Former Mets star Darryl Strawberry thanks Trump for pardon during sermon at Tulsa church

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Former New York Mets great Darryl Strawberry praised Jesus and thanked President Donald Trump for forgiving his past tax evasion and drug charges as he preached Sunday at a Tulsa church.

Jackson Lameyer, founder of Pastors for Trump, welcomed the eight-time All-Star to the pulpit of Sheridan Church, where more than 400 congregants cheered when Strawberry mentioned Trump's pardon decision earlier this month.

“God just completely set me free when he gave me a pardon from President Donald Trump,” the 1983 National League Rookie of the Year said. “Other presidents had opportunities, but they didn’t do it.”

Former Major League Baseball player Darryl Strawberry, second from left, poses with some of the people who heard him preach Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, at Sheridan Church in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/Bobby Ross)

Strawberry hit 335 homers, had 1,000 RBIs and 221 stolen bases in 17 seasons with the Mets, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees.

For years, the four-time World Series champion battled legal, medical and personal issues. He served 11 months in Florida State Prison for violating his probation in 2002.

The now 63-year-old retired outfielder credits his Christian faith with changing his life and allowing him to remain sober for more than two decades.

“All the glory to God, because he found me in the pit and put me in the pulpit,” Strawberry said during his 45-minute sermon. The devil “should have killed me when he had the chance,” he joked.

Lameyer, the lead pastor of an independent charismatic congregation, said he entered politics during the COVID-19 pandemic when he was threatened with arrest for holding a service from a rooftop.

National Religious Advisory Council member Lameyer said he and Trump discussed strawberries during a meeting at the White House several months ago.

“Trump knows all the statistics,” Lameyer said in an interview. “He’s a big Darryl Strawberry fan.”

Lameyer said he and Trump had not discussed a possible pardon.

“We were just talking about how Darryl had completely turned his life around and that he was coming to preach at my church, which the president thought was just incredible,” the pastor said.

For his part, Strawberry, who met Trump while appearing on his reality show “Celebrity Apprentice” in 2010, said he was surprised when Trump called him on Nov. 6 to tell him about the pardon.

“We were just talking about my baseball career in the 1980s and what kind of player I was,” Strawberry told The Associated Press. “He was just telling me what a great player I was… and he was just joking about how he couldn't hit a baseball. I said, 'Well, just like you hit a golf ball, you can hit a baseball.'

The conversation then turned to Strawberry's past crimes. In 1995, he pleaded guilty to tax evasion and failure to report $350,000 in income from autograph signings, personal appearances and memorabilia sales.

“He told me, 'You know you've done some really bad things,'” Strawberry said. “But he said, ‘Today, given your life and what you do, your faith, helping people and sobriety, I give you complete forgiveness. You will be clean. I will destroy everything.”

Strawberry said he was stunned by the news.

“I was very grateful to God,” he said. “God really changed my life and kind of brought me to a really humble place to do His work.”

Strawberry, who lives in St. Louis with his wife of 19 years, Tracy, said he travels 260 to 270 days each year to talk about Jesus and transforming his life.

He was scheduled to speak at Sheridan Church in September, but his sermon was postponed after the death of Davey Johnson, who managed the Mets in the 1986 World Series. Lameyer “was kind enough to let me go and give the eulogy in front of my manager,” Strawberry told the congregation.

Church members and visitors interviewed after Sunday's meeting said they were inspired by Strawberry's comeback story.