1986 – Darryl Strawberry, On Top of the World

1986 – Darryl Strawberry, On Top of the World

[paypal_donation_button]1986 – Darryl Strawberry, On Top of the World

Much has been written about Darryl Strawberry. That’s been the case since he broke onto the scene in New York in 1983 as a 21-year old, smashing 26 homeruns and stealing 19 bases on route to Rookie of the Year honors. That’s been the case ever since the lanky 6’6” prodigy was drafted first overall by the New York Mets in the 1980 draft, as an 18-year old teenager. That’s been the case since scouts started turning up to his baseball games his junior year of high school to watch the kid do things that most of them could only dream of even witnessing.

He was a singular talent, and a singular personality. When told by his high school coach that he could be the next Ted Williams, he replied laconically (iconically): ‘Who’s Ted Williams?” He was later cut by the same coach. It didn’t take, and he was back the next season.

He even has one of the most perfect baseball names imaginable, at once new and old, and evocative of multiple eras. With a name like Darryl Strawberry, he could’ve played in the 1880s or the 1950s. He didn’t though. He played right in our own backyard, in the 1980s. That’s enough of the romance, though, enough of the sentiment.

In 1986, Darryl was on top of the world.

By the start of the ’86 season, Darryl was already a two-time All-Star at the tender age of 23, and he’d already crushed 81 homeruns. In 1984 and 1985 both, he’d flirted heavily with joining the much-ballyhooed ‘30-30 club’, one of baseball’s ultimate tests of the so-called multi-tool player. He struck out too much, but part of that could be attributed to the broader strike zone typically called on tall players, but by 1985 he’d seemingly begun to curb that habit, limiting his Ks to 96 and increasing his on-base percentage to a more-than-reasonable .389. His OPS+ soared to 164 that year, meaning that he was 64% better than the ‘average’ player.

To say that expectations for Strawberry’s 1986 campaign were sky high is not hyperbole. The only player with a greater weight on his shoulders might’ve been Dwight Gooden.

The Met’s roared out of the gate that year, winning 59 of their first 84 games. Darryl wasn’t far behind in his personal productivity, although he was slowed again by nagging injuries, and not as consistent as might’ve been desired. He followed an excellent April (OPS+ 166) with a mediocre May (OPS+ 98). He rebounded through June and July, before cratering out in the August with a .176 batting average only five extra-base hits in the entire month. He surged back to life in September at the same time as those Mets, who would go on to win 108 games, with 8 homeruns over the season’s final month.
Limited to 136 games in 1986, his overall ‘counting’ stats weren’t quite as strong as the previous season, but he was as impactful as ever on the game and his teammates.

He was strong through the playoffs and to top things off, he crushed an 8th-inning ball in Game 7 of the 1986 World Series that extended the Met’s lead to 7-5. It was a lazy-looking, almost golf-like, swing that barely seemed to touch the ball, but the ball sailed to deep right field and beyond.
It was the last swing of the 1986 MLB season for Strawberry and, perhaps, the last swing of the first part of his career. As the years rolled on, and the honors piled up, Strawberry’s appetites grew, too. His addiction issues went from a secret, to an open secret, to common knowledge—and his performance suffered. For now, though, that was years away.

Were the pressures already eating away at him? Who knows. Too much has been written, and too many stories told about the pressure on, and the mishandling of, Strawberry and his fellow phenom Dwight Gooden.

Looking back, though, it’s hard not to get a little chill at the ironic words Strawberry uttered before the 1986 MLB season: “Gooden takes the pressure off me, having two guys like that around. But we really don’t get caught up in it.”