Sports
Darryl Strawberry wanted to quit baseball at 19. These two Mets brought him back
To this day, 43 years later, Darryl Strawberry still has a nickname for his 1981 season with the Class A Lynchburg Mets.
“I call it,” Strawberry said by phone last week, “the suck season.”
The suck season was, at the time, the most challenging of Strawberry’s life. It was the season he first confronted failure on the baseball diamond. It was the season he first heard racist slurs from the stands. It was the season he came oh-so-close to quitting baseball and hanging up his jersey for good.
And so when Strawberry’s No. 18 is retired June 1 at Citi Field, it’s only fitting that among his honored guests will be the two people who pushed him through the suck season: manager Gene Dusan and teammate Lloyd McClendon.
“Everybody looks at the success, but I look at the people who had a great impact on me,” Strawberry said. “There’s no way that I would be standing on the field having my number retired had it not been for people like them getting me through the most challenging, difficult times at a young age.”
The first month of Strawberry’s first full season in pro ball had not gone well. Failing on the field for the first time is hard enough for any player. Strawberry had several extra spotlights on him.
The prior summer, he had been the No. 1 pick out of Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, where his coach had called him “the black Ted Williams” in Sports Illustrated. His signing bonus, while not a record, more than doubled that of the previous No. 1 pick.
And he was a black man playing in a southern city in Virginia. So when he struggled on the field, he heard it from the Carolina League crowds. Home games, road games, any games — Strawberry heard the worst of it.
“They were calling me all kind of names and saying negative things,” Strawberry said. “You’re talking about the deep south. I was like, ‘This is crazy.’ I grew up in Southern California and we never had to experience that growing up.”
“Listen, it was 1981. Society as a whole didn’t quite embrace us — black folks,” McClendon said. “They used to pass the hat for anybody who hit a home run. We hit home runs and we got nothing.”
By early May, Strawberry wanted to take his bat into the stands, he said. Instead, he took his bat home.
“I just checked out,” he said. “I did go AWOL.”
“He left for a couple days,” Dusan said. “It was concerning that he left. I felt like he’d be back. I knew he’d be back.”
Rather than chase Strawberry, Dusan gave him space. He didn’t even tell the higher-ups in the Mets front office.
“If I did that today, they’d fire me,” he chuckled. “Things were different in the early ’80s.”
Two days later, Strawberry returned to the park, thanks largely to his relationships with Dusan and McClendon. Strawberry and McClendon had bonded the year before in rookie ball in Kingsport, Tenn., when they roomed together and had each other’s backs during their first summer in the South.
“I guess we had to protect each other,” McClendon said.
Lloyd McClendon, pictured in 2019 as a coach with the Tigers, was an important figure in Darryl Strawberry’s early pro years. (Rich von Biberstein / Icon Sportswire via Associated Press)
And McClendon hadn’t been there at the start of the ’81 season in Lynchburg because of a broken hand he suffered in spring training. But when Strawberry left the team, that rehab period became a lot shorter for McClendon.
“When I saw him at the park, then I was happy,” Strawberry said, “to see a face and someone of color just like me.”
Dusan made sure the two roomed together again, even though McClendon had gotten married.
“You have to take care of him,” McClendon remembered Dusan saying, “because he’s not going to make it if you don’t.”
“I don’t know if I was old enough to be a mentor at the time,” said McClendon, who was 22 that season, “but I was certainly a friend and a voice he could talk to. Whatever little wisdom that I had I tried to pass along.”
And Dusan’s tough-love approach as a manager was what Strawberry needed at that point. The day Strawberry returned to the club, Dusan didn’t exactly rejoice.
“I’m glad you’re back. I’m glad you’re healthy,” he told the player. “We’ve got to go to work.”
From that day forward, Dusan remembered, Strawberry became the best player he ever coached.
“He was there every day for extra hitting,” Dusan said. “Once he applied himself, he was the man.”
There was a reason Strawberry was always there for extra hitting.
“Let me put it this way: In a very good way, Gene was a pain in the ass to Darryl and I,” McClendon said. “When we were on the road, he would wake us up at 8 every morning and we had go to the ballpark. I guess he saw something special in both of us. He saw it in Darryl, for sure.”
“Gene Dusan was like a father figure to me that I didn’t have. He embraced me to fight through some adversities early,” Strawberry said. “I became a part of his family. It was just very personal to me.”
How much a part of the family? Strawberry helped babysit Dusan’s children.
