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Reactions: Three strikes Users call for lifetime ban for StrawberryPosted: Friday February 25, 2000 07:20 PM
CNNSI.com asked users how they thought Major League Baseball should deal with Darryl Strawberry's recent failed drug test. The response was almost unanimous: he's out. I think Strawberry has had his day. This is his third time getting popped for cocaine; how many chances do you give a person to clean up their act before you say, "You've blown it...go home." Pete Rose was banned for life for gambling. Bud Selig seems interested in telling kids that it's okay to take drugs, but not okay to gamble. The League has a double standard when it comes to punishing players for infractions. Hey.. this is baseball... at the very least, "three strikes and you're out" seems to apply here.
In my opinion Strawberry's career is over. No matter how long they suspend him for, who wants to sign a 40-yr. old player to a contract? Strawberry used to be my favorite player a kid growing up. He obviously has a serious drug problem when he knows he's going to get tested and still uses the drug. So much talent wasted! He could have easily been one of the premier homerun hitters in MLB history.
How many chances does one person get? This is ridiculous. If he were an average citizen and not a celebrity, he would be behind bars. I understand he has been through a lot but I think its time to ban him from baseball. What kind of example is he setting anyway?
I think Strawberry should be permanently barred from playing professional baseball. His continued abuse of drugs is making MLB look bad. There comes a time when a person needs to be accountable for his actions, and now is the time for him. You can only give a person so many chances to get himself together. Darryl has used up his chances and it is time for him to go for good. Why permanently ban Pete Rose for gambling but continue to give drug addicts numerous chances?
First, the state of Florida should revoke his probation and immediately put Strawberry in jail. Second, Bud Selig should show some guts and suspend him for life. I am tired of drug addicted, wife beating, pampered athletes being given chance after chance.
Darryl Strawberry should be BANNED from baseball. He has consistently slapped the good name of baseball in the face. He has had more than his share of chances to correct his problem and with each chance he fails. No one made him fail except himself. Most everyone in baseball, from those in the top offices to the other players, has all encouraged him. But no one more than the fans. His continued use of unprescribed, unauthorized, unlawful, illicit drugs can not be tolerated. How can major league baseball stand by a person like that. There is no place in baseball for someone like that? If a baseball great like Pete Rose can be banned from baseball for SUPPOSEDLY gambling (which is legal in some states in this country) how can someone who is totally disrespectful of the law, his team, his team mates, his town, his owner and his fans not be banned? I don't know how anyone can respect him. I don't; not anymore. As far as I'm concerned he should never be able to be at a major league baseball facility let alone play the game of baseball.
I think he should be banned from baseball for life... to include the Hall of Fame. I mean this has gone on long enough, with all that money and resources at his disposal, he should be able to lay off the stuff. With all the chances he has had, he needs to be banned for life. Maybe that will get his attention... then again maybe it wont.
Strawberry, you screwed up, too bad. Suck it up, pack your bags and get out. Just walk out that door and keep walking because you are an embarrassment to the Game and everyone who has supported and cheered for you. You have stabbed me, other long-time Strawberry fans, and Baseball in the back for the last time. You have problems, no doubt, but you've wasted enough of our time.
Professional sport athletes are given an opportunity that millions of average citizens would love to have. Who wouldn't want to play a sport for a living and get overpaid for it. The entire problem revolves around salaries. Without the overstuffed billfolds these athletes carry around they wouldn't have the luxury of spending minimal amounts on party favors, i.e. cocaine. The league officials are just too soft when dealing with issues like this. Put the foot down and ban offenders from the league, there are many other hard working minor league players dreaming of that chance to play in the show. Reward someone else for another's downfall. Regular blue-collar workers don't get second chances and/or fifteenth chances, or any other leeway like Strawberry receives, we just get canned from our job no questions asked. This also says a lot about the Yankee organization. They should be the ones to take action. Ban Strawberry, and promote Leyritz to full-time DH. Bring up another AAA player to replace him.
Even if my employer was generous enough to send me to rehab for a second chance, do you think ANYONE in a job would be able to do this 3 times, and not expect to be fired?!!? Time's up! Time for Strawberry to be removed and finally a professional sports organization will show some backbone in the drug usage policy.
Steve Howe, a white man, tested positive for drugs, was suspended & reinstated seven times!!!! How can you do anything less for Straw without every civil rights leader in the world calling it a racist ruling?
Why not give him another chance? I don't think what he did was so bad. He's only hurting himself. He didn't stab anyone or hire someone to shoot his pregnant wife. The man has an illness. He's a drug addict. Drug addicts have relapses. I think one positive test in 9 months of three tests a week is progress. I never thought of drug addiction as an illness but a weakness. Now I look at it differently. His punishment should be part therapy, part community service combined. He should visit drug clinics and help others that are like him, and in doing so I think he will help himself as well. Commissioner Selig has a sticky situation on his hands. If the state of Florida can take the position they did, why should MLB be any different. Baseball should, and probably is, handling the situation with white gloves. He must be suspended, but not forever, or the entire season. They can help him and people like him. Given the crime wave that the NFL is going through this matter seems almost minute. They shouldn't turn their back on him.
I was a L.L. baseball coach for years and we tried to teach kids to play clean, live clean, and be a good person. If they don't ban him from baseball they are sending the wrong message to every kid in the world. Some folks say that drugs are a sickness and the people who take them need a second chance. Well, he's had more than one chance and still does it. He'd be gone already if he hit .240 and played in Minnesota! By the way, gambling is a sickness also, look where Mr. Hustle is.
If it is so bad to say racist remarks (and it is bad) then it is even worse to allow a perennial drug user to continue to play baseball on any level. The fans deserve a better role model for their kids than these over paid problem players. I think that after one offense or maybe less they should just boot them out and see how it feels to make 7 dollars an hour instead of 7 million a year and maybe it would make them appreciate their situation a lot more.
As a Yankee fan, I would hate to see Darryl Strawberry go, for he would do a great job being the DH this year. I'm hoping that Mr. Selig will recognize this latest case not as a crime, but as an illness, for Darryl has an addiction to cocaine. However, should Mr. Selig want to suspend him for most of the season, then it's three strikes, and you're out. The Yankees can't afford year after year to worry about his personal problems.
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