then you end up doing something stupid because you're mad. And and that's just that's just how it goes. It hasn't changed. You know? It's it's increased even more now because they have social media, Internet, dating apps, and people can just, you know, pull up from that and to try to satisfy what's wrong with me.

Darryl Strawberry (37:20): And you cannot satisfy what's wrong with you on the inside with all this stuff. It doesn't work. It's just it's here to be a distraction for you to destroy you.

King Hap (37:29): Yes. Yes. And a good question that popped into the chat room was, do you think professional sports can turn a person to someone due to celebrity fame and money that they're actually not? Or is it do you think it's actually possible to, you know, remain humble, etcetera? I mean, that that's a pretty difficult task to go ahead and ask because there's so many temptations out there.

King Hap (37:49): Right?

Darryl Strawberry (37:49): Well, not many guys can remain humble, when they have that type of success.

Unknown Speaker (37:54): Coming from a poor background also.

Darryl Strawberry (37:56): Yeah. Yeah. Coming from poor background or wherever they come from, it just opens up a can of worms. And when you open up a can of worms, you can't pull them back in. Nope.

Darryl Strawberry (38:04): Now you're you're already out there. You're in the middle of it. And how do I get out of this swimming pool? I'm always swimming uphill looking for something different every time I go out there. And this is what happens to people in professional sports and the entertainment business and just the everyday people.

Darryl Strawberry (38:21): Yep. They have they have opened themselves to all what they won't deal with. And what we won't deal with is the wounds that are inside of us. Yes. Yes.

Darryl Strawberry (38:33): So we so we so we like to cover it up with everything else to try to make us feel better, and it does because it's still there. They're they're not going anywhere. Doesn't matter what you put in. Don't matter how pretty she is or what, or how much you have or what car you drive. The car can't make you happy.

Darryl Strawberry (38:52): It just you just look you just look good riding down the street in it. Happiness come from a totally different place.

King Hap (38:57): Absolutely. And you you know, you you battled addiction. You you actually something that a lot a lot of people don't know is you actually spent a year in prison also. After you after, you know, fortunately, after you, you know, got out of prison, you've actually now kind of made a concerted effort to go ahead and help some of the people that are in prison, including death row inmates, you know, and people in like some and you are just on a travel schedule going around talking to people, having the best time doing it, but you have a pretty hectic travel schedule. The good thing is Tracy does as well.

King Hap (39:30): So you guys spend a lot of time on the road together as well as, you know, when you do things, you know, yourself. But I gotta say, the thing with the, with the jails where you go in and talk to these people, you being Daryl Strawberry must really come in there, and it must really help you out. That is where I think your celebrity probably helps the most, but that must also be one of the most, satisfying things that you actually do now with your practice. Because I'll tell you, there are people in there that really need to hear from somebody that's already gone through it. And then at the same time, you you are pretty open about what you've been through.

King Hap (40:05): And people say, he used to be, you know, he used to be, you know, a rookie of the year in Major League Baseball, millions of dollar contracts, etcetera. That might I mean, this must be one of the most satisfying things you do know.

Darryl Strawberry (40:18): Of course. For the grace of God, they go high because everybody already spent that time, you know, through addiction and president with a t 17169. You never forget it. It's your experience in life, But you go back in there, and it's not about me. It's about them.

Darryl Strawberry (40:32): Yep. See, I'm I'm going into maximum security prisons where guys have got life. I mean, I'm I'm meeting guys that's telling me I've been in here since 18. And I said, well, how long you've been down? They're like thirty years and, you know, forty years, you know, fifty years, and we're gonna die here.

Darryl Strawberry (40:49): And they know that. My message is to go in there and tell them that we all have fallen short. And don't get me wrong. They have done some heinous crimes, and that's where you end up at when you do that. They have to lock you up forever.

Darryl Strawberry (41:04): You're not coming from behind that gate, but you still have a chance to look inside of yourself and ask God to forgive you more than anything. He'll he'll he'll meet you right where you at. I don't care if it's in a, prison or if or if it's in a junkyard. Wherever you're at, he will meet you, and he will extend that forgiveness to you. And then you have to turn.

