Strawberry's Latest Jam

By Stephen M. Silverman

04/20/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

With his former team, the New York Yankees, set to face their season opener on Monday, fugitive slugger Darryl Strawberry, 39, is still on the lam -- having walked away Thursday night from house arrest at a Tampa, Fla., drug rehab center, where he'd been staying since violating his probation by going on a drug binge last October. Police and friends, including retired Yankee pitcher Dwight Gooden, combed the area around the center in search of the troubled athlete all weekend, with fears that Straw, who is also battling colon cancer, may harm himself, say reports. A friend of Strawberry's at the center, Ray Negron, told New York's Daily News for its Monday editions that facing the cancer and a coke addiction, as well as facing the approach of the new season, had sapped Strawberry's physical and emotional strength. "It's been tough for him, dealing with recovery and an experimental chemotherapy," said Negron, who nevertheless is optimistic. "I have no doubts we'll find him in the next 24 hours," he said. "That's the way it is with people in recovery. Relapses are part of recovery."