NewYork.Yankees.MLB.com

By Tom Singer / MLB.com

As a Yankee in 1999, Darryl Strawberry batted .327 in 49 at-bats. (Duane Burleson/AP)

NEW YORK -- Reaching out with a heart that has repeatedly been broken by Darryl Strawberry, George Steinbrenner has once again welcomed the troubled former outfielder back into the Yankees family.

Seven and a half months following his release from prison, and nearly four years after being ordered by Major League Baseball officials off the Yankees' Spring Training field, Strawberry rejoined the club on Thursday as Player Development Instructor.

"I'm very excited to be back with the organization," said Strawberry, now 41. "I thank The Boss for this opportunity to work with young players."

Strawberry, speaking on a conference call from his Florida residence, pledged to have overcome a decade-long struggle with drugs as inspirationally as he has survived colon and stomach cancer.

"My life now is so focused," he said. "Things are coming together. George has given me a lot of opportunities, which I have squandered. I'm blessed to have this new opportunity."

Strawberry will work with the Yankees at Legends Field during Spring Training, then remain in Tampa to work with the organization's young players.

Strawberry admits that while he was serving an 11-month prison stretch in Gainesville, Fla., on drug and probation-violation charges, a return to baseball was the farthest thing from his mind.

But in the months since his release, on April 3, the idea gradually grew in appeal. A couple of months ago, he wrote a letter to Steinbrenner in which, basically, he poured his heart out.

"After the World Series, when things settled down, he gave me a call," said Strawberry. "I was excited when he called me in for a meeting. I went, and things worked out well in the meeting."

Steinbrenner is embracing yet another opportunity to be right about Strawberry.

"I am pleased that Darryl has shown the strength and the determination to come back and re-establish a decent and productive life for himself and his family," said Steinbrenner in a statement. "I'm also delighted that his relationship with his family is strong and that they, as well as the Yankees, are so supportive of Darryl's comeback.

"He is a true professional with, I believe, the ability to be a great teacher. Our young players will learn from his knowledge and talents as a ballplayer as well as from the mistakes he has made. I will not turn my back on a man who has failed and is doing everything possible to turn his life around."

When it comes to working with young players, Strawberry knows he has the background to impart lessons way beyond the expanse of the diamond.

"I can help players not only with baseball but, with the struggles I've been through, with how to prepare themselves to live their lives.

"I know the difficulties they'll be facing. I now feel great and have direction in my life, and I want to be a role model."

When he imparts life lessons to those young players, Strawberry definitely won't lack credibility.

The swing once admired in a Los Angeles teen by Ted Williams -- and which crowned Strawberry as the nation's No. 1 draft pick in 1980 -- produced 327 big-league homers and exactly 1,000 RBIs but packed the potential for so much more.

Strawberry played for four Major League teams in a 17-year career that stretched from 1983 through 1999, but managed to play 100-plus games only once in his last eight, drug-marred seasons.

He was last rescued by Steinbrenner as a player in 1999, when he was added to the roster in September and batted .327 in 49 at-bats.

That October the Yankees celebrated another World Series championship by spraying nonalcoholic champagne -- in deference to Strawberry.

Five days later the Yankees exercised a 2000 option on Strawberry's contract for $750,000.

Two months later, Strawberry tested positive for cocaine. Four days after that, as Spring Training was getting underway, he was ordered off Legends Field, and subsequently suspended, by Major League Baseball.

"No question, I wish I'd done a lot of things differently," Strawberry said on Thursday. "I wish I'd taken better care of myself. I think then my numbers could've been better.

"I didn't reach my potential. Now I want to help someone else reach theirs."

Tom Singer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.