Darryl Strawberry (41:25): You have to turn and walk a different way even behind the prison gates. I've seen so many guys that have had transformations that have been down thirty, thirty five years, and it's real, because you know how they are. You can see the meekness in them, the humility. They know they're not going anywhere, but they know they have to stay in this place if they really want to experience that eternal life after the end of their life. You know what?

Darryl Strawberry (41:50): We don't know about people. We don't know what happens to people. We don't know who abused them, who beat them, to turn them into killers.

Unknown Speaker (42:01): Yeah.

Darryl Strawberry (42:01): To to turn them into something that they might have never thought they would be. You know? And and the drugs that they were on at the time, robbing somebody and killing somebody, It it it's it's we don't we don't yes. They've done that. But at the same time, what happened to them?

Darryl Strawberry (42:18): Something happened to them to lead them to be this way. You just don't wake up and go, Oh, I think I'll go killed today. Yeah. So if there's something deep inside of you that's broken, that makes you hate life and that you just feel like you're not important. You do whatever you want to do and then you pay a price for it.

Darryl Strawberry (42:38): I mean going to going into I've been into so many prison. It's my favorite place even greater than preaching in the church, you know, because everybody in church feel like they have it all together because they sit in the church and they gonna walk out of there.

Unknown Speaker (42:49): Yeah,

Darryl Strawberry (42:50): but these guys these guys are behind the gate. They know they're not walking out of they know they know I'm coming in there. They love it because they know I'm real. They know I'm not like one of these pony guys coming in here because they tell me, well, a lot of people just wanna come in here just just just to come in here to make a name for themselves. Yep.

Darryl Strawberry (43:05): He goes, you you have you have no reason to make a name for yourself coming in here. I say, I come in here because I love you guys, and god sends me here. God sends me here to bring a message to you guys, a message of hope that, you know, at the end of your life, he wants your life. You know, like, you might be doing life in here, but at the end of life, if you give your life to him, he's gonna take your life.

King Hap (43:24): Yep. And what you know, you we spoke about you spoke about forgiveness with these gentlemen, and that's something that I was gonna bring up. So now one thing that I I, you know, is is very concerning that must be for you is a lot of people don't know that you had a a near fatal heart attack, and this was a I mean, had you you were clogged where, you know, thank God you got to the hospital when you did as you did not want to go, by the way. But, I mean, you you didn't wanna go. You end up going.

King Hap (43:53): You thank goodness you did because if not, man, it would have been you would you didn't have too much long.

Darryl Strawberry (43:57): I've been done. Yep. Yeah. But but you know what I win either way because I've been you know, I've been doing ministry a long time. I've been operating in the right way and living the right way, you know, for the Lord.

Darryl Strawberry (44:07): Either way is good for me. If I stay here, I win if I don't I win. And you know, I was been on the road for like five days. And me and my son traveling and doing ministry. And I get back home.

Darryl Strawberry (44:21): I kept grabbing my chest. And my wife said, okay, that's it. She rushed me to the emergency room. She's driving so fast. I'm sitting in the car like, hold up, hon.

Darryl Strawberry (44:30): I'm a be alright. And by the time I got there, you know, to the hospital, they get me in there and they said, you're in trouble in the in the ER. They said, your your heart is at 40%, and you're gonna have to have a procedure right now tonight. And they called the doctor in, and and he came in late that night, and and he just he he did what he know how to do. I mean, he he put a stent in, and and he said, you should be okay.

Darryl Strawberry (44:56): It was in your main artery, and, it was blockage. And we just cleaned out what if whatever he had to do. And you think you know, you knock on wood and you thank God for doctors, you know, because that's what they called here for, you know, it's to help to save you. Had it not been for that, you know, I'd have been gone. I'd have been over, life's over, you know?

King Hap (45:13): Yeah. That's crazy. And with that, you know, you talk about forgiveness, you leave there and you're feeling just good enough just in time to get to your jersey retirement ceremony, is crazy to think. But one of the things that came out of that that I thought was pretty amazing is that you you basically had to got an opportunity to ask an entire stadium full of people for forgiveness all at once. And they they, you know, a resounding cheer.

King Hap (45:45): And I mean, for you, a man of faith and a man of forgiveness, how did that feel for you knowing that all these people at once you were given forgiveness from? Because that must have been a pretty amazing feeling.

