The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk - 261: Darryl Strawberry - MLB Superstar: World Series, Home Runs, & Substance Abuse

Starting point is 00:00:00 It's about people. I love people. My life has been spared. I should be dead. Ryan, you know, from using drugs, shooting dope, smoking crack. Head cancer twice, lost my left kid and gave my second surgery. So I really want to be able to make sure that my urgency every day is to get up and make a difference in someone else's life that's suffering, no matter what they're suffering with. Just to encourage them that they like really do matters. And that's why the Daryl Strawberry Recovery Center was so important to be able to help people and the show them that you know that that you really do care about them this episode is brought to you by gusto gusto is making payroll benefits in hr easy for small businesses modern technology does the heavy lifting so it's easy to get things right pc mag and fit small business have called gusto the best payroll for small businesses gustow saves you time 72% of customers spend less than five minutes to run payroll don't believe it just google them

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Starting point is 00:01:39 Welcome to the Learning Leader Show. I am Ryan Hawk. Thanks so much for being here. We are hosting an in-person workshop in the fall on developing personal excellence as a leader. For details and availability, go to Ryanhawk. Me. We're going to keep the group,

Starting point is 00:02:01 small and intimate to ensure maximum engagement. It's going to be so much fun. I'm really looking forward to taking what we've learned and putting it all into this two-day workshop. Go to Ryanhawk.me for dates and availability. Now, on a nice featured leader, it's with baseball legend Daryl Strawberry. During his career, he helped lead the New York Mets to a World Series championship and the New York Yankees to three World Series championships. He's a nine-time all-star hit three.

Starting point is 00:02:31 335 home runs. He was also suspended three times by Major League Baseball for substance abuse. Now Darrell is taking that message to the masses with the book, Don't Give Up on Me, Shedding Light on Addiction. A few of the topics we got into. The key advice he give to people early in their career, and it's advice that he wish he had received. Then the greatest teammates he played with.

Starting point is 00:02:58 and what specifically made them great, then how addiction nearly killed him multiple times and why he's dedicated his life to helping others. Ladies and gentlemen, this one was wide-ranging and deep. I think you'll get a lot out of it. It's Daryl, Strawberry. All right, Daryl, Strawberry, it's so cool to have you here on the Learning Leader Show. Welcome.

Starting point is 00:03:26 Thank you, Ryan. Thanks for having me. I obviously a big fan of you as a player, grew up watching you. I just mentioned to you that I would drive down to Cincinnati and watch Reds games. And so I've seen you obviously play in person, the intimidating lefty coming up with the leg kick and Jack at home runs. So it's cool to be able to have this conversation with you, man. Well, I guess you didn't mind I was beating up on your wrist. Is that what you're telling me? I like, as you'll find, I like greatness and people who make it happen. So I oftentimes would go to watch people like you play to see you hit home runs or great pitching or,

Starting point is 00:04:01 or big time hitters. So, no, I'm okay with that. But, Darrell, why have you, I'm curious. So you've obviously spent a great portion of your life around people who have sustained excellence, whether they're athletes, coaches, managers, and then post-playing days, obviously, there's a lot we're going to get to that you can talk about from a sustaining excellence perspective. But I'm curious from your perspective, what are some of the common themes or characteristics you found in people who sustain excellence?

Starting point is 00:04:33 Well, I think they're very calm. You know, they don't get too anxious about things and they learn to lead. And I think that's important when you watch people. And being in a professional sports, I had an opportunity to watch, you know, great leaders like David Johnson lead us. And the Joe Torrey lead us as a matcher. And how they never get rattled, you know, they stay calm regardless of the situation. because you situate the circumstances arise, you know, in the ballgame, and they don't panic. And when you don't panic, you know, that brings out a good leadership of who you are.

Starting point is 00:05:08 And I think that comes over time of learning and playing, especially in sports. I think when you have managers that played the game and understand the game, they know how to manage players. And that's what makes them so good. That's what makes them such a good leader is to be able to manage players. Because you've got to understand the sports, right? and you know that. Players, you're going to deal with players with all kind of different personalities. How do you handle a clubhouse?

Starting point is 00:05:34 How do you handle a team when they get on the bench? And how do you use players to perform at their best? And I was able to sit back and watch these guys that manage me blend players into positions so they could be successful. They wasn't the kind of leader that would put a player into a place where he's going to fail. They always put him in the situation to succeed. And I think that's great leadership. you learn a lot from that as a person.

