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Ex-Mets star Strawberry used to have sex during games: It was an addiction

Stephen Dunn / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Darryl Strawberry, the troubled former New York Mets star who battled substance abuse during his career and has struggled with depression since retiring, says his sex addiction led him to the point that he was having sex during games.

"It was pretty crazy," Strawberry said during a recent interview on The Dr. Oz Show. "All addictions has to do with behavior. If I never changed the behavior, I could never get well from it. And we can stay in the addiction as long as we want to, and middle of games, yeah, I would go between innings and stuff like that and run back and have a little party going on, and, you know, I thought it was pretty cool. I mean, that's just the addiction, the drive."

Strawberry, who made his MLB debut with the Mets in 1983, was able to get away with it, he said, because certain teammates and coaches had his back.

"Well, some of them covered for me," Strawberry said. "It was pretty cool."

Last year, while promoting an ESPN "30 for 30" documentary that chronicled the mutual struggles of both himself and former teammate Doc Gooden, Strawberry alluded to his past sex addiction, saying he became addicted to womanizing early in his career.

"I'm 21, 22, 23, and at that age you never think your life can be derailed," Strawberry told the Los Angeles Times. "So I became addicted to all of it - the womanizing, amphetamines, cocaine, being rich."

Over parts of 17 seasons split between the Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, and New York Yankees, Strawberry earned eight All-Star appearances, but was suspended three times for substance abuse and averaged only 42 games per year over his final eight seasons in the majors.

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