Darryl Strawberry Offers Himself as Cautionary Tale to Joba Chamberlain

The other day I said we needed to keep the whole Joba Chamberlain DUI in perspective. It was a mistake, a bad one, but not something that should have us running around all henny penny screaming that the sky is falling. I still feel that way but a voice from New York's baseball past reminds me that perspective doesn't mean sweeping things under the rug.

Darryl Strawberry knows from wasting talent. When he first appeared on the radar, it was assumed he'd end up with his face in bronze at Cooperstown. The closest he got was an orange jumpsuit, though, and drugs and alcohol were the primary culprits. Things were different 20 years ago and the dalliances of the '80's Mets were written off as boys will be boys until they took over and destroyed the careers of Strawberry and Doc Gooden. Perhaps if Straw's first offense was as widely reported as Chamberlain's it could have ended differently.

That's why Strawberry is reaching out to Chamberlain to make sure he knows just how much he'd be throwing away.  All Joba should need to hear from Strawberry is "I regret it." It shouldn't take anything more than that to make sure that a driver's standing by on nights he wants to go out drinking. And if there is a larger problem, which only Joba would know, those three words should also be impetus for him to get any help he might need to deal with it.

I still say we keep things in perspective. It was good to get a reminder that part of the perspective is the worst-case scenario.

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