Starting point is 00:06:00 It's really interesting. What about as your teammates, other players? I mean, I know from the football background, it's a little bit different than baseball. Because baseball, you play 162 games plus playoffs, so you can't get two up. In football, you get really excited. But the best teams that I've ever been a part of,

Starting point is 00:06:15 Daryl, were teams that had great leadership from the ranks of players, whether it was captains or just the guys that you really looked up to that were your peers. What about other players that you were with that you felt were great leaders? Well, great leaders. Gary Carter and Keith Fernandez, they were great leaders because they just was an example, what it's like to come to the ballpark and prepare yourself each day. Because like you said, baseball is 162 ball games, and you might be going into postseason

Starting point is 00:06:49 play, so it's going to be longer. So it's a long year. And young players have a tendency of kind of fading out. And when you have leaders that have great leadership like that, they keep the young players going. That's so important for a team. Tom Brady, he's a prime example of football. What a great leader is. He just leads by example.

Starting point is 00:07:09 And Hernandez and Carter was the same way when they came to the ballpark. They were just leading by example and showing younger players this is how it works during the course of a long season. Because sometimes you can get distracted. And I never saw those guys get distracted. I always saw those guys with the intensity level and the focus when they came to the ballpark. It was about taking care of business on the field. And they showed that and they helped us. I mean, that really what helped us move forward as a team because we're all young, myself, and Gooden and other young players.

Starting point is 00:07:41 They had experienced a plan at the major league level for such a long time and been a lot of battles. And they taught us how to be in battles and they taught us how to be overcomers through adversities because you're going to have that during the course of a season. So I respect them highly. I mean, who they were at their time as players and leaders. And Carter just as a man and Hernandez as a man, they showed us a lot. And it really helped us grow as young players. Was that something that you struggled with personally throughout your career or maybe early in your career of the consistent focus day after day? Yeah, I mean, you're very young.

Starting point is 00:08:16 I got to the big leagues at 21. And when you get to the big leagues, you'd think it's going to be great every day. And it's not going to be great every day. had to learn as I went down the process of becoming a everyday player and developing, you know, what it is, what it takes to run out there every day. I wasn't always focused like those guys were when I was young. But as I got older, I started understanding the importance of that because other players are watching you at the same time. And that's how other players learn to grow from watching you perform and how you come to the ballpark and how serious you is about, you know,

Starting point is 00:08:51 what you have to do, your job on the field. Yeah, you were able to perform at such a high level at a really young age. Do you feel like that was based upon you had this natural God-given talent that just came out of you or was a combination of things? That's a good point, Ryan, because I think so many young athletes come to the professional ranks and they just think it's always going to be easy. But it's just really not. You know, you're going to fight some difficult times. And most of us think, you know, it's just the way it is. And we can do this all the time and perform like this all the time.

Starting point is 00:09:26 And it's when you hit those hard times, you don't, how do you handle those type of situations? And I had to learn how to handle those type of situations. And that's why I was saying. It was great to be around good leadership like I had with a Carter and Hernandez because I saw how they handle the good times. And I saw how they handle the tough times. Because when you go through those tough periods, who are you then? When you're two for 30, what do you do to get out of that jam that you in? How do you get yourself out of that jam?

Starting point is 00:09:53 And I learned from them your preparation of going down to the batting cage and working on your fundamentals all over again to be able to get you going again. So it takes a lot to understand that when you're young because young players always think, well, I'm going to always be good. But that's not the case. The game is the game is not that easy. It may look easy from a standpoint at some period of time when you perform it. But when you run into those most difficult times, then that really shows what kind of player. you're going to be high, you're going to be able to bounce back from these type of things. You guys won a World Series in 1986.

Starting point is 00:10:27 What was the key? You mentioned some of the leaders. What was the keys to you guys triumphing and winning that World Series? Just being a team, I think more than anything. Teams win, not players, not one player, two players. It takes a whole team effort because you have to have guys come off the bench that can perform. The bullpen has to be successful. Starting pitching, it has to pitch good.

Starting point is 00:10:49 And everyday players. have to play well, but they're not going to play well all the time. And that's why it's important to be a team because you can have guys that can fill in. And their part of the team is so important. I think most people underestimate that and overlook that, you know, why a team becomes very successful is because you're a complete team. And I think that was the key for us. We became a complete team. The years before, 85, 84, you know, we came close.

