STRAWBERRY ADMITS TO VIOLATING PROBATION

TAMPA, Fla., April 19 -- In a surprising pronouncement, Darryl Strawberry
pleaded guilty to violating his probation today, and his lawyer said
Strawberry was prepared to go to state prison.

"He expects to face consequences for his conduct," the lawyer, Darryl
Rouson, said in Hillsborough Circuit Court. "Even if it's state prison, he
understood that was a probable consequence."

Sentencing was deferred until April 29 because Florence Foster, the Circuit
Court judge who has had jurisdiction over Strawberry's cases, was out sick.
Ralph Steinberg, a retired judge filling in today, agreed with Rouson's
suggestion that Foster should handle the sentencing.

The sentencing is from Strawberry's arrest in 1999 on drug violations and
solicitation of prostitution.

Based on a midweek conversation with Foster, Rouson said that Strawberry,
40, would most likely wind up in prison in Zephyrhills, Fla., about 60
miles from his Tampa home.

That prison has a well-regarded substance-abuse program as well as the
ability to deal with Strawberry's colon cancer, now in remission. He could
receive a sentence of up to 18 months but would most likely be credited
with time served, which could total more than a year.

Ron Dock, a former drug addict who works for the Yankees as a
substance-abuse liaison and has taken a special interest in Strawberry,
said he felt heartened by a conversation he had with Strawberry, a former
Yankees and Mets slugger, several days ago.

"He told me it was time for him to be accountable," Dock said in an
interview outside the courthouse. "I told him: `You know what, for the
first time in probably two years, I'm proud of you. I'm looking at your
manhood coming out, not a boy crying, kicking and screaming. I'm very proud
of you.' "

On Thursday, Rouson said he would most likely request an extension, but
after 35 minutes of conferring with Strawberry, whose wrists and ankles
were shackled, and the assistant state attorney Darrell Dirks, who was
wearing a baseball-motif tie, Rouson entered Strawberry's guilty plea.

Strawberry, who has violated probation six times, asked to make a statement.

"It's time for me to move forward," he told Steinberg, the judge. "It's
time for me to accept responsibility and do what I have to do and move on
with my life."

He apologized to his family, friends and everyone who had supported him
through nearly two decades of drug abuse. "At this point, right now,"
Strawberry said, "I'm looking forward to getting my sentence and putting
this behind me."

Last May, Strawberry was sent to a nonsecure drug rehabilitation program
near Ocala, after violating his probation by going AWOL from a Tampa
treatment center and going on a nearly four-day drug and alcohol binge.
Friends eventually found him in Daytona Beach.

At the time, prosecutors urged Judge Foster to sentence Strawberry to
prison, but instead she sent him to Phoenix House, a drug treatment center
in Citra, about 80 miles north of Tampa.

Strawberry was ejected last month and charged with violating 11 program
rules, including a ban on sex with a fellow patient. Other violations
included smoking, selling autographed baseballs for cigarettes, misusing
his telephone privileges and shaving his head.

"He's fought the good fight and now he has other battles to fight," said
Rouson, a former drug addict. "He does not relish going through an entire
contested, aggressive, vigorous hearing over rules violations, and he feels
he's put himself, his family and the American system through enough
contention."

Strawberry looked calm in court, only occasionally glancing into the crowd,
where his wife, Charisse, sat.

"Lasting recovery means accountability," Rouson said after the hearing. "It
means accepting sometimes painful and unpleasant consequences for one's
behavior and conduct. So to that extent, I think he is at peace with
himself now."