From being 3X World Series champion to cocaine rehab: The sad story of Mets icon Darryl Strawberry's fall from grace

Over the course of his 17-year career in the MLB, Darryl Strawberry put forth more masterful performances than one can count. However, the superstar was his own worst enemy.

Born in Los Angeles in 1962, Strawberry demonstrated a superior athletic ability from an early age. The first overall selection by the New York Mets in 1980, Strawberry had the weight on his shoulders before he even registered his first big-league at-bat.

Making his debut in 1983, Darryl Strawberry hit .257/.336/.512 with 26 home runs and 74 RBIs, cruising to a first-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting. After his freshman campaign, many thought Strawberry would become one of the best players ever, but he had his own demons working against him.

"#OTD In 1983, Darryl Strawberry hit his first big league home run." -New York Mets

Darryl Strawberry had a long and well-documented reliance on cocaine and alcohol. While his early career with the New York Mets produced very good numbers, things began to go downhill by the 1990s.

In 1988, two years after Strawberry had played an integral role in lifting the Mets over the Boston Red Sox in the World Series, he hit a league-best 39 home runs. Additionally, the then-26 year old also posted an MLB-high .911 slugging percentage to win his first Silver Slugger.

He signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a free agent in 1990, and his life took a very dark turn soon thereafter. Between 1992 and 1993, he played in only 75 games due to going on hardcore drug binges. In 1994, he was finally released by the Dodgers for repeatedly failing to show up for practices and games. In 1995, after inking a new deal with the New York Yankees, he was suspended. In 2000, after five seasons of mediocrity, he was suspended again, effectively pushing him into retirement.

"After a suspension at beginning of 1995 after testing positive for cocaine, Strawberry signed with New York Yankees for the stretch run. The next year, Darryl signed with the Saint Paul Saints of the Northern League on May 3, 1996, in an attempt to rehabilitate." - Jim Koenigsberger

Darryl Strawberry could have been the modern Babe Ruth

If you look at all of the games that Strawberry lost due to his drug dependence, it can easily be concluded that he missed out on having one of the most notable careers in history. Although he has since gotten clean and become a born-again Christian, we will always be left wondering what would have happened if Strawberry could have kept it together.