Darryl Strawberry Net Worth

What is Darryl Strawberry's Net Worth and Salary?

Darryl Strawberry is a retired American professional baseball player who has a net worth of $800 thousand. During his baseball career, Darryl Strawberry earned aroung $30 million in salary. That's the same as around $75 million today after adjusting for inflation. He was one of the highest-paid players in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His peak salary was $5.3 million, earned in the 1995 and 1996 seasons.

Unfortunately, Darryl has also experienced a number of personal, legal, and financial problems over the years, as we detail throughout the article below.

Darryl Strawberry was one of the most naturally gifted and charismatic baseball players of the 1980s, known for his towering home runs, smooth left-handed swing, and larger-than-life personality. Drafted first overall by the New York Mets in 1980, he quickly became one of the sport's brightest young stars, earning National League Rookie of the Year honors in 1983. Over the next several seasons, Strawberry helped transform the Mets into contenders, playing a central role in their 1986 World Series championship and becoming the team's all-time leader in home runs. Standing 6-foot-6 with exceptional power and speed, he was selected to eight consecutive All-Star Games from 1984 to 1991 and won two Silver Slugger Awards.

After his dominant run with the Mets, Strawberry signed a lucrative deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1991, but injuries and off-field troubles began to derail his career. He later played briefly for the San Francisco Giants before finding redemption with the New York Yankees in the late 1990s, where he contributed to three World Series–winning teams despite recurring health and personal challenges. In total, Strawberry hit 335 home runs, drove in 1,000 RBIs, and stole 221 bases across a 17-year major league career.

Strawberry's story is often cited as both a tale of immense talent and the perils of fame. His battles with drug addiction led to multiple suspensions, arrests, and a premature decline from superstardom. However, in his later life, he found stability through faith, recovery, and community work, becoming a Christian minister and motivational speaker. Once one of baseball's most polarizing figures, Darryl Strawberry ultimately transformed his turbulent past into a story of resilience and redemption, reminding fans that personal growth can transcend even the most public struggles.

Contracts, Salaries & Career Earnings

Over the course of his 17-season Major League Baseball career, Darryl Strawberry earned exactly $30,615,000 in base salary and signing bonuses. While that figure pales in comparison to modern superstar contracts, it represented elite, franchise-level money in the 1980s and early 1990s. Unfortunately, a significant portion of those earnings was later diminished by taxes, legal issues, and personal struggles that followed him off the field.

Strawberry's financial journey began with immediate fanfare. As the #1 overall pick in the 1980 MLB Draft, he received a $200,000 signing bonus straight out of high school, a substantial figure at the time. When he reached the majors in 1983 and won National League Rookie of the Year honors, his salary reflected the era's modest pay scale, earning a prorated $36,000 that season and $220,000 in 1984.

Prior to the 1985 season, the New York Mets signed Strawberry to a six-year, $7.1 million extension, a deal that was considered massive at the time and locked him in as one of the faces of the franchise. The contract steadily escalated from $600,000 in 1985 to $1.8 million by 1990 and notably included deferred compensation provisions that would later contribute to well-documented tax complications.

Following the 1990 season, Strawberry entered free agency and signed a landmark five-year, $20.25 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, briefly making him one of the highest-paid players in baseball. The deal was heavily front-loaded, including a $5 million payday in his first season. However, injuries and off-field issues derailed his tenure in Los Angeles. By 1995, the Dodgers released him but were still obligated to pay the remaining $5 million owed under the contract.

The final chapter of Strawberry's career consisted of a series of short-term comeback deals. In 1995 alone, he collected paychecks from three different organizations, including the Dodgers buyout, a brief stint with the San Francisco Giants, and a late-season signing with the New York Yankees. He remained with the Yankees on a sequence of one-year contracts through the late 1990s, earning more modest salaries but contributing to three World Series championship teams.

IRS Contract Auction

One of the strangest chapters in Darryl Strawberry's post-baseball life involves the IRS auctioning off his old Mets contract. It all traces back to his 1985 deal with New York. For the final year of that contract (1990), the Mets included a deferred compensation clause allowing them to delay 40% of his $1.85 million salary, roughly $740,000, for 15 years. The team agreed to pay 5% annual interest on that amount from 1990 to 2005, and then distribute the total balance over 20 years beginning in 2010. Essentially, Strawberry traded short-term cash for a long-term annuity that would pay him monthly checks well into retirement.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Between 1987 and 1990, Strawberry failed to pay more than half a million dollars in federal income taxes, and he racked up additional tax debts in 2003 and 2004. Years later, during his 2006 divorce from his wife Charisse, a court ordered him to allocate part of his future annuity for spousal support. However, after Charisse filed for bankruptcy in 2010, a federal judge ruled that the IRS's tax liens superseded both the divorce settlement and her bankruptcy claims. The annuity legally belonged to the government.