Starting point is 00:11:20 But 86, we put it all just. together from day one spring training. And I remember when we got to spring training, we had the first meeting and Davey Johnson looked at it all. He says, we're going to win it all. We kind of looked around and we thought, yeah, we're going to win it all. And we put it together from that point of day one, understanding that our goal was to win it all this year.

Starting point is 00:11:42 And we went on and did that. It wasn't easy. We had to go through a very difficult Houston Astero team, Mike Scott, Nolan Ryan. We had to beat them. And then we got into the World Series, and we didn't do well at the beginning, and we just took a day off, and we came back fresh, and we went up to Boston, and we just played. And that just characterized what kind of team we really had. Yeah, and as you progress, and I know this is something that you really are focused on now in your post-playing days, but as you progressed throughout your career, you had a varying degree of issues that came up, and we'll get to the root of those problems, too. I'm curious to learn.

Starting point is 00:12:19 but whether it was with drugs and bouts of cancer. I mean, you had a number of things happened throughout your life. So I'm curious to, if you think about some of the root causes or what it was that you felt led to you to using drugs in order to, or using drugs in your life, what was it? What in those moments when you decided that that was going to be what you were going to do?

Starting point is 00:12:46 Why did you do that? Well, I think it's because of the emptiness that's on the inside, right? It doesn't matter how great we look on the outside, no matter how strong you look, how physically athletic, I can perform as the best level. But if I'm hurting on the inside and I've never been well on the inside, then there's a problem. Putting on a baseball uniform just covers it up. I always, when I'm speaking to people, I always tell my pain led me to my greatness, but my greatness would eventually lead me to my destructive behavior. Because it wasn't well as a person. I came from a broken situation, dysfunctioned my father was an alcoholic, and he beat the crap out of me and said I never amounts to nothing. And I believe it for a long time. I believed it in my major league career. I believed it in being successful. I didn't believe in myself early as a kid, low self-esteem. And marijuana was the beginning of the age of 14, 13, 14 years old smoking marijuana to escape from the pain of who I was. And I think a lot of us get affected on the inside and we never get healed.

Starting point is 00:13:46 on the inside. So it just play out in your life. Somewhere along your life is going to play out if I never get the healing process on the inside of who am I. And learning to be okay with myself, I was okay putting on the uniform. And you can attest to that, you know, when we put on the uniform, we feel good about ourselves because we know what we're doing. We like doing it. But who am I? And a lot of times a lot of athletes question that, a lot of celebrities question themselves, who am I and they find all these other outlets for their insecurities to try to make them feel better about themselves. Even though they're excelling, there's still an emptiness on the inside because I've never

Starting point is 00:14:24 been healed on the inside. And I went through that process for a very long time. And it just all came unraveling to a downfall completely because if I never get well on the inside, it doesn't matter what I look like on our side. The insides are really important for us to be able to get healed and feel good about ourself. I spent a little time around people who played professional sports and even people who are famous actors at certain events, Daryl. And I think a lot of people are really surprised when we hear this. Even if you had a, I'm very lucky, basically the opposite upbringing that you had.

Starting point is 00:15:01 And I realize that that's the perspective that I speak from. But I find it, I still am, I don't know if I'd say fascinated or just really surprised when I hear somebody like Daryl Struth. or others who are world-class, the best in the world at what they do, and yet they have these incredible insecurities about them. Yeah, it's so real, regardless of how well-class of athlete or star or whatever you are, Dr. Lory, whatever it is. Because most of the time, most people think, well, because you become successful, you should be okay, and you make a lot of money.

Starting point is 00:15:36 I've been privileged my whole life and made a lot of money and live behind the community gay, so I should have been well. But I wasn't. I was, I was yearning for love. Love is love and affection from a family as more important than anything. And I got that deep love for my mother, but I never had a father. If you got to understand, I never had a father to come watch me play Little Lake. I grew up playing little league baseball by myself and my mom would come watch me.

Starting point is 00:16:02 And going through high school, I never had a father around. So I had to learn all these real lessons of life and how to become a man through my troubles. Through my failures and everything. And I had to learn that I had to be an overcomer from all those things because I never had anyone to teach me about decision making. And if we don't teach kids about making the right decisions in their life, they're going to make their own decisions. And that's what happened to me in my life. No one was there to teach me about those choices I was choosing and what I was choosing to do, that they had major consequences behind it. So I had to learn the hard way and I had to go through the hard part of it.

