Strawberry Comes Full Circle After Almost Losing His Way

Dwight Gooden knows better than anyone.

Knows the hurt Darryl Strawberry put on himself, the heights and depths of great potential, the disquieting silence of a phone that never rings.

“I can relate,” Gooden said, and he was smiling in the New York Yankee clubhouse Saturday night after Strawberry recreated a page from the past, blasting two home runs and a single in an 8-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles for a 3-1 lead in the American League championship series.

The Orioles are one game from elimination, but Strawberry lives, his life and career reborn, much as Gooden’s life and career were this year as he came back from shoulder problems and his 1995 drug suspension to win 11 games for the Yankees before the toll of innings regenerated the inflammation in his shoulder and forced him off the playoff roster.

“I can look at it that I did some things to help get us to this point,” Gooden said. “A year ago I was counting days until I got off the suspension.

“Darryl and I have come a long way. We both went down a road we had to go down, paid our dues, hung in there, believed in ourselves.

“Part of me was out there with him tonight. I feel almost as good as he does.”

There were a lot of days and nights of feeling good as young lions with the Mets--on and off the field.

The story has been chronicled, but the latest, brightest chapter for Strawberry came a long way from the baseball outpost that is the independent Northern League.

Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, who gave an opportunity to Gooden when no one else would, brought Strawberry out of the halfway house that is Mike Veeck’s St. Paul Saints in July.

In the national spotlight of Camden Yards, Strawberry expressed thanks in his biggest way yet.

He hit a solo homer off Rocky Coppinger in the second inning, singled off Coppinger and scored on Paul O’Neill’s ensuing home run in the fourth and put the Orioles away with a two-run homer on a 97 mph heater from Armando Benitez in the eighth.

Strawberry has been to the postseason before, but not since 1988, almost a lifetime ago. At 34, having been down a tough road, he has developed a quiet dispassion.

Excited? Yes, he said, but more excited for a team that sticks together better than any he has ever seen. Concerned that he would never receive another major league opportunity? Yes, he said, but just kept playing, rolling, enjoying himself, turning what seemed to be a last and only chance with the Saints into a chance to restore his feeling for the game.

“To play in that atmosphere brought me back to a totally different place involving what the game is all about,” he said. “Sometimes it’s good for no one to want you. It helped shape my priorities. Gave me an appreciation for my life and family.

“Knowing who I am and what I’m about is the most important thing for me now. I was able to return to the game in a positive way.”

He played left field in place of Tim Raines on Saturday night after going one for four as the right fielder in place of O’Neill on Friday night.

“I liked the way he swung the bat yesterday,” Manager Joe Torre said. “He looked like he had a lot of life in his hands. I thought he was close.”

So did Reggie Jackson, a special advisor to Steinbrenner and a special advisor to Strawberry.

“I give a lot of credit to Reggie,” Strawberry said. “He’s stuck by my side, talks to me daily. I’m glad to have him in my corner.”

Jackson talked to Strawberry again before Saturday’s game, reminding him to keep his swing short and quiet.

“I try to keep him focused,” Jackson said. “When you don’t play every day it’s easy to get down, to lose your approach. But Darryl has worked hard. I admire his tenacity. He’s had an uphill battle, but he’s got things in the proper order now. I mean, you seldom hear him talk about himself. It’s always God, family and thanks--thanks to the Yankees.”

Strawberry hit 11 home runs in 202 irregular at bats after joining the Yankees, including two in a July 13 victory over the Orioles at Camden Yards.

“The home run off Benitez says all you need to know,” Jackson said, referring to the right-handers’ good fastball. “He’d still hit 30 to 40 if he played every day.”

That was what Strawberry used to do for Davey Johnson, then the Met manager, now the Oriole manager. Saturday represented a bitter reminder.

“It’s hard for me to feel real good for him,” Johnson said. “He had a great game and he’s still a great player who’s gone through a lot, but I can’t feel real good for anyone in a Yankee uniform right now.”

A Yankee uniform? How many times did Strawberry and Gooden wonder if there would ever be another uniform, any uniform?