Darryl Strawberry returns to Hagerstown state prisons to minister to inmates

Darryl Strawberry walked into the auditorium at the Maryland Correctional Institution south of Hagerstown on Wednesday morning and greeted a few inmates sitting near the entryway, bumping fists as they asked each other how they were doing.

One of the inmates told Strawberry he appreciated him coming to share his story with them.

Strawberry, 61, is a former Major League Baseball star, a former Florida state inmate and an ordained minister.

He was part of three World Series winning teams — with the New York Mets in 1986 and with the Yankees in 1996 and 1999.

The Mets announced last summer they will retire Strawberry's uniform number, 18, this season. That's 24 years after Strawberry's professional playing career came to an end, when then-Commissioner Bud Selig suspended him for the 2000 season after he tested positive for cocaine early that year.

In April 2003, he was released from the Gainesville Correctional Institution after serving almost a year for violating probation on cocaine possession charges, according to The Gainesville Sun.

Strawberry told the MCI-H inmates Wednesday that many people look up to baseball players and celebrities.

“I was broken before I even put a uniform on,” Strawberry told about 80 inmates and several corrections officials at the medium-security prison. “We look at celebrities like they have it all together. I’m here to tell you that’s not the truth.”

They are “sinners too,” he said.

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How did Darryl Strawberry end up talking to Western Maryland inmates?

Strawberry first visited MCI-H and the nearby Roxbury Correctional Institution, as well as two state prisons near Cumberland, Md., in 2015.

"We had such a wonderful time, a sweet time, in 2015," Strawberry said before walking into MCI-H. "It's good to be back.”

Strawberry and his wife, Tracy, who have both battled addiction, run Strawberry Ministries. Through the Missouri-based organization, they help “lead people to Jesus” and “teach them how to grow in their faith,” according to its website.

Strawberry said he travels to prisons across the country.

Mark Vernarelli, a spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said he's stayed in touch with Strawberry since even before the 2015 visit. Vernarelli followed Strawberry's baseball career and trajectory.

Corrections officials keep their eyes out for people of all faiths who can relate to inmates and share stories of hope, Vernarelli said.

"He's been there," Vernarelli said. Strawberry grew up in an abusive household, had struggles in life and was incarcerated.

And Strawberry said back in 2015 he would be willing to come back.

Vernarelli said Strawberry recently contacted him because he was going to be in Maryland and wanted to know if he could speak to state inmates again.

Vernarelli also credited prison administrators for getting Strawberry's visit approved on short notice.

The inmates with the opportunity to listen to Strawberry had to be “infraction-free,” according to Vernarelli.

The men, most of them African-American, sat attentively listening to Strawberry. Occasionally, one of them would say "Yeah" to Strawberry's message, and some inmates would nod their heads in agreement.

After leaving the auditorium at MCI-H, Strawberry ate a hot turkey lunch in the cafeteria while talking to staff.

Then he talked to almost 150 inmates at Roxbury, Vernarelli texted.

On Thursday, Strawberry was scheduled to talk to inmates at Western and North Branch state prisons near Cumberland. He also spoke to inmates at those facilities nine years ago.

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Darryl Strawberry’s message to inmates: 'Money does not make you well'

Strawberry told the inmates he “used to think it was about this earthly life,” about playing baseball, womanizing and doing drugs.

But he was a sinner, he said.

“Making you money does not make you well. What makes you well, what makes you a man is when there’s a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,” he said.

“I didn’t want to straddle the fence anymore.”

Some people talk about Christ, but they don’t live their life in accordance with those principles, he said.

“It was me that made the mistakes. … who wanted to continue the sinful lifestyle,” Strawberry said.

Strawberry said he was “dealt a bad hand” with a father who was a “raging alcoholic” who would beat him. His father once threatened to kill the family with a shotgun.

After he decided to put his trust in God, Strawberry said God called upon him to share his story and His message.

Strawberry said at first he didn’t think it was right because he wasn’t the “perfect” person. But God wasn’t looking for a “perfect” person.

Moses killed an Egyptian, but God used him, Strawberry said.

“What do you think He’d do with your life if you surrendered your life to Him” Strawberry asked the inmates.

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Inmates appreciated Darryl Strawberry's visit

One of the inmates, a 24-year-old man from Hagerstown, told The Herald-Mail after Strawberry's address that it was "something special" to have Strawberry, a former Major Leaguer and celebrity, come talk to them.

Because the event was approved on short notice, there wasn't time to get proper clearances to use inmates' names or allow their faces to be photographed, Vernarelli said.

Asked what he took away from Strawberry's talk, the young inmate said, "Anything's possible."

Of the messages and stories Strawberry shared, the one that stood out the most for the young inmate was when Strawberry talked about forgiving his father.

That moment and that the Lord blessed Strawberry for forgiving someone he had hated, said the young inmate, a Christian.

After preaching to the inmates in the auditorium, several went up to Strawberry and met him one-on-one. Strawberry signed autographs, chatted with the men briefly and shook their hand or bumped a fist.

MCI-H Chaplain Garry Felton said Strawberry didn’t forget where he came from and was willing to come back to these prisons and speak again.

Inmates tend to feel “rejected and forgotten,” the chaplain said.

“The guys really appreciate it when someone comes back and they’re not forgotten,” Felton said.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Former MLB star Darryl Strawberry ministers to Maryland inmates