NEW YORK — The Mets did a nice job on Saturday reminding us why Darryl Strawberry is worth rooting for, even if the retirement ceremony for No. 18 was dirtied up by another dreary performance. What an unwatchable team.
What a lost season. So let’s pretend the 10-5 blowout to the Diamondbacks never happened. That’s not why 30,000 fans showed up at Citi Field, anyway.
The real attraction was Strawberry’s time portal. It was the 80s all over again, when Straw’s at-bats would stop you dead in your tracks. Four decades later, Darryl still commanded the room, this time with a speech that explained the arc of his complicated life.
Today Strawberry is a minister who travels the country spreading the Gospel. He’s happily married. He’s also a survivor of a recent heart attack that nearly killed him.
Strawberry’s winds of war have been reduced to a gentle breeze. It took the Mets 34 years to properly honor him. Shame on the Wilpon family for never fully appreciating Strawberry - or, for that matter, the franchise’s most exciting decade.
It was left to Steve Cohen to guarantee No. 18 and Doc Gooden’s No. 16 will never be worn again by a Met.
Cohen wasn’t around for the height of the Doc-Darryl era, but he understands that in 2024, the past is all Mets fans have. The love goes both ways. Strawberry recalled his decision to sign with the Dodgers as a free agent in 1990.
To this day, Darryl regrets breaking up the marriage. “I’m so sorry for ever leaving you guys,�.