Starting point is 00:16:42 until I ended up getting well on the inside. And then I look back, I could look back and reflect now of how empty I really was. You know, I had everything, Ryan, but I had nothing. I just had a bunch of stuff. Why? So let's say there's somebody listening right now who has world-class talent at something. And they don't have a dad, unfortunately. And but what we don't want them to go down the path of using drugs because of whether

Starting point is 00:17:10 it's insecurities or emptiness or yearning for love. What advice do you give to those people who are not as fortunate as somebody like me who still has both parents who are incredibly supportive and helpful? What advice do you give to them? I would give the advice to them to allow someone, you know, if they just have a mom, listen to her. I wish I would have to listen to my mom because my mom was so courageous. She raised five of us. And we just didn't listen because we're so lost, you know, on the inside of who we were and everything. And I would encourage them to listen and take direction. A direction is, it's very important for one to be able to take some type of directions from someone that's trying to give them real instructions about our real life. And also,

Starting point is 00:17:53 for a young boy, if he's affected like that, just allow someone to come into their life or mentor or someone come into their life and walk down the road with him, life with them, and trust them. You know, trust them to lead you the right way. And then hopefully they will. Because kids are like, when they're broken on the inside, they're fragile. and it's hard for them to trust anyone. And it was very hard for me to trust anyone growing up. And I had a lot of coaches, good coaches in my life, who saw greatness in me, but I didn't see it.

Starting point is 00:18:19 And they saw it and they believed in me. I just didn't have that faith to trust them because I was scarred. I was already wounded at such a young age. And I would just encourage anyone that's listening, allow someone to pour into your life good things and trust the process. And had I trust the process, I might have been I might have turned out a little different and of course I could have probably had a better career how that I was able to be open-minded and listening to someone but it's very challenging for for people to do that that's already scarred and broken on the inside. You have really successful athletic sons that play basketball.

Starting point is 00:18:59 What's been your relationship like with them and how have you helped them navigate this world of being world-class athletes in their own right? I've been able to love them, the love that I didn't get from my father, and I've been able to be a father to be there for them, not coach him, right? But to be there, to be there to encourage them. I never wanted to be their coach. I realized that I needed to let the coaches who came into their life be their coaches and I needed to be the father on the sideline and being able to watch it sitting in the stands and not critique them so much, you know, just encourage them about how they can be battered.

Starting point is 00:19:38 I think that's the appropriate way for one to be able to handle their children. It's not drive it down the toilet. See, one thing I didn't do was drive down my kid's throat was play baseball. And I think, because I didn't really want them to have to live up to, can you be as good as your dad? Can you be as good as your dad? That's all they would ever hear. But I allow my boys to pick what they wanted to play,

Starting point is 00:20:02 and my girls were able to play volleyball and play sports and stuff like that. And I've always encouraged him to be. Be the best at what you're doing. When you step on the court, when you step on the field, whatever it is, be the best at it. In life, too, try to be the best at it. And one thing my mother did give us was real values in life is to have respect for other people. And I can say, me and my brothers and sisters, we grew up with that inside of us. So I always have respect for other people.

Starting point is 00:20:31 And I try to give that to my kids, too. I always have respect for other people. And what I mean by there, Ryan, is never think you're better. than someone else. Did you lose some of that through the times, through the down times when you were in the midst of using? No, I mean, I never lost respect for people. I lost respect for myself.

Starting point is 00:20:51 Yeah. I think I always cared about people and I've always had a loving heart towards fans and towards teammates. Yeah, well, there are times where we butted heads. Yeah, that's part of it. But I always went back and, you know, and inside my heart, I always knew that I loved them no matter what, you know, we butted heads about. And that's just the person I was growing up. My mother, my mother gave me that inside of me because that's who she was. I was able to see that

Starting point is 00:21:17 with my mom. So it always made me a caring person and caring for other people because my mother was a person that was always caring for others and helping others. Even though her son was a big star, she wasn't, that wasn't important to her. She was more concerned about how do we help other people and make other people happy. And I've always felt that way too. I watched the ESPN 30 for 30 with, it's called Doc and Darrell about you and Dwight Gooden. What's your relationship like with Doc now?

Starting point is 00:21:46 It's good. It's really good. You know, we had some rocky times, but, you know, that's just like two brothers. I've always loved him. He's just a phenomenal person. He always have been. And we both just, I just believe we both grew up with some hurting things inside of us

Starting point is 00:22:00 that we just really never dealt. wet and it affected us more than anything. But, you know, our relationship is great now. And, you know, I'm just really proud of him and what he's doing and how he's moving forward in this life. And I'm proud of the fact that I'm moving forward in my life today. Well, let's talk about that. There's a book called Don't Give Up on Me that you and Sean Powell wrote. What made you, you've written a number of books. So this is the latest. But why did you write this book? Well, I think because when we look at America today and we look what has happened with the epidemic of opiates and heroin addiction, that's sweeping across America and that's killing so many young people like never before. It just blew my mind.

