Darryl Strawberry breaks down addiction & redemption in 'Another Life' + talks '86 Mets, Jeter's Yankees, Barry Bonds & steroid era

26:50Yo, I was scrolling through the Sprite living track list of a day and immediately started arguing with myself, arguing with yourself. I'm serious. It was wild because records like California love, still not a player. Back then, those aren't just songs. Nah, those are moments, memories, snapshots of where hip-hop was and where it's going. Exactly, and that's what Sprite gets. They spent over 40 years celebrating artists who really defined the culture. And now they flipping it, letting the fans be part of the conversation. Which is where it gets interesting, because the real debate is why. Like, why did that song matter?

27:29Why did that line hit? Why did it change hip-hop forever? I can't promise you we got the answers. But you're definitely going to have a good time figuring it out. Go check out Full Sprite Living Tracklist. And break down the stories behind your favorite bars. At livingtracklist.genius.com. This is the Sprite Living Tracklist. Obey your thirst.

27:57This episode is supported by FX's The Drop, a snowfall saga. Wanda and Leon are back, but this time they're chasing a different kind of legacy. As West Coast rap begins to take over 90s Los Angeles, Wanda is betting on a new generation of artists. But in a city where every opportunity comes with a price, they'll have to decide what they're willing to risk to leave their mark. FX is the drop. Now streaming on Hulu. Chat GPT can do more than answer questions. It can help you get real work done. ChatGPT work is built for bigger projects with multiple steps. You bring the goal along with the information it needs, like briefs, notes, files, feedback, calendars, data sets, or project plans.

28:44Then ChatGPT can help turn all of that into something useful. An analysis, a tracker, a deck outline, a prototype, or a workflow you can keep shaping. It can also use approved apps, connected tools, files, and browser contexts to help move the work forward. And you stay in control. You give direction, review drafts, approve actions, redirect the work, and choose the final output. So you spend less time sorting through busy work and more time making progress on the work that matters. Put ChatGPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects. Get started at ChatGPT.com by selecting Work Mode.

29:22Available on Plus and Pro Plans. This is Colin Coward from The Herd with Colin Coward. Everyday American heroes put it all on the line to protect our freedoms, communities, and families. And behind every folded flag and retired uniform is a family that carries the weight of their sacrifice. Folds of Honor steps in with educational scholarships for spouses and children of fallen or disabled military service members and first responders. The mission is life-changing and monthly donations make it possible. Become a donor today at FoldsofHonor.org to help meet their sacrifice with hope. And it's even harder, right?

30:03Because you're telling me you did 11 months. I was going to ask you, and I think about the soul of town, right? Whenever a celebrity or somebody goes to jail or whatever, I think about that first time you walk in there and they're like, holy shit, it's downstraight. and then you got to lay on that bunk for the first time and be like, holy shit, what the fuck am I doing here? Did you have that type of moment? I had the moment where when I went into the prison system and the warden told me, you don't belong here. And he said, do your time and get going and get moving forward. because you're talking about a place where it's real.

30:55There's no joke. And I don't care who you are, you're going to be challenged at some point, sometime. That's just the way it is. And when I got there, I wasn't in fear. I was in the fact that, okay, I need to get this over with because I can't keep having this over my head. I'm not a criminal. I got a substance abuse problem. So, okay, it's 11 months. I could do this probably standing on the top of my head, just the way I used to think because of where I'm from. I've already been tough from the street, so I wasn't like, oh, man, I'm afraid. It's like, okay, here we are. How are you going to deal with it?

31:36And I went in the system and I dealt with it. And I made a lot of friends because I'm a cool guy. I'm not a guy that's looking to throw the knuckles. But if you want to throw the knuckles, I throw those too. Because that's where I've been through that, you know, from the streets and playing baseball. So a lot of them already know that. And so you got to challenge a few times, you know, when you're playing sports there and playing basketball. And you're dunking on fools. Yeah, you're dunking on fools and they're talking and they're getting mad. And I was like, yeah, whatever. Let's do it. but people like always would push you back so you wouldn't get into those places where you get put in the hole and stuff like that.