“Geno kept me going, kept me focused on not looking up there and interacting with the people up there (in the stands),” Strawberry said. “That really helped me because I really didn’t want to play anymore, for a minute there.”
“He taught us so much about not just baseball but life in general and how you go about your business,” said McClendon, who went on to manage more than 1,100 major-league games. “You stand up and live by your word and learn to be a man of honor. It was pretty cool.”
For Strawberry, the suck season remains an important part of his story. That first experience of adversity helped him through the many later challenging periods he endured, both self-inflicted and not. It was a learning moment, he said, one that came up whenever his children wanted to give something up at a difficult time.
In ’82, playing for Dusan in Double-A Jackson, Miss., Strawberry broke through with 34 homers, 45 stolen bases and an OPS over 1.000. Two years after the suck season, Strawberry was the National League’s Rookie of the Year.
“I made the right decision to fight through the adversities and start believing,” Strawberry said. “I’m forever thankful for that and for real people. These are real people. These are not people that sugarcoat everything about you. But the people that showed me how to overcome.”
“It’s hard to believe,” Dusan said about watching the teenager he managed have his number retired. “I appreciate how he feels about me. I’m proud of him.”
(Photo of Darryl Strawberry batting for the
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Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes will be out for the rest of the season as he suffered a torn ACL on Sunday in a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, according to multiple reports.
Mahomes’ knee buckled while he was scrambling and as he was getting hit by Chargers defensive end Da’Shawn Hand. He was helped off the field and he limped to the locker room. An MRI reportedly confirmed the extent of the damage.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes grabs his knee after being injured during the second half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann)
The quarterback wrote a message to fans as word of his injury trickled out.
“Don’t know why this had to happen,” Mahomes wrote on X. “And not going to lie (it) hurts. But all we can do now is Trust in God and attack every single day over and over again. Thank you Chiefs kingdom for always supporting me and for everyone who has reached out and sent prayers. I Will be back stronger than ever.”
Chiefs coach Andy Reid offered a gloomy outlook for Mahomes as he spoke to reporters following the loss.
PHILIP RIVERS THROWS FIRST TOUCHDOWN PASS SINCE 2020 SEASON
Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Odafe Oweh (98) sacks Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) during the second half at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on Dec. 14, 2025. (Jay Biggerstaff/Imagn Images)
“… It didn’t look good,” Reid said when asked whether he knew if Mahomes’ injury was serious. “I mean you guys saw it. We’ll just see where it goes.”
The loss to the Chargers also meant the Chiefs will not be making the postseason. Kansas City made it to the AFC Championship each season since 2018. They made it to the Super Bowl in each of the last three seasons, winning two titles in that span.
Mahomes will finish the season with 3,398 passing yards and 22 touchdown passes.
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Kansas City is 6-8 on the year.
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On a day when the Chargers took a big step toward the postseason, the Kansas City Chiefs lost their most important player.
What started in balmy Brazil ended Sunday in the bitter cold of Arrowhead Stadium. The Chargers completed a season sweep of AFC West bully Kansas City with a 16-13 victory that ultimately knocked the Chiefs out of playoff contention for the first time in 11 years.
It was the third-coldest game in Chargers history — 15 degrees at kickoff — and showcased a red-hot defense that paved the way to Los Angeles wins over Philadelphia and Kansas City, last season’s Super Bowl teams, in consecutive weeks.
“This is a ball team,” Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said, gleeful after his team won for the sixth time in seven games. “A real ball team.”
This Chargers season, which began with a 27-21 victory over the Chiefs in São Paulo, is just the second in the last 13 years in which they beat their division rival twice.
Harbaugh began his postgame remarks on a somber note, wishing the best for Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who left the game late in the fourth quarter after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee when he was hit by defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand.
Gardner Minshew closed out at quarterback for the Chiefs, and the game ended when Derwin James Jr. intercepted his final pass. There would be no fantastic finish for the franchise that won the last nine division titles.
“We’ve been going at those guys for a while, going back to Baltimore,” said Chargers edge rusher Odafe Oweh, acquired in a trade with the Ravens this season. “It was long overdue.”
A week after Cameron Dicker kicked five field goals in the win over Philadelphia, he kicked three more against the Chiefs.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes grabs his left leg after sustaining a torn ACL in the fourth quarter.
(Reed Hoffmann / Associated Press)
Oweh had two sacks of Mahomes, and Tuli Tuipulotu had two more. The defense had the Chiefs in a hammer lock, limiting them to 190 yards in the air and a mere 49 on the ground.