Darryl Strawberry (45:57): It was a great feeling, and it was always on my heart to do that, you know, for for a very long time, know, because that it was a special place for me to play those eight seasons. And then to have my number retired being put at top of the stadium. These are people that I I I grew up with and and and truly cared about them. I didn't care about the front office people. That's why I left.

Darryl Strawberry (46:20): Yeah. But I cared about the fans. The fans are the fans. The fans are the people that make you and they made me the kind of ballplayer I was. They made me go out there and get it.

Darryl Strawberry (46:28): They let me know when I wasn't doing it that that I needed to get after it, and that's what I appreciated more. And I was had the opportunity to be able to, stand in front of all of them and and say that I'm I'm so sorry for leaving you guys. And and it was just it was just so many people that just went through my social media and and said they were in tears when when I said that. It just meant so much to them than for them to know that I cared about them, and and it was never their fault for me leaving. It was the people that I was dealing with on the business side that made it, made it that way for me not to be there and be able to play for them again.

King Hap (47:08): And, you know, and one of the things I was was gonna make sure I brought up. It's really sad that the way that that ended up taking place is now right now, Pete Alonzo was took over as the number one home run hitter by 12 over you. I mean, the truth is is that if you look at every statistic for the New York Mets, I mean, RBIs number two, home runs number two, stolen bases. Yeah. I mean, even stolen bases number five.

King Hap (47:35): You know, your your slugging percentage number three, OPS number four. You know, you are up the top of all their statistical categories. And for them to not treasure you as you, you know, went ahead and became a free agent, that's the you know, they kinda got what they deserve when you leave in, but it ended up hurting you in the long run because you really missed playing for the New York Mets fans. Correct?

Darryl Strawberry (47:59): I missed playing in New York. You know, it's different. It was nothing personal against LA. LA was home and Yep. Nothing personal against the Dodgers, but I just knew all the back roads once once I got home.

Darryl Strawberry (48:08): So that can lead to a lot of trouble when you know all the back roads. And you're supposed to take the front row road to the right right highway, but I was taking all the other ones going in the wrong direction and doing the wrong things. New York, I was always I was always centered. I was always focused. I was always focused about going home and after ball games.

Darryl Strawberry (48:27): Well, when I got to LA, I wasn't focused about going home. I was not married anymore. I was going through a divorce, and I just I I just started living. And you live the wrong way. I told you it's out there.

Unknown Speaker (48:37): Yeah.

Darryl Strawberry (48:37): It can happen to whoever whoever. And it doesn't mean you're a bad person because it happens to you. But I but I think the most important thing for people to understand is you do not have to stay there.

Unknown Speaker (48:48): Yes.

Darryl Strawberry (48:49): No matter what. I don't care what it is and what you go through. Just because everybody is saying something doesn't mean that you have to stay in that particular place. You can get up, and you can revive yourself and and and and become new and become something greater from your lessons if you learn something from them.

King Hap (49:11): You only have one trip one time at this one kick the can. Right, Daryl? And and and it's it is what it is. You gotta make sure that if you're unhappy, you go ahead and you do something to change it. What I was what I wanna do, Daryl, before before we get to last call and everything, I wanted to throw a couple at you real quick from some VIPs here who are, very excited listening to us here in the chat room because we had some good ones, and I wanted to see, real quick.

King Hap (49:36): It says, as of today, what are you the proudest of what you've accomplished? What what accomplishment makes you most proud today that you've done?

Darryl Strawberry (49:44): I'm just becoming a man, you know, that my mother wanted me to be and becoming a husband and a father that I am today. To my kids, I love my family, and I think that's the most important thing. When you've been rejected, it makes it hard for you to understand how important that really is. And I realized how important that really is over everything. Yep.

Darryl Strawberry (50:07): You know, no matter how no matter how much success I have, no matter how much we we still achieve, we could do that. But when it comes down to them, they are first.

King Hap (50:18): Yes. Yes. And I mean, anybody who reads this book and by the way, guys, it's called another life. We'll talk about that again even more in just a minute. But I gotta I I got a couple quick ones.

King Hap (50:28): I'll throw at your rapid fire big man.

Unknown Speaker (50:30): Okay.

