The New York Mets have retired former right fielder Darryl Strawberry’s jersey number. He began his acceptance speech, “Nothing like being home! First, I’d like to give honor to God. I’d like to thank Him for his grace, His mercy, and His love for my life.” He’s the 10th player in Mets’ history to have his number retired. Strawberry went on to thank all who have helped him achieve such a high honor.
He said at the end of his speech, “The greatest gift I’ve ever received was accepting the Lord in my life. Not just becoming a baseball player, but becoming a man.” The day after the ceremony, Strawberry took to his social media to reflect on his experience. He wrote, “Yesterday was an amazing day with the Mets fans. Tracy and I are incredibly thankful to Steve and Alex Cohen for honoring me by retiring my number 18. We appreciate the love and support from the Mets community and organization. It was a truly special moment that we will cherish forever. Blessed.”
His wife, Tracy, also commented on the post and said, “I am overwhelmed with gratitude to God, our family, friends, Steve and Alex Cohen, the entire Mets organization and staff, and the most amazing fans for your tremendous love and support in making this such an incredible day in honoring my amazing husband @darrylstrawberry18 Forever Grateful!” Earlier this year, Strawberry suffered a heart attack. He said on Sports Spectrum’s podcast, “I think about having my situation, having a massive heart attack—walking around five days, having a heart attack and not even knowing—getting in the hospital at 40 percent. The doctor said, ‘I don’t know how you’re alive,’ but I’m thinking, ‘Nobody but Jesus.’”
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He knows that he’s alive right now only because of God’s grace. Strawberry continued, “You know, that’s what he hung on the cross for, you know, to shed his blood for us. That we would experience in this life. This abundant life, you know, because of that, because of his love for us on the cross. He wasn’t hanging on that cross just for nothing. He was hanging on that cross for everything.”