Still, the Chargers had to dig themselves out of a hole. They faced a 13-3 deficit late in the second quarter before tearing off 13 unanswered points.
Justin Herbert threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to rookie KeAndre Lambert-Smith with five seconds left in the first half to start the comeback. After that it was Dicker and defense for the visitors.
“It was really cool that we were able to close out a one-score game like that,” said Herbert, who said his surgically repaired left hand felt tight in the cold weather but was better, as was his grip on the ball. “How many times we’ve played them and it’s been those one-score games? The defense came up with the turnovers and the stops.”
Kansas City, trailing by three, got all the way down to the visitors’ 17 early in the fourth quarter but the Chargers yet again came up big on defense. Linebacker Daiyan Henley intercepted a third-down pass near the goal line, getting position on running back Kareem Hunt and essentially becoming the receiver on the play.
“I was surprised to even see the ball go up in the air, but I had to revert back to my receiver days and get an over-the-shoulder look,” said Henley, who last lined up as a pass catcher six or seven years ago at the University of Nevada Reno. “Eye-hand coordination is something you just have to have in those moments.”
Not everything the Chargers defense did was so smooth. Safety Tony Jefferson was ejected in the fourth quarter after a helmet-to-helmet hit that knocked Chiefs receiver Tyquan Thornton out of the game. The call to send Jefferson packing was not made by officials on the field, who flagged him for unnecessary roughness, but by league officials watching from New York.
Earlier in the second half, Jefferson flattened receiver Rashee Rice with another devastating hit, and Rice came after him as the Chargers safety made his way off the field and toward the locker room. Players from both sides intervened.
Chargers safety Tony Jefferson leaves the field after being ejected against the Chiefs on Sunday.
(Reed Hoffmann / Associated Press)
In response to the booing crowd, Jefferson raised both middle fingers, a gesture that likely will draw more attention from the league.
“I apologize for that,” he said afterward. “I’m classier than that. I was just caught up in the moment. Emotions get high. I won’t sit here and act like I’m a perfect man. I messed up when I did that.”
The Chargers (10-4), who finish the season at Denver, have yet to lose an AFC West game. They are 5-0 in those and remain within striking distance of the division-leading Broncos.
It won’t be an easy road. The Chargers play at Dallas next Sunday, then play host to Houston before closing out the regular season against the Broncos.
“I started thinking, this is my favorite ball team I’ve ever been on,” Harbaugh said. “Been on some good ones. None better than this one.
“They’re tight. Fates are intertwined. It’s unselfish. Nothing anyone is doing is for themselves.”
And on this frigid Sunday, that paid some unforgettable dividends.
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Indiana University quarterback Fernando Mendoza became the first Hoosier to win the coveted Heisman Trophy, college football’s most prestigious award.
Mendoza claimed 2,392 first-place votes, beating Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (1,435 votes), Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love (719 votes) and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin (432 votes).
Mendoza guided the Hoosiers to their first No. 1 ranking and the top seed in the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket, throwing for 2,980 yards and a nation-best 33 touchdown passes while also running for six scores.
Indiana, the last unbeaten team in major college football, will play a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game in the Rose Bowl Jan. 1.
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza runs off the field after a game against Wisconsin Nov. 15, 2025, in Bloomington, Ind (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Mendoza, the Hoosiers’ first-year starter after transferring from California, is the triggerman for an offense that surpassed program records for touchdowns and points set during last season’s surprise run to the CFP.
A redshirt junior, the once lightly recruited Miami native is the second Heisman finalist in school history, joining 1989 runner-up Anthony Thompson. The trophy was established in 1935.
NO 2 INDIANA CAPS OFF COMEBACK WIN OVER PENN STATE WITH SENSATIONAL TOUCHDOWN, KEEPS UNDEFEATED SEASON ALIVE
Mendoza is the seventh Indiana player to earn a top 10 finish in Heisman balloting, and it marks another first in program history. It now has had players in the top 10 of Heisman voting in back-to-back years. Hoosiers quarterback Kurtis Rourke was ninth last year.
Quarterbacks have won the Heisman four of the last five years. Travis Hunter of Colorado, who played wide receiver and cornerback, won last season.
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Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza throws before a game against Wisconsin Nov. 15, 2025, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Mendoza was named The Associated Press Player of the Year earlier this week and picked up the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien awards Friday night while Love won the Doak Walker Award.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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