Former New York Mets star Darryl Strawberry was granted a pardon by US President Donald Trump for a 1995 guilty plea on a tax evasion charge
Luke HalesUS President Donald Trump has approved a pardon for former Major League Baseball star Darryl Strawberry, the three-time World Series champion and the White House said Friday.
Strawberry, 63, had pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion in 1995 after indictments for failing to pay taxes on income from appearances.
The eight-time MLB All-Star outfielder won World Series crowns with the New York Mets in 1986 and the New York Yankees in 1996 and 1999.
In a 17-year career that also included stints with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, Strawberry batted .259 with 335 home runs and 1,000 runs batted in.
He was also suspended by MLB three times for substance abuse issues.
A White House official told US media Friday that Trump approved the pardon in part because Strawberry served time, paid back taxes, "found faith in Christianity and has been sober for over a decade."
Strawberry thanked Trump in an Instagram post.
"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," Strawberry wrote.
He said he had been "half asleep" Thursday when his phone buzzed with a call from Washington. When he answered, it was the White House saying Trump was on the line.
"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 felt "overwhelmed with gratitude -- thanking God for setting me free from my past, helping me become a better Man, Husband and Father.
"This has nothing to do with politics -- it's about a Man, President Trump, caring deeply for a friend. God used him as a vessel to set me free forever," Strawberry added.
js/mlm
Originally published on doc.afp.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
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