King Hap (50:30): Was it the health scare with the cancer that turned your page to faith, or was it the push from your mother that led you to believe you could live a renewed life? That's a good that's a good question. But what exactly brought you there? And I think that, another female will also get some credit on this one too. Right?

Darryl Strawberry (50:46): Yeah. It's a push for my mother and a push for my wife, Tracy.

Unknown Speaker (50:50): Yes.

Darryl Strawberry (50:50): Absolutely. Know? And I I think what time I think a lot of times men don't understand that god gives us help mates and women in our life to help us, you know, because because we're like knuckleheads. We wanna do it all ourselves. Yep.

Darryl Strawberry (51:02): And we believe we can handle it. And and and that they're they're they're there to help you to save you from going into that foxhole by yourself and getting lost. Yep. And I think when we do listen to them, it turns out to be better life for you.

Unknown Speaker (51:18): Agreed. Agreed. And when you don't listen to the females in your life, sometimes you end up, you know, they end up ducking eye. You know what I'm saying? You gotta be careful on that one.

King Hap (51:26): I I a quick one here. What does Daryl think of the MLB players from South America, Dublin since he played the wave of Japanese players, etcetera? Does MLB need to, do more to appeal to kids in The US as, driving around Chicago, most of the ball fields are overgrown and run down? I mean, that's actually a pretty decent question. What are your thoughts on the

Unknown Speaker (51:47): fact that That's a really real question.

Unknown Speaker (51:49): Yeah.

Darryl Strawberry (51:49): It's a home question. That's a, that's a quest question of truth because that's what's happened. We've gotten away from all our inner cities and our our our parks for the kids here, and we're going way across the country, you know, the four players in the market, them, and let them become stars and let them become mean as and you you have the same kids here, but most of them don't they they feel left out. That's why all of them picking up guns and going to gangs and because that becomes their family because we don't have anywhere to go. No.

Darryl Strawberry (52:21): We don't have anywhere to play. We don't have first first of all, we don't have enough money to play AAU baseball.

King Hap (52:27): Yes.

Darryl Strawberry (52:27): You know? And and so that that's a major issue for them. They're not gonna be able to play in those different leagues because their parents can't afford to put them in those leagues. And and I think, you know, baseball has to do a better job at that of building that and making sure that you have that for those kids to have those opportunities. And when they decide to do that, it could be different.

King Hap (52:49): I couldn't agree with you more. That was actually perfectly said. Now your boy now your boy Hap has a couple that I'm gonna throw at you real quick because I need to know your thoughts on this. Since you retired, a lot of the rules have changed, and I've been dying to ask you this question. Number one, your thoughts on these new rules.

King Hap (53:06): I'm gonna start with the first one that I hate the most, the ghost runner in extra innings. Daryl, what are your thoughts on a ghost runner at second base that doesn't count against your ERA, but it does count in the in the, ballgame?

Darryl Strawberry (53:19): I think everything is changed in a baseball to little league.

Unknown Speaker (53:26): Yes.

Darryl Strawberry (53:27): Yeah. It's it's not major league like it was. You know? It's it's like the goals for you start off with second base. That's that's literally baseball.

Darryl Strawberry (53:36): You you play you play the game until somebody win. Yep. I think the I think they're going too far over the fact that you can't run the catch over. You can't take the second baseman or the shortstop out. What do you mean I can't do that?

Unknown Speaker (53:49): That's baseball. I'm trying to kill him and break up a double play.

Unknown Speaker (53:52): Of course.

Darryl Strawberry (53:52): And the catch the catcher gonna block the play. They call what they call it the Posey, protection. Well, he should should have never been sitting on that play. He never got his leg broken if he just wasn't sitting on that play. You're supposed to break his back if he sit on that plate like that because you're trying to get to that plate.

Darryl Strawberry (54:08): I mean, it's it's not dirty. It's clean. And I think that's what baseball used to be like. Now all these protections, and and then you go with the, like, time clock. Yes.

Darryl Strawberry (54:18): I don't want to be I don't I don't want to be rust getting in the batter's box, you know, why I gotta be in such a rust to get in the batter's box player needs to have clear thoughts when they get into the batter's box and they know if they are they only know if they got a certain time.