Starting point is 00:22:47 And of course, Sean wrote the book, plus our team that was involved, the CEO, John Fahoghawthor and Ron Dark and Dr. Miller and all of us got together and just realized that, You know, we have a chance to speak about what addiction is and how it really affects one's life. But you have to be able to sit down. I had to sit down with Dr. Miller, psychiatrists, you know, for him to be able to pick my brain and find out who I was back then and what happened. Because something happens in people life. There's some kind of trauma. There's some kind of abuse. There's some kind of rejection.

Starting point is 00:23:22 There's some kind of loneliness that happens to one that gets addicted. You know, because nobody signs up to be addicted to drugs and alcohol. That just doesn't happen. You know, nobody was created for that. Something happens in your life that makes you feel empty on the inside. And once you try it, it alters your mind and it changes you forever. And that's what happened to me when I was 13 and 14 years old, picking up marijuana. It altered my mind.

Starting point is 00:23:44 It changed me forever. Marijuana maintenance. People say there's nothing wrong with it. Well, yeah, it is for kids because it's going to lead them to the next thing because it's going to stop working, just like it did for me. And then you leads you to everything else. So we tried to fill this empty hole, this empty void. inside. And that's why I don't give up a macheteering light on addiction. It's so important for people to understand and reading the book. Reading what happens to a world-class athlete, how did he get to this

Starting point is 00:24:09 place of being great and being broken at the same time? I mean, I was great as a player. That whole time in my career, people say I was great, but I was broken, Ryan, at the same time. And it was because of my pain made great, you know. And then eventually that would lead to the disdain. And eventually, that would lead to the destructive behavior of my life and the fall of my life because if you never get well dealing with the inside hurts in the emptiness, there's usually some destructive is going to happen in one's life. And so many people have crossed this road. And I've seen so many people, celebrities that could have a voice to speak up to make a difference in what is happening in our society today because we're in the most difficult time that we've ever been in

Starting point is 00:24:59 having treatment centers and having treatment centers down here in Florida and seeing young people just so separated and believe that their life don't matter and they're dying you know they OD in young girls 19 years old OD in two or three times already and you're seeing this and you're going my God there's got to be an answer and we need to be the answer we need to be able to speak up and show people that they can be well and and their life matters What was the key moment in your life? Maybe there was multiple ones where it went from you being a user to on your path to recovery to getting well. And how does that apply to others to?

Starting point is 00:25:40 Well, being a user is one that needs to come to grips and deal with what's wrong on the inside, the broken me. And I had to deal with the broken pieces. of my life. I didn't want to turn out to be like my father an alcoholic. I turned out being just like it. I didn't want to be like my father, womanizer. I turned out to be just like him. I said I wouldn't be like him,

Starting point is 00:26:04 but as long as I was hurting on the inside, I ended up being just like him. And I had to deal with that. And I had to face that. A lot of times people would want, that are in the midst of addiction, never want to come to the grips of facing the real hard things.

Starting point is 00:26:20 You have to face the hard things before you can ever get on the journey. journey to recovery. And it takes other people helping you. My wife, Tracy, was a tremendous blessing in my life in helping me. She says, so profound one day, she said, before we ever got married, and I was in the midst of addiction, she's a recovery. She says, if you're going to ever get well, you need to take that uniform off. I was like, wow, nobody has ever said that to me. Wait, were you still playing at the time? No, I wasn't playing.

Starting point is 00:26:53 Okay. Okay. So what uniform is you talking about? She's talking about the identity of who I was, Daryl Strawberry, Major League Baseball player. Oh. Now, for me to get well, I need to take that off and not be him anymore. But there's a lot of good that happened. I mean, like you brought a lot of joy to others through your play, right?

Starting point is 00:27:17 Millions of people watched you for, what, 17 plus years. So, I mean, that's that, you know, I guess that's hard to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to play with, I mean, I'm one of them fun to watch and brought us joy with your talents and hitting long home runs, right? And then saying, wait, that, that you can't be that person anymore. Yeah, well, it's not that you can't be who he was. I mean, yeah, of course, but you have to separate yourself to enter into life. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha.

