Baseball great Darryl Strawberry to share his faith journey at Battle Creek Community Prayer Breakfast

Editor’s note: This story is part of Southwest Michigan Second Wave’s On the Ground Battle Creek series.

BATTLE CREEK, MI — Home plate for Darryl Strawberry is no longer on the baseball field, but rather in his faith off the diamond, which got him through a battle with addiction that ended his professional baseball career and the life he had so carefully built.

The baseball great, who played his final game in 1999, will share his story during the 2026 Battle Creek Community Prayer Breakfast, which begins at 7:25 a.m. on May 5 at Kellogg Arena. This year’s theme is “Out of the Dugout, Into the Light.”

The event, now in its 44th year, is expected to draw more than 1,000 individuals, including about 250 high school-age students, representing different faiths, races, genders, and ages, says Helen Royal, Event Coordinator.

“Our co-chairs, Esther and Ryan Leonard, sat down with members of the Prayer Breakfast Committee to talk about previous speakers and their messages and what’s important to them,” Royal says of the couple. “They wanted to address and support those in the community recovering from addiction. We wanted to have somebody with a recognizable name talk about how they overcame their struggles. Darryl had been on my radar for a long time.”

Strawberry also had been top-of-mind for Tom Leonard, who says, “Strawberry’s journey is one of the most powerful redemption stories he has encountered — a man who possessed fame and achievement at the highest level, watched it come apart, and ultimately rebuilt his life on an entirely different foundation,” according to an article in Rolling Out.

That foundation was a faith in God that grew to become his focus in 2003 as he ended an illustrious career in Major League Baseball (MLB).

During that 17-year career, he played for four MLB teams and was a member of the New York Mets and New York Yankees when they won World Series titles — the Mets in 1986 and the Yankees in 1996, 1998, and 1999. He was also an eight-time National Baseball League All-Star from 1984 to 1991.

Listed alongside these career highlights on his website are his Life Highlights, a more sobering account of the direction his post-baseball life took. Included in this list are his founding in 2011 of Strawberry Ministries; induction into the Mets Hall of Fame in 2010; surviving cancer twice; and surviving a 2024 heart attack.

He was one of five siblings raised by their mother after their father, an abusive alcoholic, left following a confrontation that grew to include a police presence.

“Darryl used baseball as an outlet to cope with life, and he was good at it,” according to the website. “Baseball gave him a feeling of control, and he vowed to not let anything ever control him. Despite the cocky attitude, his talent for the game was undeniable. After a notable high school baseball showing, the New York Mets drafted Strawberry right out of Crenshaw High School.”

Getting in his own way

As his baseball career was taking off, he married his first wife. As pressure mounted in the world of baseball, he turned to alcohol and drugs to have an outlet and escape. Soon, he was introduced to cocaine, which became his strongest addiction.

Strawberry’s peak was the World Series win with the 1986 Mets. After three more years with the Mets, he accepted a lucrative deal to play in his hometown with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He spent three seasons with the Dodgers, but his drug habit sent him to rock bottom.

About the same time, he was invited to a convention by evangelist Morris Cerullo. He cried all through the preaching and responded to the call. Darryl recalls, “The power of God hit me, and when I got up, my belly was like a river.” Darryl checked into rehab and left his addiction behind.

He went on to play one season with the San Francisco Giants and received a 60-day suspension after testing positive for cocaine before the team released him, according to an ESPN story.

Then he got the call from the New York Yankees, and his career got a second wind. He married a second time and won three World Series titles with the Yankees. However, troubles arose as his drug habit resurfaced, bringing to the surface the deep anger and abuse that impacted his marriage.

At the end of the 1998 season with the Yankees, Strawberry was diagnosed with colon cancer, which required chemotherapy and recovery time.

While attempting a comeback in April 1999, he was arrested during extended spring training in Tampa for cocaine possession and for soliciting an undercover officer for sex. He was given a four-month suspension by MLB and then returned to help the Yankees win a second straight World Series.

Three months later, Strawberry again tested positive for cocaine. He was suspended by MLB for one year, during which time he underwent additional cancer surgery.

In March 2001, a four-day drug binge left Strawberry suicidal. After a hospital stay, he was sentenced in May to spend two years in a drug treatment center. But the next year, Strawberry was ejected from Phoenix House for repeatedly breaking its rules, including the one not allowing sex between residents. Sentenced to 18 months for violating his probation, Strawberry was released in April 2003 from the Gainesville (Florida) Correctional Institution after serving 11 months.

Strawberry rejoined the Yankees in November 2003, with duties that included serving as a spring training instructor. However, he quit three months later, saying he wanted to devote his time to Without Walls International Church.

Prior to this, he attended a drug recovery convention and realized that, “I just had to surrender. I had to get with God myself. I had to separate myself from everything and everybody. God was calling me, and it was either I was going to answer this call, or I was going to die.”

At that convention, he met Tracy, also a recovering addict, and the two married in 2006. The couple leads Strawberry Ministries.

“Together they experienced a life-changing transformation through the power of God and the process of change. They have devoted their lives to helping others do the same,” according to the story about his life.

Faith in the spotlight

Royal says Strawberry’s story of faith and resilience is a very worthwhile one to share with the community.

“People need to always have that reassurance of faith, which is something each of us can rely on. It gives us strength,” she says. “Hearing somebody else’s message of where they’ve been and where they are now is important.”

In addition to prayer, reflection, and Strawberry’s remarks, the event will include community resources available to people who may be experiencing their own addictions or who may know someone who is.

“We always hope and encourage people to take the message of the day and share it with the community, and spread a message of hope and faith with others who are not at the breakfast. We want to have literature available and embrace people in the community who need help with their addictions and let them know they have support.”

The cost of admission to the breakfast is $20 per person. Royal says there are funds available to cover the cost for those who want to attend but can’t afford it.

“No one is turned away,” she says.

The Darryl Strawberry Story contributed to this article.