Darryl Strawberry admits leaving Mets in 1990 was 'biggest mistake' he made: report

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Darryl Strawberry was on the fast track to the Hall of Fame until he made what he calls the biggest mistake in his career — leaving the New York Mets for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Strawberry, who was one of the leaders on the Mets’ 1986 World Series-winning team, told SNY “Baseball Night in New York” on Tuesday that signing with the Dodgers when he was a free agent after the 1990 season was the “the biggest mistake I really ever made in my career.”

FORMER BASEBALL STAR DARRYL STRAWBERRY GOES TO BAT FOR TRUMP

The power-hitting right fielder wasn’t the same player after leaving New York. Before heading to Los Angeles, Strawberry belted 252 of his 335 career home runs and drove in 753 of his 1,000 runs while making seven All-Star teams. Strawberry did hit 28 homers and had 99 RBIs in his first year with the Dodgers in 1991, but after that, his career was derailed by injuries, a bout with colon cancer, drug addiction and multiple run-ins with the law.

New York Mets rookie outfielder Darryl Strawberry smiles in uniform. Later in his career he also played for the New York Yankees.

Strawberry said he didn’t have the desire to compete as hard in front of the laid-back Dodgers fans and missed the hard-charging Mets supporters who held him accountable for his play.

“The fans are so different in New York than LA,” Strawberry said. “L.A. fans come late and leave early. New York fans come early and never leave. They wait until the end of the game, whether you win or lose, and I was used to that.

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“I was just more used to the aggressive fans and playing in New York City and letting people be over the dugout and yelling at you running across the field. And when you suck, they tell you you suck. And you look at them like, ‘Yeah, I do suck right now. I need to get better.’”

Though Strawberry was never an elite player again, he was part of three World Series championship clubs during his time in The Bronx from 1995-1999, which included hitting 24 home runs during the 1998 campaign.

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