Starting point is 00:27:51 You understand what I'm saying? Because most athletes never enter into life after they take the uniform from a retirement standpoint. So they still hold on to that and they never enter into who they are and why they were created. Because there's more to it than just doing that because I do know one thing, Ryan. You cannot play forever. Yeah. And it comes a point you have to retire. So what's your next step after you retire?

Starting point is 00:28:21 And if you don't have a next step, you're going to stay on the same road. And you can never really actually get to the place of being the person that you were created to be. I mean, that was part of what I did. And I got that. I mean, I get it at the time when she said that. It's because I was hanging on to the uniform. What year was this again? 2006, she said?

Starting point is 00:28:48 Yeah, I was probably wrong. $1,05,000. So how long have you been sober? So what, about 14 years, something like that? 14 years. Are there, have there been moments throughout that are just unbelievably hard, or is that a daily feeling? Or does it get easier over time?

Starting point is 00:29:10 It gets easier over time when you change. Okay. When you change the character of you. being a baseball player was just a guy that really put on the uniform and had a talent and excelled and achieved a lot of great things and loved making people happy.

Starting point is 00:29:28 But being a man is like totally different. Okay. Now that means I have to truly grow up and take responsibility. And what I mean by that, Ryan, take responsibility for my actions. Okay, responsibilities for my actions was I heard a lot of people because I was selfish and self-centered because it was made about me because I was Darrell Strawberry, Major League Baseball player.

Starting point is 00:29:54 So when you have that kind of lifestyle and that fame and stuff like that, nobody ever want to tell you you got a problem. You know, nobody ever want to tell you, no, you shouldn't do that. You shouldn't be that way. I mean, you have everybody that's riding with you. They want to say, let's have fun. You're having fun, so don't worry about it. Do you give advice to younger players now to say you've got to surround yourself with people in your inner circle who are willing to tell you no, who are willing to be brutally honest with you?

Starting point is 00:30:26 Do you try to give them that advice to have those types of people in there? So I think of this because my younger brother played in the NFL for 11 years and it was a very good player for a pro bowler and Super Bowl winner for the Green Bay Packers. And I felt like that this was one of my roles in his life that we're best friends and still are and always will be. But he also knew that I was going to tell him the truth and still do. And he tells me the truth. We have that relationship on a daily basis. And I feel like that's sorely needed with people because it could be, and he's as humble as he's ever been. And I hope he would say the same about me.

Starting point is 00:31:05 And I'm curious, is that, was that a problem that you didn't have people in your inner circle who are, willing to tell you no or if they did tell you no maybe you eliminated them from your inner circle no i mean a lot of times back then you didn't have people when your inner circles that would tell you know to encourage you yeah with the with the traps that were out there because they were already in the traps themselves yeah most of the time and we all thought we was having fun but you think you have fun but you never think it's going to spiral out of control uh you you you think we're just having fun this is just the way life is and I guess we really never talk about the real tempt,

Starting point is 00:31:43 we didn't talk about the real temptations of what can happen back then. And it's good that people, like yourself, you Ryan, you have your brother and everything, and you're able to speak into his life and help him make, you know, right decisions and stuff like that. Because it's easy not to make the right decision in this kind of lifestyle. I bet. It's, yeah, it's, it's an open door.

Starting point is 00:32:10 It's like a candy store. You can go on the candy store and you like candy, you pick out what you like, you know. And in this life, you know, it's the same way. And if someone's not speaking into your life that really cares, most of the time people that are hanging around you really don't care. They just like the fact that they can be with you and we're going to have fun. And I've seen so many athletes like myself, great athletes, great people who life just gets completely out of control. because of the circle. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:32:42 So what are you doing now? What's your day-to-day like now? That's a good question. My day-to-day life is really busy traveling on the road. I'm a pastor and I'm in ministry and I travel the country and preaching the gospel, but I also travel to the country. I'm speaking on bringing hope from those that are suffering with addiction and who's struggling to try to encourage families and friends and, you know, to never give up.

Starting point is 00:33:10 give up. That's where I wrote the book. Don't give up on me, you know, don't give up on me, you know, because it's so important that we don't give up on people because we don't know what their journey is. We don't know what's going to happen. I mean, most people probably have given up on me and said, you know, he'll be dead. Some writers said he'll be dead before you know it. I guess they prophesized over me. He's dead. He no longer lives. So, and now, you know, I'm here to, you know, just be a vessel, man to help and encourage people that they life matters. Because I know playing at the highest level as I played at and being successful winning championships and living that life and everything, it was fun doing it at the same time.

