Even a super star baseball player and one-time Rookie of the Year feels the pressure of facing the Donald. So much pressure that decided to walk away.  Darryl Strawberry gave in to the exhaustion he felt from a grueling work schedule on The Celebrity Apprentice, and the stress of working with some of the quirkiest celebrities he's ever met.  One thing's for certain: this tough guy doesn't regret quitting.



ON LEAVING THE GAME:

I'm grateful for being on the show. I'm grateful to Mr. Trump for giving me an opportunity to be on the Celebrity Apprentice. And a lot of my reasons for leaving the show is just being exhausted.  Of course we're playing for charity, no question about it. I have a foundation for Children with Autism. And I do extremely well raising money for children with autism. I just think I hit a point in the show, and it has been a long year for me. I've been tremendously busy the whole year. I was on a book tour all year. I was working in baseball all year with the Mets and I put on my own golf outing in September every year in New York. So, you know, I just hit a point where I was totally exhausted. I was running around and I just had nothing left in the tank. It wasn't anything personal. It wasn't about quitting.

ON NOT WANTING TO THROW ANYONE UNDER THE BUS:

I don't think a lot of people would have stepped up. Everybody  has a tendency of throwing each other under the bus from time to time because nobody wants to leave. So, I'm exhausted. Michael pulled the team together and we thought we had a pretty good task and we should have won. And unfortunately we didn't. The ladies won. So someone has to move on. So in my case I figured I'll be the one to depart and let the team go forth.

ON HIS HEALTH:

I'm totally healthy. No question about it. Everything is well physically, mentally, emotionally in my life. I just hit a wall of being run down from a whole year. I think a lot of times you see a lot of people that are on the show probably haven't had the year I had.

ON  ROD BLAGOJEVITCH:

The Governor, who knows what to say about him? I tried to explain to him this is not a show about telling everybody you're innocent or not. And I said you're making yourself look crazy on TV, which is happening because everybody's questioning and asking about it. Me, I was more of a laid back type of person and,  I just wanted to follow the project manager.

ON WHO HE THINKS IS THE CLEAR-CUT FAVOURITE ON THE WOMEN'S TEAM:

Well, you know, me personally I always thought Summer Sanders was the toughest. I love Summer. I think she's very, very bright. She's a go-getter. She has a great attitude. I was real happy for her that she won the task because I know what type of person she is.

ON WHETHER HE REGRETS LEAVING THE SHOW:

No. Not at all. If I hadn't been so exhausted, there's no question, I'd continue to participate in it. I didn't leave with an attitude. I didn't leave with disliking anyone. I left in good grace for myself.

ON DOING ANOTHER REALITY SHOW:

No. I'm done. That's it. That's all I can do. That's all they'll get me on is that one there and that was because of Mr. Trump. It had nothing to do with anybody else.

ON SAVING MICHAEL JOHNSON FROM BEING FIRED:

If the project  manager really wanted to get fired, he would throw his own self under the bus. I believe Michael didn't want to get fired  and I believe he did a good job of trying to keep us together as a group because we had lost the last task. And I just figured  why not me? 

ON WHAT HE WISHES FOR THE REMAINING COMPETITORS:

I'd like to wish all of them all the best. Have fun. Try not to be too hard on each other. And try not to be so much - show too much drama, you know, in their personalities. Because it makes celebrities look like they're very high maintenance and it makes some of the women look like they're just divas and also some of the guys.

ON WHO HE THINKS WAS THE BEST PROJECT MANAGER SO FAR:

I would have to say Michael was at the time.  Sinbad has the personality of fun and joking and keep everybody loose with humor. I think [Michael] focused real hard on what the project should be about. And he tried to really put it together as well as he could and keep everybody involved.

ON THE DAILY SCHEDULE FOR CELEBRITY APPRENTICE:

You're up early. You're eating breakfast on the go. You're eating lunch on the go. Everything is on the go. You're on the move day in and day out.  We're all fighting, for a great cause, which we all support. But it is a grind. And it's not an every day average thing for a celebrity.

ON WHAT HE WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY AS PROJECT MANAGER:

If I was chosen project manager, I would have  involved everybody. I wouldn't have ever put anyone to the side about their opinions. Because I think everybody should be able to have a part. I think sometimes guys felt left out and I think that's where the problem comes.