Darryl Strawberry Wishes He Could Have Been More Like Tim Tebow During Playing Days

An eight-time All-Star and four-time World Series champion, Darryl Strawberry was one of the most feared sluggers of the 1980s and ’90s. But for many, Strawberry’s name inevitably conjures up memories of drug addiction and legal trouble.

The former New York Mets and Yankees outfielder, now 51, has tried hard to leave that image of himself behind, and he told USA Today recently that if he could live his playing years over again, he would do so in the vein of two players.

One was former teammate Gary Carter, one of the few members of the Mets’ 1986 world championship team not known for debauchery. And the other? Well, let’s just say it’s someone Patriots fans will be seeing a lot of this season.

“I wish I could have been like a Gary Carter or a Tim Tebow when I was playing,” Strawberry said, “and have Christ in my life the way I do today. When Carter left here, he left here as a right man, a righteous man, who lived his life right. He loved his faith.

“I look at Tebow. He gets bashed because of his faith. Let ’em laugh. Let ’em talk. He’s a greater man than anyone who might be greater than him as an athlete. He’s a real man.

“He gets challenged about his faith all of the time, but he never wavers because of opinions, or what the media is writing about him. His reward later on in life is going to be even greater because he stood in the midst of everybody criticizing him being a Christian and playing sports at the same time.

“I admire him more than he could ever imagine.”