32:16And so, I mean, the fact that it happened is the lessons that, do you learn the lessons in life? This is what happens to a lot of people that don't. They keep repeating the same thing over and over and over again, looking for a different result and thinking it's a different way to do it, But it's not when you get caught up in the system like that. And as you tell a lot of brothers that, I said, I'm not coming back here. You know, I got a letter A and some guys got DCF. You know, I've been back there six, seven times and talking about a different way of doing things when they get out. I said, there's no different way when you get yourself involved in the system like this.

32:59And, you know, I was prosecuted in Tampa. I was prosecuted by Pam Bondi. she was on prosecuting me she was telling the judge he needs to be locked up the judge was like no he don't he's not a criminal he just has a drug problem he's like who did he care she's like well he's just he's destroying Tampa she's like no he's not he just violated probation so it taught me a lot about the system and people and I got a real great education about life life will give you a good education no matter if you're successful and you go through some things and if you're successful and you don't go through some things life is going to challenge you at some point and if you don't have life skills you're not going to be able to make it through because that's what you have to have to be able to get through this whole thing that we call life up there you win a chip with the Mets you win three chips with the Yankees which was the more fun team?

34:11Probably that's easy to say the 86th match we're the more crazier team that I've ever played with What consists of crazy? Doing whatever you want however you want but at the fact So motherfucker was getting high going to the game high No we didn't get high going to the game you know people exaggerate when they say that you know when we was going you don't win 108 ball games getting high we might have been taking amphetamines and we're crazy we're gonna put these knuckles on you and stuff like that and we're gonna go out and drink and be wild you talking about after they say Babe Ruth and them used to get hammered every night after yeah you're gonna go out and drink you got women everywhere you married you know you you're gonna have fun cause it's it's like a candy store you go to the candy store and get what you like.

35:06That's what it was like for us in the 80s. And there was no hangover about that, you know, because it was the 80s. It was different. New York was different. And we were like a band, like rappers. You know, you go into town, you go into town and you turn it out and behind the scenes, it's a different story, you know. It's turning up.

35:31so the Mets I'm saying that was the team the 86 Mets it was like really who was on the 86 Mets? Jerry Carter you was going up against Fernando Venezuela I was taking him off the scoreboard you know they still got murals of him in LA and all that Fernando Venezuela you was parking Taking this shit off. That hat going up like this? Who else is part of the team? Hernandez, Carter. Keith Hernandez. Wally Backman, Dykstra. Lenny Dykstra. Kevin Mitchell. Yeah. No, Doc Gooden, Ron Darling, Bobby Ojeda. Bobby Ojeda. Rafael Santana. Oh, my God. Ray Knight. Tuffle. But you go down a list of our team, and it wasn't just - Keith Hernandez, he was a hell of a first baseman.

36:23He's the most intelligent player I have ever played with. And I could tell. How about that? I could read his IQ every time he was making a play. You knew Keith Hernandez was a smart motherfucker. He ain't look dumb for nothing. Nah, man. Just like when we skipped to the Yankees, I would say my favorite Yankee of all time was Sturman Munson. Just as a fan because he was a wild white boy, back catcher. But I mean, you know, he gave me everything Keith Fernandez ain't give me. I'm like, yo, this is a wild boy. He look like Jake Paul playing baseball or some shit like that. But on the Yankees, on the winning side of the Yankees, who'd you play with on those teams?

37:10I played with Tino. I played with Bernie. I played with O 'Neal. I played with Scott Brosis. I played with the one and only, the great Jeep. Derek Jeter. Oof. Captain. Probably the best person between him and Carter are probably the best people I've ever met in the game of baseball. Derek Jeter. Yeah, they don't say anything negative about nobody. Jeter never did. Carter never did. He does a lot for the community. He does a lot. Derek Jeter, the turn two foundation, is always helping the people. Folks talk about how he's not, you know, this player, that player. the guy played the game the right way.

37:53Yeah, he went out there. When he put the uniform on, he didn't have to voice his opinion about being the captain. He was the captain because of the way he played. And that is the way people should look at players that stand out. You know, they stand out more of looking at other guys and, well, this guy's better, but Derek was Derek. They never get into Derek. Back to the Mets, though. When Davey Johnson said we're going to win it all, did y 'all really believe that at that moment? What did you think? We were true gangsters. We knew we were going to win. That's fine. Because we had lost the year before to the Cardinals.

38:36We won 98 ballgames and went home. And in our locker room after that series, it was just really quiet. And we knew to ourselves that we had lost the division twice back-to-back, 84 and 85. We lost to the Cubs, then we lost to the Cardinals. And it hit us right in there. You know. She's the only good luck I got right now about Philly with LeBron and all of them. Every team always lose the first year. They never just straight go. So it's the only thing I can keep telling myself we're going to beat these guys. Philly that's stacked up in the basketball side. I'm like, yo, they always win one. They always lose a year to feel that and then come back.

39:25Hopefully they lose this year. You know what I'm saying? I'm keeping it real. I'm keeping it a buck. Well, that's a good question because, see, Davey Johnson was a guy that played the game. And he had a personal understanding about players. and he knew how to get players and put players in a position to be successful. And he never would throw his players under the bus. What goes on in the clubhouse stays in the clubhouse. We're fighting, we're fighting, but it's not coming out to the media. And we're not going to let the outlets know anything about inner stuff. And we had inner stuff because we had a lot of personalities.

40:13and a lot of times guys wanted to push my button, but I was the wrong guy that you didn't want to push my button because I was different. I didn't play around when you push my button, but when I get on this field, and we all get on this field together, we're going to wax people. It was no worrying about that. It was no pressure when he told us that spring training, we're going to win it all. He didn't just say we were going to win it all. He said we were going to dominate. And we got off to two and three stars, something like that. And we had to welcome home dinner. And Keith told everybody, relax.

40:51It's just the season that just started. And once we went into St. Louis and we swept the Cardinals, and Whitey Herzog, the manager for the Cardinals, made a comment. He says, nobody's going to beat them. And we just took off and ran away with that division. So somebody could actually say something that you hear and it could affect you mentally, like, look, this certification, they know we coming to win. Let's do it. So something like that could actually motivate you to go all the way. Oh, no doubt about it. But we had this swag about us because when we were coming into your town, we coming to tear it up.

41:33Yeah, we coming to tear it up on the field, off the field, just all around. You know, it was just the way it was for us. Your hose, your club, and we're going to hit the home run the next day. See you next week. It was just the kind of way it was for us and the personality of the team that we had. We had some bad guys. Doc Gooden looked like he was having the time of his life at that time, too. Doc Gooden was very unique. I don't think you will ever see anyone as good as that as a kid at 19, 20 years old. 1985, he dominated Major League hitters like I've never seen. They talk about a lot of great pitchers, but he was only 20.

42:22And you're talking about a guy that had command of his fastball and could throw his breaking ball at any time and have Dawson, Mike Smith, Pete Rose, all those great Hall of Famers and freeze them and throw gas. I mean, I think guys knew when Doc was pitching, they were early in batting practice. They would take BP and then all of a sudden they scratched because their neck hurt or something like that. How was my man Goose Gossage? Goose Gossage with the legendary mustache. Goose was wild. Goose could get busy, huh? Yeah, Goose could get busy and he gives you that look and he intimidates you with that look he had on his face.

43:07Yeah, I'm a brownstone cow, boy. You know what I've learned? The things that really matter, you can't rush them. Facts. You can't rush the sauce. You can't rush the music. You can't rush relationships. And you definitely can't rush great tequila. That's why 1800 Tequila stands out. The name goes all the way back to the 1800s when the Beckman family started making tequila. And that patience, that attention to the craft has been passed down through more than 11 generations. That's legacy. Sometimes you just got to let something cook. Juan Beckman Vidal aged 1800 and they old longer than he even had to because he knew it wasn't ready yet.