Unknown Speaker (54:32): Yeah.

Darryl Strawberry (54:32): That that don't that doesn't really work too well for them because now they're rushing to get in the batter's box.

King Hap (54:38): And, you know, something else I always said too when we spoke about it. You know, people be like, oh, that claw know, the games are getting too long. I've never once gone to a baseball game, bought a ticket, sat in the stands, and said, man, come on. I I can't wait to get home. I why why are people going to the game if you don't wanna sit through the game?

King Hap (54:57): That's a y'all put a guy on second. The games are too long. Too long. What? If you ever go into a game, Daryl, and said, oh, man, I can't wait to get home.

Darryl Strawberry (55:06): No. What's the hurry? I used to I have to play. I have to stay there all night till the game is over. And I I I can understand you leaving when it's it's rain delays and stuff like that.

Darryl Strawberry (55:15): But if you're gonna go to a ballgame, man, sit there and enjoy the moment of the time that you're there instead of trying to say, well, I gotta get home. I know it's traffic. You're gonna go through all that. You know that beforehand. So when you make your preparation of going, go there and enjoy baseball.

Darryl Strawberry (55:36): Baseball is great. There's nothing like it, and, it's it's the greatest game in sports. You know, football, they just have, you know, throw the pass, run the ball. Basketball, they run up and down the court. But baseball is a game where you have to be able to move in different ways to win a ballgame.

Darryl Strawberry (55:55): It's just not that easy, and I think a lot of people don't recognize that.

King Hap (55:58): Strategy too. There's more I feel like there's more strategy in a baseball game, and there's more, like, small you know, even just shifting the outfielders a little bit. There's this strategy on every pitch of every bet bat, And I I love baseball. NECBL is where, my heart's at to, for all of our big shout out to all of our, North Shore Navigators fans. I I I wanted to also one one last thing I wanted to ask you.

King Hap (56:23): One thing now. 1985, you guys were awesome. The New York Mets. You didn't make the playoffs. Right?

King Hap (56:31): Now the wild card comes. Do you think the wild card took too long? Because I'll tell you, when you were playing, I bet you you wish there was wild card teams. Right?

Darryl Strawberry (56:40): Yeah. Because if if it was, we ended every year. So the wild card gives you a chance. We won 98 games in 85. We went home.

Darryl Strawberry (56:47): Unreal. And it's it's like you win 98 games today. You're in the wild card or you or you got a division. So it it it was a different time. And and I get that, and I understand that.

Darryl Strawberry (56:59): So I I played when I played. I'm glad I played when I played because baseball was really tucked in, and and you were, like, really into being a team, you know, in those days. And you really wanted to beat the brakes off of, you know, the sox, the red sox, you know, because when you play them in the playoffs and stuff like that, you know, they wanna beat the yankees, and you want to beat certain certain teams when I played in the National League. We we always wanted to beat their cardinals. We hated them, and they hated us.

Darryl Strawberry (57:29): So it was a good thing going on there. And I think that's taken away from baseball today. I think it's too much friendliness, too much hugging opposing team. You know? It's like, dude, man, I'm not your friend right now.

Darryl Strawberry (57:41): We we we got a uniform on. We got a job to do.

King Hap (57:44): Yep. And, I got two more rapid fire ones, and then we'll get to last call, Daryl. Do you like the call the, touching the helmet, or would you think that the, challenging of balls and strikes is something that they should be in the game?

Darryl Strawberry (57:57): No. Deal deal with it. If it's a strike, it's a strike. If you call it as a ball, keep it moving.

King Hap (58:03): Little bit of human error never hurt nobody either. I mean, like you say a little bit is No,

Darryl Strawberry (58:08): no one's perfect. The umpire's not perfect. What what we don't we we've turned the game into a computer.

Unknown Speaker (58:13): One of

Darryl Strawberry (58:15): That's what it was from, like, you know, watching, like, Nintendo games.

King Hap (58:20): Yeah. Was just gonna say Sega or something.

Darryl Strawberry (58:22): You're you're playing like that. Play. Play through it. Play through every mistake that the umpire made. How do they make mistakes?

Darryl Strawberry (58:29): Yes. Players make a mistake? Yes. But keep playing. You get caught up into all this, like, iPad analytics stuff.

