He was a world-class baseball star, but even he couldn't handle it when life threw him this curve

The New York Mets recently announced that they would retire the numbers of Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden, two of the most exciting players ever to set foot on a baseball field. 

But while the Mets now have Strawberry’s number, cancer nearly had the home run hitter’s number 25 years ago.

Back then, Darryl Strawberry was a star among many stars on the 1998 Yankees team, one of the greatest teams in baseball history, which would go on to sweep the World Series against the San Diego Padres. Yet when the Yanks raced onto the field at Qualcomm Stadium to celebrate, Strawberry wasn't there. He was back in New York, recovering from surgery to remove a tumor from his colon.

"All through September," Strawberry recalls, "I didn't feel a lot of pain, but I just kept losing weight. I had blood in my stool every time I went to the bathroom, and I knew something was wrong."

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Strawberry waited until the end of the regular season because he was playing well, and he did not want the team's trainers to recommend sitting him down.

"It was a great team," Strawberry says. "We were just having a phenomenal season. But I knew I had to go in and get checked, and I didn't think it would be anything that serious. Once I got in, the doctors told me to sit down because they needed to talk to me. It was very serious. 

"They said I had colon cancer, and they could remove the tumor, and that the surgery could take as long as six hours. I was devastated because my mom passed at age 55 from terminal breast cancer. And I would end up losing my sister, Regina, at the age of 51 from cancer, too. 

"I understood that I was in a high-risk category, that something like this could happen to any one of us in our family. It was just a really tough time for me. It was hard because I was playing baseball. I thought, I'm an athlete. I'm in great shape. How could this be?"

Strawberry's phenomenal physique may well have saved his life. The doctors told him that his abdominal muscles were so strong that they had kept the tumor locked in one place. If he hadn't had such strong abs, one big swing of the bat or one hard slide could have caused the tumor to burst and spread throughout his entire body.

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When Strawberry awoke from the anesthesia after surgery, he was astonished to find a guest sitting next to him in his hospital room: George Steinbrenner.

Baseball fans remember the Boss, as he was known, as the headline-grabbing, manager-firing tough guy who ran the Yankees with the firmness of a drill sergeant in the Marines. There was another side to Steinbrenner, a softer side, and this was what Strawberry saw when he awoke.

"The Boss was sitting there!" Strawberry exclaims with a sense of wonder in his voice, 25 years after the fact. "He was sitting right there in my hospital room! It was amazing. When I saw him, I wondered, what is he doing here? I was shocked he wanted to be there. He was concerned about what was happening with me. At that moment, the team was on the road playing for the World Series in San Diego. But the Boss wanted to be by my side instead of celebrating that victory. What a blessing. What a great man.

"The boss had compassion for people," Strawberry adds. "He had a clear understanding about people and their lives and what they go through. There was never any judgment from him about life, about my life or my struggles. I was just a part of his family, and I'm thankful that he thought of me that way."

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Strawberry says that Steve Cohen, the Mets owner, has the same determination as Steinbrenner.

"Steve Cohen is the same way," Strawberry says. "He'll get there. It's going to take some time. He's smart enough to know from where he's been in life and how he got to where he is, what it takes to succeed. He got there by being patient and understanding that it's going to take work. But he'll get there."

Although the initial surgery was successful, Strawberry's doctors warned him that the cancer could recur, and two years later it did. His left kidney had to be removed in surgery so the doctors could get at the tumor. Strawberry has been cancer-free ever since. He says that if fans really want to honor his accomplishments on the field, they should go in for a colonoscopy screening as soon as possible.

"It's important to have yourself checked," Strawberry says. "So many forms of cancer, including colon cancer, can be treated if they are caught in time. There's no reason to die young, especially if that death was preventable. 

"Of course, I'm thrilled and honored that the Mets are retiring my number. But talking about avoiding an unnecessary death is far more important than any game. If you are a male over the age of 45, don't hesitate. You don't want to go through what I went through. "And if you do, George Steinbrenner won't be sitting in the hospital room waiting for you to wake up!"

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