Rather than wait decades to collect the payouts, the IRS decided to auction off the contract. In January 2015, they offered the public "the right to receive ongoing monthly payments under the Darryl Strawberry Deferred Compensation Agreement." While the IRS cited the annuity's present cash value at around $1.28 million, the actual gross payout remaining was much higher. The winner would be buying the right to receive a monthly check from the Mets for $8,891.82 for the next 223 months (roughly 18.5 years), which is August 2033. In total, the winner would be paid nearly $2 million.

The minimum bid was set at $550,000. Financially, the baseline math was fascinating. Using a discounted cash flow analysis with an 8% discount rate (the typical long-term return of the S&P 500), the present value of the annuity was roughly $675,000. In theory, anyone paying more than that would be better off just putting their money in the stock market.

But the live auction drew 31 registered bidders, and the final price blew past all expectations. An anonymous buyer won the auction with a staggering bid of $1.3 million. While that number seemed crazy at first glance, context is everything. In the near-zero interest rate environment of 2015, the buyer had essentially purchased a highly secure, corporate-backed annuity with a guaranteed internal rate of return of roughly 5.2%. Not only did they secure a safe harbor for their cash, but they also bought themselves a guaranteed monthly paycheck from the New York Mets—and one of the greatest cocktail party stories in sports history.

Legal and Financial Issues

In 1995, a Californian court charged Strawberry with failing to pay child support payments. He then agreed to use his signing bonus to pay the debt. In 1998, Strawberry was sued by his attorney, who was owed over $100,000 in legal fees.

In 1999, Darryl Strawberry was arrested for soliciting sex and possession of cocaine. He was suspended from the MLB as a result and sentenced to 21 months of probation. In 2000, he crashed into another car after taking painkillers. He tried to flee the scene of the crash and was arrested by an officer who witnessed the incident.

Although Strawberry was given a year of probation and house arrest, he violated his parole when he left a treatment center to use drugs. He was sentenced to 40 days in jail as a result. In 2001, he left his treatment center once again, leading to another arrest. Strawberry was subsequently sent back to the treatment center after serving jail time, only to break the center's drug rules in 2002. He was put behind bars once again, and in 2003, he was released after 11 months in jail.

On November 7, 2025, President Donald Trump pardoned Daryl for his 1995 guilty plea to tax evasion charge.

Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

Early Life

Darryl Strawberry was born on March 12th, 1962, in Los Angeles, California. Raised in an athletic family, Darryl played baseball during high school alongside his brother Michael, who would also become a professional baseball player in the MLB. Darryl's father was verbally and physically abusive to him, and he later stated that this mistreatment was one of the factors that drove him towards alcohol and drug abuse.

MLB Career

In 1980, Darryl Strawberry was the first overall pick in the MLB draft, and he joined the New York Mets. By 1983, Strawberry had reached the major league level with the Mets and was named Rookie of the Year with excellent performances. In 1984, he was voted into the All-Star Game for the first time.

From 1984 to 1990, Strawberry led the Mets to one of their best-ever periods, and they routinely finished first or second in the league. However, Strawberry was at the heart of many internal conflicts within the team behind the scenes. By 1989, Strawberry's form began to dip after a long period of hitting numerous home runs per season.

While Strawberry's form improved in 1990, he finished the year by signing a new contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a free agent. The five-year contract was worth $22.25 million, which is roughly equivalent to $43.65 million in today's money. However, Strawberry's next two seasons with the Dodgers were hampered by injuries. His performance continued to decline over the next few years, and in 1994, he was released by the Dodgers and signed by the San Francisco Giants.

His comeback was short-lived, and in 1995, Strawberry tested positive for cocaine. He subsequently signed with the St. Paul Saints in the Northern League. By 1996, he was back in the MLB with the Yankees, helping them win the World Series that year. He would repeat this feat two more times with the Yankees, ending his career in 1999 on a high note with a final World Series win.

Harry How /Allsport

Cancer Diagnosis

In 1998, Darryl Strawberry was diagnosed with colon cancer. Although the tumor was removed, doctors determined that the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes. Chemotherapy was necessary, and Strawberry recovered enough to play one final season in 1999.

In 2000, a CT scan determined that cancer was once again present in Strawberry's lymph nodes. A month later, the removal of his kidney was necessary.

Relationships and Family

Darryl Strawberry has been married three times. In 2005, he divorced from his wife, Charisse. He met his third wife, Tracy, while attending a drug recovery convention. They were wed in 2006, and they subsequently founded an organization dedicated to children with autism. Darryl Strawberry has a son who was born in 1985 called Darryl Strawberry Jr. Otherwise known as "D.J.," Darryl's son was drafted by the Phoenix Suns during the 2007 NBA Draft.

Darryl Strawberry is a born-again evangelical Christian. He has appeared on several Christian TV shows to speak about his newfound faith. Darryl Strawberry also frequently donates to various charity organizations.

Real Estate

In May 2016, Darryl paid $839,000 for a lakefront home in Orlando, Florida. He sold this home in October 2019 for $960,000. In April 2019, Darryl paid around $370,000 for a 3-acre property in O'Fallon, Missouri.

Strawberry's Sports Grill

In 2010, Darryl Strawberry opened his own restaurant called Strawberry's Sports Grill. By 2012, the restaurant was forced to close down.

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