Darryl Strawberry Works to Strike Out Autism
Darryl Strawberry is mostly remembered for winning four World Series’ as a player with the Mets and Yankees, as well as the 1983 National League Rookie of the Year. But, it is what he has done off the field that has been his finest achievement and should be thought of above all of his MLB achievements.
Strawberry, whose foundation, The Darryl Strawberry Foundation helps kids with autism, talked to Victor Green and Jared Ginsberg of Class Act Sports at the Pairing Party for his fifth annual golf outing benefitting his foundation in September 2011.
“Well what I am doing here is raising money for autism. My foundation is the Darryl Strawberry Foundation Fight For Autism. You can go to www.DarylStrawberry.com. We raise money- not awareness- to keep the doors open. It’s such a neat forum because they don’t really get government funding like they should, and some programs are not allowed to even stay open because of no funding, so I put on a golf outing every year to raise money and we got some other things coming up to raise more money,” Strawberry said at the event.
Strawberry and his wife Tracey don’t have kids who suffer from autism, but it is still an issue that is near-and-dear to them.
“It’s wonderful. Someone has to stand up for the families and help them. And if I had a child that was affected, I would want someone to help me. It is amazing to see all the athletes give up their time. None of them get paid, they sacrifice their time. They have a great tie together and it’s just an amazing event to come together and do something great,” Tracey Strawberry told Class Act Sports.
During his 17-year career with four teams (Mets, Yankees, Giants and Dodgers), Strawberry hit 335 home runs and had 1,000 RBIs. The eight-time All Star won the World Series with the Mets in 1986, as well as with the Yankees in 1996, 1998 and 1999.
Numerous athletes showed up to support Strawberry and his foundation.
“I want to thank Daryl Strawberry for starting this foundation. It is such a good cause. It’s something that I have always enjoyed doing, helping to give back to the community,” former Cowboy defensive end Ed “Too Tall” Jones told Class Act Sports.
Another NFLer, former Ravens offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden, expressed how important it is to support other athletes as well as how the game of golf plays into all of this.
“Anytime an athlete has a foundation that they put their heart and soul into, I am willing to support that and when you utilize golf tournaments, it’s a great vehicle to raise money because everybody enjoys golf,” Ogden said.
But it was not just athletes who were at the Pairing Party for the tournament as several Class Act celebrities were in attendance like Anthony Anderson, Mykelti Williamson and Flex Alexander, all of whom had nothing but positives to say about Strawberry.
“Well the first thing, just what he has done with his life, I think he is an example that the media needs to talk more hold of because they always find the negative stories. And I know with your [site], you are finding all the positive things they do, and I think they need to shine more light on that because he has done such an amazing thing in his life. I think that needs to be shown and talked about more,” Alexander said to Class Act Sports.
