Darryl Strawberry Says If He Were Playing Baseball Today He Would Use Steroids

Time for sports-talk again.

Former baseball great Darryl Strawberry, who is equally famous for his sloppy cheat-ations, cocaine addiction and picking up prostitutes (and the list goes on), has admitted that if he were playing baseball today, he, like Alex Rodriguez, would have been caught up with steroids, too. But unlike A-Rod, he wouldn't deny it, because that's the kind of playa he is.

He tells the Daily News:

"Hell, yeah, I would have used them [steroids]. Are you kidding me?" Strawberry said as he kicked off a week as a guest instructor at Mets camp. "You know what, it's just the point of being in sports. In our nature we're competitive creatures. We have a tremendous drive and high tolerance and all of these things in us.

"I'm not saying that was the right thing to do," Strawberry continued, referring to A-Rod's steroid use. "But if somebody asked me if I would have faced it, what would I have done if that was going on in the era of the '80s, it definitely probably would have been in my system, too. I probably would have been a part of it, too. And I wouldn't have denied it, because you guys know I don't deny anything."

Strawberry, who turns 47 next week, is disappointed that A-Rod is being singled out for testing positive during supposedly anonymous tests in 2003.

"I have a hard time with the union when one player out of 104 players' names comes out and it's Alex Rodriguez's, on testing that was done that there was supposed to be confidentiality," Strawberry said. "Obviously somebody has had it out for him. It's not fair. If you're going to name one, why don't you name all of them.

"That's the only problem I have with this whole situation. They have put him in a situation where it's just him alone against the world. That's not fair because he's not the only one....It's unfortunate, but that's what happens when you play in New York. A lot of times everybody is going to pick on the biggest player, and he's the biggest player in the game. And he's a great player regardless of what people want to say.

"He's taking the bullet for everybody. He admitted he was wrong and everything. I think that should be enough for everybody."

Darryl has a book coming out April 29. Titled Straw, Finding My Way, he writes openly about drugs, drinking, sex, and abuse he and his siblings suffered as children.



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