Starting point is 00:33:54 It was painful. But now today I don't live a painful life. I live with joyful life to know that I can go back and help somebody else and encourage somebody else that maybe suffer with whatever kind of addictions. Because it's all kind of addictions. You know, people struggle with. They're not just drugs. You got gambling sex.

Starting point is 00:34:11 You got pornography. You got all kinds of people are stuck in. So I could be able to go back and tell my story to them of what I was like and what I am today. Do you still, are you still around the game, around baseball? No, I'm not. I'm really, I'm not around baseball. I mean, catch a game here and there, go back to a reunion or something like that, which is always exciting to go back.

Starting point is 00:34:35 Just like I said, I travel so much. just got back home off the road for this weekend doing a men's conference at Charlotte and preaching at church Sunday and getting back home and got a couple days to really be dad again. You know, just went to my son graduation and my daughter graduate this week from high school. So the plate is full and it's good to have a full plate when you don't have an empty plate because when you have an empty plate. Because when you have an empty plate, I don't mind is a terrible thing, you know, a terrible thing to waste because you don't know what to do with yourself. What about, I saw this clip on Fox of Pete Rose, Alex Rodriguez, and Arod and Frank Thomas talking about like the art and the science of hitting. It was like 12 minutes and I was fascinated.

Starting point is 00:35:19 I'm not a big, I played baseball growing up, but my sport that I excelled in as I progressed was football. But I still love that clip. And I would imagine that you'd be somebody who could add to that. So do you miss having conversation like that or being around the ballpark or be? being around guys taking BP and giving little tips for people to become a better hitter? Well, no, I don't miss that part. I mean, I love talking about that because, you know, people always want to kind of pick your brain about it. And when I go to different places and they know that I played at such a high level and was very successful.

Starting point is 00:35:55 And they, you know, they would always ask me, you know, who's the toughest pitcher? I was like Nolan Ryan. And they said, well, why was he so different? I said, well, he had a different demeanor on his face than anybody else. He looks different. He didn't smile. He let you know, don't dig in because I'm probably going to put one under your chin. So that's a real reality of playing baseball.

Starting point is 00:36:15 But, you know, I always talk about the fact of hitting. They were to say, well, why were you so successful in such a big situation? Because I said one thing about the game that I always learned. I used to play the game and want to win the game from the own deck circle when I'm in a battle spot. I'm looking at the situation, looking at the scores. I'm looking at who I'm going to be facing back. And I always knew this, Ryan, and in a bat. I'm going to get two good pitches, each of a bat.

Starting point is 00:36:43 One of them I got a hit. I just feel like there's so many guys could benefit from that aspect too. You're already doing such great work in helping so many people. But if the Mets or somebody else said, would you be maybe not full time? Because that would take too much time. But would you be, I know you've done a little bit. bit of this already, but come to spring training and then meet up with us a few times a year and be a part-time hitting coach? Is that something that would interest you?

Starting point is 00:37:13 No, not at all. No? Why not? I don't know. I just, I don't know. I just don't have, I mean, if I had to go down and visit, you know, I don't know, maybe. It depends on what situation it was. Maybe if it was like Jeter, maybe like Jeter because he was my friend, if he asked me come down with the Marlins. The Marlins. I don't have nothing to do what I mean. Yeah. I would help him out, you know, because I loved him. He was a great teammate and a great friend. But outside of that, I don't think anybody else I would involve myself with that kind of work. A lot of times, you know, the players are a little different today because I remember a few years back when I was,

Starting point is 00:37:46 did go down in the spring training work with a couple guys. We were talking to a couple guys about hitting and stuff like that. And it was like, well, you know what, I got this. I really think I got this. I'm like, dude, you're hitting a buck 90. How do you got it? Really? Wow.

Starting point is 00:38:01 Yeah. Yeah. They were like, oh, you know, they didn't want to listen. because I would try to tell him something. Like left-hand hitters. I can work a left-hand hitter, and I can make him learn how to hit left-hand pitching like never before because Hernandez taught me how to do it.

Starting point is 00:38:13 So it never goes away. And what left-hand hitters don't do, they don't work in batting practice enough. They work about trying to see how far they can hit the ball out of the ballpark. I used to work. Hernandez taught me how to work hitting line drives to left center of left-hand pitching and batter practice. So that would always keep you in on the ballpark.

