President Trump has pardoned a well-known figure in the world of sports: Darryl Strawberry, the former Major League Baseball star who pleaded guilty to tax evasion in 1995. The White House said in a statement that Strawberry, now 63, "served time and paid back taxes" after failing to report tens of thousands of dollars in income on his federal returns, reports CNBC. The pardon also clears Strawberry of his previous drug charges, per the AP.
Strawberry was an eight-time All-Star and played a key role in World Series wins for both the New York Mets and New York Yankees. But his baseball career came to an abrupt end in 2000 after he was suspended from the MLB for failing a drug test—a setback that followed years of substance abuse struggles. According to the White House, Strawberry has since turned his life around from all that: He "found faith in Christianity and has been sober for over a decade—he has become active in ministry and started a recovery center which still operates today," says a statement sent to Fox News.
In a social media post, Strawberry thanked Trump "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 also recalled getting the news:
- "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."
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Strawberry's pardon is the latest in a series of clemency actions by Trump. The president also commuted the sentence of former Republican Rep. George Santos, who had admitted to wire fraud and identity theft, and pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who served time for failing to address money laundering on his cryptocurrency platform.
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