Free Newsletter
Trump pardons former Mets great Darryl Strawberry on past tax evasion, drug charges
The Associated Press//November 7, 2025//
Trump pardons former Mets great Darryl Strawberry on past tax evasion, drug charges
The Associated Press//November 7, 2025//
President Donald Trump has pardoned former New York Mets great Darryl Strawberry of tax evasion and drug charges, citing the 1983 National League Rookie of the Year’s post-career embrace of his Christian faith and longtime sobriety.
Strawberry was an outfielder and eight-time All-Star, including seven with the Mets from 1983 to 1990. He hit 335 homers and had 1,000 RBIs and 221 stolen bases in 17 seasons.
Plagued by later legal, health and personal problems, Strawberry was indicted for tax evasion and eventually pleaded guilty in 1995 to a single felony count. That was based on his failure to report $350,000 in income from autographs, personal appearances and sales of memorabilia.
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 possession of cocaine and soliciting a prostitute. He eventually spoke in court about struggling with depression and was charged with violating his probation numerous times — including on his 40th birthday in 2002.
Strawberry ultimately served 11 months in Florida state prison and was released in 2003.
A White House official said on Nov. 7 that Trump approved a pardon for Strawberry who had served time and paid back taxes. Speaking on background 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 a decade-plus, and that he’d become active in ministry and started a still-active recovery center.
Strawberry posted on Instagram a picture of himself and Trump and wrote, “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 described being home on Nov. 6, caring for his wife who was recovering 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,’” Strawberry wrote. “I put it on speakerphone with my wife nearby, and President Trump spoke warmly about my baseball days in NYC, praising me as one the greatest player of the ’80s and celebrating the Mets. Then, he told me he was granting me a full pardon from my past.”
Strawberry said he was “overwhelmed with gratitude — thanking God for setting me free from my past, helping me become a better Man, Husband and Father.”
Related Articles
Related Content
Top Legal News
- Company accused of using per diem structure to avoid overtime obligations
- DEA, police raided Bucks home at gunpoint. Wrong address, lawsuit says
- Franchisee contract claims proceed over alleged misuse of marketing fees
- SCOTUS: Injured trucker’s negligent-hiring claim not preempted
- US appeals court questions Trump’s push to punish major law firms
- South Carolina lawyer Murdaugh’s murder conviction overturned
- Wage claims survive dismissal in employment dispute
- SC GOP announces plans to file a federal lawsuit to close primaries
- Evidence of undue influence required jury review in will dispute
- Asheville faces lawsuit after fatal sanitation truck accident
- Surgical misidentification leaves 2-year-old injured
Commentary
- When not to believe (your lyin’ eyes)
- Conduct a technology audit to improve law firm efficiency
- When the client brings ChatGPT to the consultation
- Content Marketing: Where law firms lose referrals and how to prevent it
- Your best people are not leaving for more money — they are leaving because you stopped paying attention
- Best at Work Insights: The choice we’re making about AI
- New life for the noncompete
- 2026: The year of tech, both heroes and villains
- Beyond burnout: The case for workplaces where people thrive
- The December question every leader should anticipate
- How do parent corporations deal with Workers’ Compensation?
- Best at Work Insights: Don’t Import 996: Why America Should Reject Overwork Culture
