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

Former MLB All-Star Darryl Strawberry discusses his journey to redemption on ‘Fox & Friends.’

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.

Darryl Strawberry of the New York Mets bats against the Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium in 1987 in Pittsburgh. (George Gojkovich/Getty Images)

"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. 

Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry at the 1986 Mets 30th anniversary reunion celebration at Citi Field