TAMPA.IAM standing outside Darryl Strawberry’s door, in the gated golf community known as Cheval, ringing the bell again for a very good reason.
I want to ask Darryl why he talked to an undercover cop the way she said he talked the night he was arrested. Specifically, I want to ask Darryl just what he meant by the word “stuff.”
An older woman in Sgt. Schultz mode answers the bell. She knows nothing. She sees nothing. She hears nothing. She wants to know how I got past the security gate. Oh well, at least the Strawberrys didn’t call security on me this time, as was the case the previous night.
Darryl won’t come to the door, so we’re all left to interpret the police report on our own.
According to the investigative details written up by Officer Kelly Daniel, the undercover cop, this is how the conversation went after Darryl rolled down the passenger-side window:
Darryl: “Where is the good stuff?”
Daniel: “I am the good stuff.”
Darryl: “Oh, you are. Where can I get some good stuff to party with?”
Later in the report, after the cop said they brokered a deal for “straight sex” for $50 and arranged to meet in Room No. 3 of a nearby motel, Strawberry returned to his desire for “stuff.”
Darryl: “OK, but you can get some stuff too, right.”
Daniel: “Yes. Meet me across the street.”
The lady cop later told her superiors she had no clue as to the identity of the defendant. She was not looking to make a name for herself. The whole idea is to remain anonymous as an undercover cop. Can’t think of any reason not to believe her.
Stuff to party with. Hmmm, whatever could he have meant?
Balloons maybe?
A pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game?
A pinata?
Candles and cake?
Those are all possible, I suppose.
Cocaine, maybe?
Nah. Not a chance. That would mean we’ve all been ministers of Darryl propaganda, perpetuating the image of a drug-free, changed man making the most of his second chance in life.
Besides, why would he want cocaine? He already had some in his wallet, albeit only $20 worth.
Then again, he didn’t know he had it in his wallet. At least that’s what he told Sgt. Marc Hamlin. Strawberry immediately pinned the mini-stash on his wife’s uncle, Rodney Simon, whom he said borrowed the vehicle the night before.
Simon has been a big help to the family, watching his and Charisse’s children at times. Strawberry told the cops Simon “likes to party,” according to the police report and told them he was out until 5 a.m. the previous morning.
Translation: “He did it!”
Simon, when interviewed by cops, said he did have Strawberry’s wheels and was out with other friends. He also said he did not use or see cocaine the night he had the car.
Let’s suppose George Steinbrenner reveals himself as a softy by letting Strawberry have one more chance. Let’s suppose Strawberry one day walks into the Yankees’ clubhouse, owing the world to Steinbrenner.
Given how quickly he ratted out his wife’s uncle, you think just maybe the players might have a little trouble trusting him, for fear he would act as The Boss’ eyes and ears in the clubhouse?
Strike 1: Strawberry asked the fake hooker, “Where can I get some good stuff to party with?”
Strike 2: Strawberry is found to have $20 worth of cocaine rolled up in a $20 bill in his wallet.
Strike 3: His first instinct is to rat out his wife’s uncle.
So went the ugliest at-bat of Strawberry’s career with the Yankees.
Hamlin, a Queens native in charge of the street anti-crime squad that pinched Strawberry, said seeing this happen to Strawberry, “really bothered me. I’m not excited by any means. This was not a fulfilling arrest.”
It bothered his stepfather, Ed Filangeri of Whitestone, for different reasons.
“He’s a big Yankee fan and he called to say he was very upset,” Hamlin said. “He said, ‘You might have cost the Yankees 35 or 40 home runs.’ “
It cost Strawberry a great deal more than that. It cost him his good name, millions upon millions of dollars, a few friendships.