Darryl Strawberry (58:35): You know? Baseball is a fundamental game. Always will be. If you do the things the right way, you're gonna be successful at

King Hap (58:44): Give us give us real and here's the last one. Give us a real quick, a a a teammate or two that you loved playing with and an opponent that you loved playing against.

Darryl Strawberry (58:54): Well, I love playing with, Gary Carter, because he was a great teammate. I love love playing with a Hernandez because he was a great leader. And I love playing with Derek Jeter because he was just a class act. You know? He he played the game the right way.

Darryl Strawberry (59:07): He played hard, and and he just he spoke the right way. You know? He he never criticized nobody. Even when people said things about him, you know, he he he just never said anything negative towards them. The teams that I really didn't like in the days I was playing with was the Cardinals, you know, and they were good.

Darryl Strawberry (59:26): I mean, we love Willie McGee. We just we didn't like Tommy Her because he thought he was too pretty and, you know, all this all this other stuff, you know, the way they were, but they were our competition. So but I'm grateful that I had a chance to play in that time and and play against guys like Ollie Smith because Ollie was great. I remember going in to try to break up a double play, and I thought I had him. And he hopped over me.

Darryl Strawberry (59:47): He turned he turned around and looked at me and goes and he said, next time, I'm a make you get down. And, you know, that's what baseball was all about.

King Hap (59:56): He was a wizard too in the field. That guy he's one guy that I'd have to say, it has a great spot there in, Cooperstown. Without great, offensive statistics, he absolutely belongs there. There was no one that played that failed like him. He was a magician.

King Hap (1:00:13): You of course, you agree with me on that one. Right?

Darryl Strawberry (1:00:15): Of course. He was incredible. That nobody can make plays like him. Nobody can do the things like he could do once he make the play to turn the double play. It's just just different.

Darryl Strawberry (1:00:27): Different kind of guy. Wasn't, you know, the guy with the numbers of offense. He didn't have to be. But, boy, with that glove, I mean, he you you can imagine how many games he could win before a ball club just having the glove and making the plays that he made.

King Hap (1:00:41): Keeping them keeping the scores, keeping the points off the board. Have you spoke to have you spoke to Nails, and have you tried to help him out at all? Now everybody's gonna ask you that, I'm sure, because Nails is such a polarizing type character. He was nuts. I mean, he played the game really hard.

King Hap (1:00:57): He must I mean, cuckoo bananas. Yes. But I gotta say, he's somebody I read his book as well. That was actually, kind of a trip. But have you spoke with them?

King Hap (1:01:07): I think I've seen you guys on social media together in a picture.

Unknown Speaker (1:01:11): And Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (1:01:11): Yeah. How did that go?

Darryl Strawberry (1:01:13): I kinda deal with him. I kinda deal with him all the time now. You know? You know? I'm my brother's keeper.

Darryl Strawberry (1:01:19): You know? Everybody had up, you know, pushed him in the crack and say he's he's done. Yeah. So he went into treatment. He's got close to a hundred and fifty days now.

Darryl Strawberry (1:01:29): He got back he got baptized, and and and his whole demeanor is just just different. And he's ready to walk on on on a new road. He's been where he's been for a long time. He's he's just a hurting soul. You know?

Darryl Strawberry (1:01:43): So, yeah, I was a hurting soul too. So I went back to pick him up and and and say, hey, man. There's a life here for you. There's an opportunity for you. You you you you were great in the game.

Darryl Strawberry (1:01:55): You made mistakes just like everybody else. Doesn't mean your life is over. So, I'm so proud of him. I'm so proud that he is taking it to heart. He's not playing with it this time.

Darryl Strawberry (1:02:05): You know? That's many times, you know, guys that do it and then they play around with it, but he's not playing with it. He's very serious about it. He's very serious about the connection, of people that we have surrounded around him. And to keep keep it real keep it real tight and just don't let him don't let him get out there right now.

Darryl Strawberry (1:02:23): We don't want him out there right now talking about it. We want him to just to recover and experience something that peace with inside of himself to know that he could be well. So I love Lenny. I I love all those guys I play with. Every guy I play with, I have nothing but mad love and respect for him because I know how hard it is to do do this.

