Mets great Darryl Strawberry details life after heart attack: 'It's been a scary time'

NEW YORK — For former Mets star Darryl Strawberry, suffering a heart attack was life-changing.

Strawberry experienced the health scare on March 11 and underwent a stent procedure at Missouri’s SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital that he said saved his life.

“Having a heart attack is different,” Strawberry told SNY on Monday at St. Louis’ Busch Stadium, where the Mets are playing a three-game series against the Cardinals this week.

“It’s a different feeling inside. You feel fatigued. You feel weak. You take a lot of medication. You don’t think that you’re gonna be good again. It’s been a scary time. There’s no doubt about it.”

Strawberry, 62, lives in nearby O’Fallon, Mo.

“Without my wife [Tracy], I don’t know where I would be, because she has really helped me through this process,” Strawberry said. “It’s really been hard and very challenging, but I’ll tell you what, I’ve been able to watch a lot of baseball. I do have SNY at home, so I get a chance to see a lot of Mets games now.”

Drafted first overall by the Mets in 1980, the lefty-swinging Strawberry spent his first eight MLB seasons with the team, making seven All-Star appearances and winning a World Series in 1986. His 252 home runs with the Mets remain a franchise record.

Strawberry left the Mets before the 1991 season for a five-year, $22 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and he also played for the San Francisco Giants and the Yankees during his 17-season MLB career.

He won championships with the Yankees in 1996 and 1999 but was not on the team’s 1998 World Series after being diagnosed with colon cancer.

Strawberry made a surprise appearance at Citi Field on April 14 — just over a month after his heart attack — when the Mets retired longtime teammate Dwight Gooden’s No. 16.

Shortly after Strawberry’s heart attack, Gooden called the former outfielder his “dearest brother.”

“Get well soon my pal as we have a lot to celebrate this year!” Gooden, also a member of the World Series-winning ‘86 Mets, wrote on social media at the time.

Strawberry hit 335 home runs, recorded 1,000 RBIs and stole 221 bases during his MLB career, during which he battled substance abuse issues that led to three suspensions. He won Rookie of the Year as a 21-year-old in 1983 and finished within the top six of National League MVP voting three times with the Mets, including as the runner-up in 1988.

The Mets are set to retire Strawberry’s No. 18 during a June 1 ceremony.

“I’m looking forward to that day,” Strawberry told SNY. “I’m looking forward to really being able to say thank you to the fans, to tell the fans I’m sorry for leaving, just a lot of things, and thank you to a lot of people. The day is just not about me.”