43:57I respect that. Don't put it out just because you can put it out. Put it out when it's right. That applies to a record, a conversation, a mood, a making, and clearly a bottle of tequila. Once you get it right, you share it with your people. That's always been part of the story. Good tequila, good conversation, and the people around you really appreciate both. Passion, hard work, honesty. Those words are written on every bottle of 1 ,800. And honestly, that's the foundation for anything built to last. So take your time with what you're creating. And when the moment is right, share it with your people.

44:341 ,800 tequila. Good stuff takes time. And the best stuff's meant to be shared with your people.

44:45I got three-part questions. What was it like getting drafted number one? What was New York like at that time? and what was it like when the National League rookie ended? I think when I got drafted in 1980 out of high school, I know my mother drove me that morning to school and she was a little nervous and I wasn't. I figured I'd probably get drafted because four players got drafted the year before in 79 after we lost the city championship to John Elwin in Medodger Stadium. And all the scouts was asking the coach about me and they said he told them he's a junior. They go, he's a junior. Yeah, he's got another year of high school.

45:30So when I came out that my senior year, my first game, I had like 50 scouts out there looking, coming to see him. Because I was called the Black Ted Williams. Someone called me Willie McCovey. I was long linking. And being drafted that year, they came and got me out of class. And they said, you've been drafted. I says, okay. They said, you've been drafted number one. I says, okay. I just wanted to get drafted and they said you're going to the New York Mets I said okay where the heck is New York at wow and you know I finally got a chance to come here and see New York and I thought to myself when I saw this place I goes oh my god would you get here for the first time I think it was I came up when I was about 19, 20 years old from the minor league player of the year, stuff like that with the organization.

46:27And they brought me to New York and I came here and I thought... Yeah, but what year? What year? That had to be 1981 to... I came up in 83 before I came up because I won rookie of the year. But I had to be in 82, something like that. And coming down the streets and I was like, oh my God, how am I going to figure this out? They got one-way streets. you don't have that in California. You don't go one way. One go this way, one go that way, one go that way, one go that way. I was like, man, this is going to be really crazy to figure out. I was thinking about that when I was like 20 years old. So you get to New York City when the Bronx look like Palms hit it and shit like that.

47:14No, I mean... You ain't going to pick up no chick in the South Bronx where the shit looked like she was living inside the broken building and shit with the extension cord. New York was, to me, it was like South Central or ghetto hood. You know, so I kind of felt that vibe. You know, yeah, similarities. I kind of felt like, I'll be alright here. And I got here and I finally got here in 83, my rookie year, you asked me. And I struggled when I first came up like every player will. Struggled at the big leagues. I was 21. I was supposed to be at the ballpark early at one o 'clock with hitting coach Jim Fry and I didn't show up until three o 'clock.

47:59And he got in my face. He said, kid, if you ever want to be great at this major league level, you can be at this ballpark early every day. And from that day forward, I was at the ballpark early every day. I got to the ballpark. It was seven o 'clock game. I'm at the ballpark at two. And he worked me through that whole process and he got me to understand more about, it's not about the talent. It's about being here and taking it all in and also working on the things that you're weak at, not the things that you're strong at. See, most athletes don't even work at the things they're strong at. They don't work on the weak things.

48:37And so you want to be able to balance yourself. And he taught me that. And then we got Hernandez in the trade. He came from St. Louis. I had no idea who he was. And people were like, oh, it's a big deal. And Hernandez started to see me play. And he started to think, wow, who was this little skinny 21-year-old kid? They got hitting the ball off the scoreboard already. Hit this shit up. And he was thinking to himself that I want to get out of here because I come from the Cardinals. And I go on to win Rookie of the Year that year. But he said his father told him, you need to stay and sign with the match because they got some more players coming up through their farm system that's just like strawberry, and they're going to be pretty good.

49:23And that was big for me because to be able to have him teach me the game and elevate me to the next level was incredible because players like that are always going to have an effect on you. When they're not jealous and they know you're talented, and they're going to teach you how to do this. And he was that guy that was teaching me how to hit left-hand pitching and showing me how to do that, showing me how to get up in the box and get back deep when he's throwing fastballs and get up in the box when he's throwing off-speed, catch it. Man, I hit 20 home runs off left-hand pitchers in 88 because of knowing how to do that.

