Darryl Strawberry: Leaving Mets for Dodgers in 1990 is ‘Biggest Regret’ of MLB Career
The five-year contract Darryl Strawberry signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1990 made him one of the best-paid MLB players of the era.
The former New York Mets star says it is also the “biggest regret” of his career.
“I wish I would’ve never left this organization,” the three-time World Series winner told reporters Saturday (6:20 mark.) “That is the biggest regret I will have for the rest of my life, is leaving here.”
Strawberry played eight seasons with the Mets, who he helped lead to a World Series championship in 1986 prior to departing in free agency.
The team retired Strawberry’s No. 18 at Citi Field prior to the Mets’ Saturday game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Several of Strawberry’s former teammates, including Dwight Gooden, Mookie Wilson and Kevin Mitchell, were in attendance to celebrate the occasion.
“I just love these guys,” Strawberry said about his former teammates. “I love their personality, I love what they brought to the table. Just like myself, we all brought it to the table. And all these guys that I played with… all of them were gamers. We were all for each other, and we had each other’s back, and that’s what made us special.”
Gooden, Wilson, Mitchell and Strawberry were teammates on the 1986 roster that led the Mets to the franchise’s first title in almost two decades.
The four helped the Mets rally from a 3-2 series deficit to defeat the Boston Red Sox in seven games.
Strawberry played four more seasons with the Mets before signing a $20.25 million deal with the Dodgers in free agency, a deal that made him the second-highest paid player in the MLB at the time.
He went on to play 10 more seasons, including three with the Dodgers, one with the San Francisco Giants and a stint with the New York Yankees that included two more World Series titles.
But Strawberry told reporters that he still considers himself a Met even after playing his final MLB season with the Yankees in 1999.