Starting point is 00:38:33 ball and when they automatically come in and you're going automatically turn on them so you don't have to worry about it you'd be able to cover the whole play so i learned that and and from him teaching me that and i remember one year i hit 15 home runs to the opposite field because i learned how to stay on the baseball you know and guys don't understand that when you try to teach them that but they want to get into the cage and they want to see how far they can hit the ball dude it's five o'clock there's a lot of great five o'clock hitters but when they come to throw that slider when they come to throw that breaking ball what's you're going to do. Yeah, I believe your first major league home run was an opposite field left center shot, right? Yeah, it's off of a lead tunnel in Pittsburgh. Yeah, I remember I was watching out

Starting point is 00:39:13 as I was getting ready. Darrell, it's so cool to talk a combination of things, baseball as well as post-baseball life and how you're helping so many people. It's obviously that you're a very passionate guy, which I find fascinating. I'm really appreciative. Is there anything I miss that you want to make sure you hit before we take off? No, I just, I think it's just important that at this place I'm in my life today. It's about people. I love people. My life has been spared.

Starting point is 00:39:44 I should be dead, Ryan, you're from using drugs, shooting dope, smoking crack, head cancer twice, lost my left kid and gave me a second surgery. So I really want to be able to make sure that my urgency every day is to get up and make a difference or someone else's life that's suffering, no matter what they're suffering with, just to encourage them that their life really do matters. And that's why the Daryl Stubber Recovery Center was so important to be able to help people and to show them that you know, that you really do care about them. And writing this book was so important to educate people more than anything. And really going to the schools, I mean, I go into the schools for young kids to try to make sure young kids stay clear away from drugs and tell them the danger of drugs. and don't pick it up.

Starting point is 00:40:30 Don't stop parents. I tell the parents, stop with the prescription. Stop allowing your kid to get a prescription because they're going to get addicted. It's going to alter their mind. Wake up. We're in a very serious time with this.

Starting point is 00:40:42 And if you don't pay attention, it can happen to your kid. And so just making people aware of those type of things and caring at the same time. Love it, man. Well, the book is called Don't Give Up on Me, Shetting Light on Addiction with Darrell Strawberry. Darrell, it's so cool to talk to you, man.

Starting point is 00:40:57 I'm a big, big fan, and it's been even better getting to know you. And I appreciate your team connecting with me. This has been a lot of fun, man. Well, thanks. And you know, you can go to Finding Your Way.com and slash learning leader. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah, I appreciate you guys setting that up. That's really, really cool.

Starting point is 00:41:14 Where else would you send my listeners to learn more about you online? Finding Your Way.com, learning leader. Slash learning leader. Slash learning leader. Yeah, I like that. Yeah. Perfect. Learning leader, man.

Starting point is 00:41:26 I like that. That's a good topic. Yeah, I mean. Thank you. Learn to leave. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it, man.

Starting point is 00:41:33 This has been great. And, hey, I would love to continue this dialogue. I know you spend some time in Ohio. So it would be cool to link up at some point when you're in Southwest Ohio to talk and maybe have a lunch or something, Darrell. It'll be great, man. That would be great. Next time I'm in Ohio, I'll just give you a ring. I'll get you information for a man.

Starting point is 00:41:51 Maybe we can hook up in Ohio because I love Ohio. I mean, because what they got going down there Yeah. Yeah, it needs a lot of help. People care. Awesome, man. Well, thanks so much, Darrell. All right, thanks.

Starting point is 00:42:03 I appreciate you, Ryan. All right. Big thank you to Darrell for joining me on this episode. I get this sense that he's very passionate still about baseball. Maybe he'll go down and help Derek Jeter and the Marlins. He seems like he has a lot to give in that arena as well. But it was inspiring to hear his message and how he's trying to help so many people.

Starting point is 00:42:23 hope you enjoyed it. If you did, I'd love it. If you would write to review, subscribe, and rate the show in iTunes Apple Podcasts. That's write a review, subscribe and rate it. Hopefully five stars on iTunes Apple Podcasts. It really helps spread the message. And by the way, if you're interested in our in-person workshop, go to Ryanhawk. com. Again, it's on developing personal excellence as a leader. It's going to be a lot of fun. Ryanhawk.com. Thanks again for all of your support. I will see you next week. This episode is brought to you by Gusto. Gusto is making payroll benefits in HR easy for small businesses.

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The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk - 261: Darryl Strawberry - MLB Superstar: World Series, Home Runs, & Substance Abuse

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