Darryl Strawberry (1:02:43): And, you you know, we all we all we all gonna have a journey. We all gonna go through something, but you never turn your back on them.

King Hap (1:02:50): Absolutely. And and you can let Lenny know he has a bunch of supporters here at the happy hour social club as well. And I hope that he continues his journey because I'll tell you what, it it looked pretty rough there for a while. So congratulations to him. Now ladies and gentlemen, it is that time of the night.

King Hap (1:03:06): It is time for last call. This nonalcoholic last call is brought to you by Blackout Coffee, the official coffee provider of the Happy Hour Social Club. Promo code king apple. Save you 20 site wide. Nothing I love more than a delicious glass of blackout coffee.

King Hap (1:03:20): Guys, get on over there. Use the promo code and enjoy it. Now I gotta ask you, Daryl. It's last call. Two quick things I always ask.

King Hap (1:03:29): Number one, do you where can they follow you should they want them on social media? And number two, do you have anything left for the happy hour social club members?

Darryl Strawberry (1:03:38): Well, they can follow me on Daryl Strawberry eighteen. That's my, Instagram. And, and and my Facebook page is there too. It's D Straw. And, you know, the last thing I have for people is just to always remember, no matter how far you go down, you can always get back up.

Darryl Strawberry (1:03:58): And and when you do get back up, people recognize that. And I I think from all that I've been through and, you know, from being busted, know, with drugs and solicitation of prostitution, tax evasion, and all that. You know, I clean my life up and and then, you know, I get a call. I get a call from the president of The United States Donald j Trump, and he gives me a pardon. And that speaks more than anything to me.

Darryl Strawberry (1:04:26): I'm not into politics. I'm I'm into, like, you know, a purse a person that gives people another chance to say, hey. You've done something different with your life. You're helping people. So here, I'm gonna help you.

Darryl Strawberry (1:04:38): And that's what I want people to be able to understand and walk away with that. Your life can be different. That's why that book called another life is another life. It could be totally different and different things can happen in your life. So I'm really proud of that.

Darryl Strawberry (1:04:51): I'm proud of the fact that that I have that because he he was on the phone and and he he said, where's your wife? Where's Tracy? I said, she's right here. He says, Tracy, your husband is cleaner than you now.

Unknown Speaker (1:05:03): I love it.

Darryl Strawberry (1:05:05): I I love it. So that was just a that was a great moment, and I think a lot of people need to hear that. And and I don't care who don't like it. It's not up to me, you know, because what they don't like about him. I'm talking about my situation and what he did for me, and I'm grateful for that.

King Hap (1:05:21): Absolutely. And, my last call, I'm gonna use right here, guys. I'll give it to you like this. I'm gonna read what was just said here because this speaks for me. From the chat room, Daryl Strawberry, we're a small group here.

King Hap (1:05:33): What an impact you've made on just this group tonight in such a short time. I definitely will have others, pray for your for your continued success in your life, and I can't wait to read this book. I mean, if that doesn't speak for the entire Happy Hour Social Club, I don't know what does. Daryl, I mean, thank you so much for being here. Ladies and gentlemen, the name of the book is Another Life by Daryl Strawberry.

King Hap (1:05:55): If you wanna pick this up, you you it's gonna the link will be in the show notes along with the link to go ahead and give him a follow on Instagram. One of the most inspiring follows that I have. So I'm telling you guys, you're gonna wanna get over there. Before I, kick it to a base, ladies and gentlemen, as promised with this brand new release, Daryl, right right here in front of everybody again, I wanna thank you for your time. I wanna thank you for your journey.

King Hap (1:06:17): I wanna thank you for sharing it with us. Thank you so much, sir.

Darryl Strawberry (1:06:20): Thank you for having me on your show. Appreciate it happening.

Unknown Speaker (1:06:23): No doubt.

Darryl Strawberry (1:06:24): Keep keep doing what you're doing, brother.

King Hap (1:06:26): Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, here you go. Here's a biz. I'm gonna keep Daryl here for one more minute, and I'm gonna tell I'm gonna say goodbye to him. But for everybody else, I'll see everybody tomorrow night live on the Fantasy Sports Network.

King Hap (1:06:37): Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, here you go. It is Abyss. Enjoy.