STRAWBERRY
New York baseball icon, former Met and Yankee, and four-time World Series champion Darryl Strawberry takes a swing at some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby. Q: Who are sluggers in today’s game you enjoy watching? A: Pete [Alonso] was definitely one. I enjoyed watching him last year. To be able to hit the ball the other way with power, that’s a good sign that you can be productive at that level for a very long time. Q: What advice would you give him during his struggles this season? A: Go the other way. Work on your weakness. Don’t work on your strength, don’t get in the batter’s box and pull the ball at all. When I struggled, I would hit line drives over the shortstop’s head. Don’t pitch me in, I don’t want anything in. If he does that, that’s working on your mechanics and getting your mechanics right so you could stay on the baseball. Think right-center, right-field line. Q: Other sluggers you like watching? A: Aaron Judge. I just like how his approach is as a young player. He’s aggressive, but he’s very selective. When the pitchers make mistakes, he makes ’em pay for it. He attacks the baseball when the mistakes are made, and also at the same time, he’s very quiet and disciplined at the plate. The majority of the time he uses the whole ballfield. Q: Does he remind you of you? A: Somewhat. I saw him spread the ball all over, and it’s the same thing I was saying about Pete last year. Q: If he stays healthy, can he break the home run record in a 162-game season? A: You see guys come in the league, and you see ’em establish themselves in one or two years and then they kind of fade out. It’s a possibility. When he’s healthy, he can do some serious damage. Q: What do you think of Giancarlo Stanton? A: His ceiling of who he was was high playing in Miami, but I think it’s different when you play in New York, ’cause the expectations are real when you play in New York, and if you’re not prepared for that emotionally, it can eat you up. And I think it’s a tough place for him to play. Q: Could no fans in the stands at the Stadium help him? A: If he’s playing in front of the fans in New York and you’re not playing well, and you’re getting paid well, the fans are gonna let you have it, I can tell you that right now. New York fans are real, you have to learn how to deal with that. Q: Why did you thrive in that environment? A: They’re gonna either make you believe in yourself and you can do it, or they’re gonna break you. I just didn’t believe in allowing to be broken in those situations. I didn’t want to play in front of fans that they’ll say, “That’s OK, you’ll get it next time.” That’s not good for a guy who’s striving to be the best. Q: Was there a difference between Yankees and Mets fans? A: Met fans were really hard because when I was younger they wanted me to play at such a high level. Yankee fans were great to me because it was later in my career. They were just really gracious that I was back and playing in New York and playing with them over in The Bronx. But I’m glad the Met fans gave it to me because had it not been for them, I would have probably never been the player that I was. They pushed me into being the kind of player that I needed to be. You can easily fold under the pressure of 30, 40,000 booing you when you strike out and you’re consistently failing to drive in runs. If that doesn’t make you tough, it’s gonna kill you, and I didn’t let it kill me, it made me tough. Q: As you’ve traveled around the country, why did the evils of opioid addiction become such a cause for you? A: Well, because young people starting losing their lives like never before. I had a couple of treatment centers down in Florida, and I started seeing the youth of from 18-to-25 and 30 all come in and all addicted to opioids. It was a very sad time. I was sitting at the lunch table and seeing young girls, and I asked them a question, I said, “OK, tell me what happened to you? Drugs are not your problem, but what happened? Something happened. My father rejected me, beat me — what happened to you?” Tears started coming out of their eyes and they said, “I’ve been raped by my uncle,” and “My grandpa molested me,” and stuff like that. No one signs up to be addicted to any type of drug, and I knew that there was something so deep that the opioids were controlling them to escape from their pain so they couldn’t get well. And I just saw so many kids die, and it just broke my heart. I saw the pharmaceutical companies get rich, CEOs and presidents, I saw them buying $25 million homes, and we got kids dying, OD’ing and dying. I just wanted to try to be a voice to try to help. Q: Was prison your emotional low point? A: Prison was more of a wake-up call: Look what has happened to you. I think my emotional low was being addicted to drugs like I was, and how powerful and controlling it really is. I wish I understood it, I didn’t at the time. I wish I would have accepted real help. You see all those that have died — from Prince and Elvis, and Michael Jackson. ... All those didn’t have to die if someone would have said they have a serious problem, they need to go [get help]. I was so defeated, I can say. But today I don’t live in that darkness. I have such a joy in my life to live to help somebody else. Q: What kind of Mets owner would Alex Rodriguez be? A: He would be incredible. I would hope a guy like him would be able to get a team like the Mets and really come in there and work well in New York City. He’s a guy that understands New York City, he’s played there ... has had great success as a player, and everything that he’s been through . ... We all have shortcomings, and for him to come in and represent New York City would be incredible. Just like [Derek] Jeter owning [the Marlins]. Q: Describe George Steinbrenner. A: The best owner in sports . ... All those years with all the teams that he had, no matter if they were good or bad, he always wanted to win. He adored us, he didn’t care what anybody else thought of us, and he thought more highly of us than anybody else did, and just have nothing but great respect for that. Q: Do you have a single favorite home run? A: It was in a playoff game, it was against Nolan Ryan to tie the ballgame, and we go on to win that ballgame. He was sticking it to us, and had we not beat one of them, ’cause we never were gonna beat [Mike] Scott, we would have never been ‘86 World Series champs. Q: How do you think the ’86 Mets would have handled the pandemic protocols on the road? A: I don’t know if we would have made it. We didn’t go by the guidelines anyway, so it would have been real hard to say that we would have made it through it. Q: Who wins a seven-game series: the ’86 Mets versus the ’98 Yankees? A: I just think the ’86 Mets had a different type of swagger about ’em. We were never intimidated by anybody, we can get behind and always come back in a ballgame. The ’98 Yankees, we were explosive, we had so much talent, we’d just blow people out. It would be a tight, tight ballgame, but I would give the edge to the ’86 Mets.