WASHINGTON ‒ President Donald Trump has pardoned former baseball star Darryl Strawberry for a past tax evasion conviction, the White House said on Nov. 7, citing his sobriety and reborn Christian faith.
Strawberry, an eight-time Major League Baseball all-star outfielder, pleaded guilty in 1995 to one count of tax evasion after admitting he knowingly failed to report more than than $350,000 in income from autograph shows.
Strawberry, who was suspended three times during his MLB career for substance abuse, later served 11 months in a Florida prison in an unrelated state case for drug possession and solicitation of prostitution. He was released in 2003.
A White House official who confirmed Trump’s approval of the pardon said Strawberry, now 63 years old, had served his time and paid back the taxes he owed the government. The official said Strawberry has since found faith in Christianity and been sober for more than a decade. Strawberry has become active in ministry and started a drug recovery center that remains active, the official said.
Strawberry, an outspoken campaign supporter of Trump, expressed gratitude for the president’s pardon in a post on Instagram. ‘Thank you, President Trump, for my full pardon and for finalizing this part of my life, allowing me to be truly free and clean from all my past,’ Strawberry wrote.
Strawberry said he received a phone call at 4:37 p.m. ET on Nov. 6 and noticed a Washington, D.C., area code, adding that ‘to my amazement’ he was directed to Trump. He said the president spoke warmly about Strawberry’s peak playing career in the 1980s and ‘then he told me he was granting me a full pardon from my past.’
‘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 said.
The 1983 National League Rookie of the Year, Strawberry is best known for his stint with the New York Mets in the 1980s before ending his career with the New York Yankees. Strawberry also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants. He played for three World Series champion teams, including one for both New York teams.
Trump has been active with his clemency power in recent weeks.
In October, he commuted the seven-year prison sentence of former Republican New York U.S. Rep. George Santos for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He later pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao ‒ a key supporter of the Trump family’s crypto venture who pleaded guilty to money laundering charges. On Nov. 6, Trump pardoned former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada and his top aide, Cade Cothren, before both men were set to report to prison to serve sentences on public corruption charges.
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