Darryl Strawberry New York Mets Signed Official Rawlings Major League Baseball with “83 NL ROY”, “8X All-Star”, “4x WS Champs”, & “Straw Man” Inscriptions! – JSA Witnessed

Description

Darryl Strawberry is a former professional baseball right fielder who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Throughout his career, Strawberry was one of the most feared sluggers in the sport, known for his prodigious home runs and his intimidating presence in the batter’s box with his 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) frame and his long, looping swing that elicited comparisons to Ted Williams.

Strawberry, who was nicknamed “the Straw Man” or “Straw”, helped lead the New York Mets to a World Series championship in 1986 and the New York Yankees to two World Series championships in 1996 and 1999. A popular player during his career, Strawberry was voted to the All-Star Game eight straight times from 1984 to 1991. Strawberry appeared in a total of nine All-Star games and batted .333 with two stolen bases and two runs in 12 career All-Star at-bats. He had two three-home run games in his career, both of which came against Chicago teams and were almost 11 years to the day between each other. The first came against the Cubs on August 5, 1985, and the second was on August 6, 1996, against the White Sox.

He is one of only five Major League Baseball players to hit two pinch-hit grand slams in the same season. The others are his former coach Davey Johnson, who did it as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies, as well as Mike Ivie of the San Francisco Giants, Ben Broussard of the Cleveland Indians, and Brooks Conrad of the Atlanta Braves. He is also one of only three players in MLB history, along with former Yankees teammate Ricky Ledée and José Vizcaíno, to have played for all four of the former and current New York-based MLB teams: the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers and Giants.

Strawberry worked as an instructor for the New York Mets in 2005 and 2008, and was inducted to the Mets Hall of Fame in 2010. He threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Shea Stadium before Game 1 of the National League Championship Series between the Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals on October 12, 2006. He was given a rousing ovation by the Shea Stadium crowd. He served as an anchor on the Mets pre- and post- game shows on SNY in 2007 and 2008, eventually settling into a part-time analysis role for the 2009 season. On August 24th, 2023, the Mets announced plans to retire Strawberry’s number 18 – along with the number 16 of former teammate Dwight Gooden – in a ceremony during the 2024 baseball season. His memoir, Straw: Finding My Way, written with author John Strausbaugh, was published in April 2009.

The featured Rawlings Official Major League Baseball has been signed by New York Mets Legend Darryl Strawberry. He has added the inscriptions “83 NL ROY”, “8X All-Star”, “4x WS Champs”, & “Straw Man” in blue. Please note that the Baseball shows spotting. The Baseball includes an official James Spence Authentication (JSA) hologram and matching COA for authenticity purposes. The signing of this item was witnessed by JSA.

*********Please note that the Baseball shows spotting.