50:02So those are the things that have become important when you're playing sports and you listen to guys that have the knowledge like our Nambas have. I told you I seen pictures of, who was it? Harlem, Willie Mays? Like Willie Mays, you know, the Yankee Stadium was in the polo grounds first, and they got pictures of Willie Mays just playing stickball outside with all the kids in Harlem. It's just a beautiful sight to see. You ever did stuff like that with the kids out there and try to play baseball with them and stuff like that back in the day. We grew up on, like a broomstick, hitting rocks. That's how I learned to start swinging.

50:51So you had to have hand-eye coordination because you had to be able to see the rocks to hit them. And that's where I learned. I think that's where I learned how to be able to pick up the spin on the baseball. Because when you hit rocks, you got to pay attention. You got to focus. because you cannot take your eye off of it because you're going to miss it. And when I started to learn about baseball, I started to learn how to see the spin coming out of the pitcher's hand and everything. And those are the things that kids get away from. Well, it's different now because they have all these different platforms, AAU, Travel Ball.

51:27Well, no AAU Travel Ball for us. We ain't had no money for no AAU Travel Ball. We couldn't afford that. We had to play with rocks out there until you got to a place where you got on the team. And now this is what baseball is. And I was fortunate, like I said before, to grow up with Eric Davis and Chris Brown and play with those guys because they were multi-talented athletes too out of LA and played basketball. Eric went to Fremont. Chris went to Crenshaw with me. And to be able to watch them play just kind of motivated me even more. Like, hey, we can come out of here too. and be successful. When you see other guys from the hood play and you play summer ball together, you know where he can play.

52:13That's great. It reminds me of my little man there. He's from Brazil. And when that FIFA was going on, they were saying a story that the Brazilian players got good because they be in these little favelas. And they start playing soccer in these little favelas and they get so nice on their feet that when they get into like a real field, they're able to move because sometimes the limited things in life, things that can limit you in life can actually make you greater. You know, that's an important thing. You put me in such a humble position because these years you're talking about 81, 80. Man, I was still eating free lunch.

53:02Come on. I was eating free cheese, man. And so the fact that, you know, you bringing them years, I got to look at Daryl's story and be like, damn, man, did we ever think we'll ever meet Daryl Strawberry? The man, the myth, the legend. It's a big deal for us to meet you, bro, and have you on our show. It's an honor, brother, man. Well, same here, man, because I go back in those days, you know, when you had to get lunch bags at school and stuff like that. A lot of people didn't grow up like we did in what you were just talking about. It's real humbling, and it makes you tough. Makes you not forget.

53:43I never. You know, I jumped on the car of Dave Winfield. I was in the All-Star Weekend in Houston, and a man pulled up to a party, and I jumped on his car because the only way I could go to Yankee Stadium was with the Winfield Foundation. and the man used to give us free tickets to my projects to go to the Yankee game. So when I saw him, I just couldn't believe it because for us, living five minutes away from the stadium, we were still, we never seen green grass. We never seen lights. We never heard. And now, you know, the announcing and all that stuff, it was a big deal for us to get inside the stadium.

54:26And so shout out to Dave Winfield for doing that for me, man. The name of the book? Another life, baby. This ain't that. That ain't this. It's Crack and Kiss, goddammit. Make some noise for Daryl Scott. Very amazing. Thank you.

54:54Everyone loves the good goat debate. In sports, it's players and teams. In hip-hop, it's songs and verses. Nobody ever agrees that's what makes the conversation so much fun. Now Sprite is bringing the debate back to life with the Sprite Living track list. Sprite turned legendary hip-hop into limited edition collectible cans. The challenge is finding all 26 cans. Pick up a 12-pack and you never know which iconic lyric you'll get next. It's like building the ultimate roster, one legendary bar at a time. Your mission is to build your own physical playlist. Go out and hunt down all 26 limited edition cans of Sprite and Sprite Zero sugar.

55:35This is the Sprite Living Tracklist. Obey your thirst.

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