Darryl Strawberry, a former baseball star turned evangelist, is recovering after surviving a heart attack in suburban St. Louis.
In a social media post, the 62-year-old shared a picture of himself in the hospital bed and opened up about the health scare. He captioned the photo, “Praising God for his amazing grace and loving mercy in saving my life this evening from a heart attack,” he wrote.
“I am so happy and honored to report that all is well. So thankful for the medical team and staff at St. Joseph West in Lake St. Louis for responding so quickly and bringing me through a stent procedure that has brought my heart to total restoration!!! Your prayers are so absolutely appreciated as I continue to recover, in Jesus’ name!”
New York Mets spokesman Jay Horowitz said Strawberry was stricken a day before his 62nd birthday and is now resting comfortably at home. Strawberry is one of the most celebrated sluggers in baseball. He’s an eight-time all-star and four-time World Series champion who played for the New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees over 17 years. The athlete, who has survived cancer twice, has also been open about his struggles with drugs and alcohol and how his experiences led him to Christ.
Today, he leads Strawberry Ministries with his wife, Tracy, which exists to “lead people to Jesus, teach them how to grow in their faith and experience freedom in Christ through step-by-step resources and daily encouragement.” Strawberry said . “I have been privileged my whole life to live behind community gates in [million dollar] homes and everything. But at the end of the day, I was empty on the inside. I didn’t have what I needed on the inside.
“We can accumulate all these great things, but if you don’t have Jesus on the inside of you, you are not going to be well as a person. It doesn’t matter what another kind of material stuff we have. I have searched for so long to have such a relationship with God myself, but I didn’t know him.”
Strawberry shared his testimony in an interview with Metro Voice that is available at ‘Turn Your Season Around’: Baseball legend Darryl Strawberry on winning the game of life – Metro Voice News.
The Mets will honor Strawberry by retiring his No. 18 on June 1 at Citi Field during a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. When announcing the move, Mets owner Steve Cohen called Strawberry an “iconic” member of the 1986 championship team.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice