Port St. Lucie, Fla. ? Decked out in a Mets uniform for the first time in 15 years, a smiling Darryl Strawberry strolled into the dugout and flexed his left biceps.

“Don’t I look great?” he said, laughing.

And with that, the greatest hitter in team history was welcomed back to the Mets, where his roller-coaster of a career began with such promise.

Strawberry arrived at spring training Monday to serve as a guest instructor for a few days, working mostly with outfielders.

Trim and fit just five days shy of his 43rd birthday, he looked as if he could still turn on an inside fastball and send it soaring off the right-field scoreboard at Shea Stadium. In fact, he’s younger than backup first baseman Andres Galarraga, who will turn 44 in June.

Strawberry said he wasn’t looking to jump in the batting cage and start taking swings. He’s content to be retired — and thankful to be alive.

“It’s not about me, it’s about who I can help,” he said. “It’s these guys’ time, it’s not my time. My time is over.”

What a time it was, though. Drafted No. 1 overall in 1980 out of Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, Strawberry rocketed to the major leagues and was the NL Rookie of the Year in ’83.

Blessed with awesome power, graceful speed and a beautiful swing, he was compared to Hall of Famers Ted Williams, Hank Aaron and Mickey Mantle.

Former Mets outfielder Darryl Strawberry signs autographs at spring training. Strawberry was in camp Monday in Port St. Lucie, Fla., as a special instructor.

Those kinds of expectations are tough to live up to, especially in New York, but he might have had a chance to do it had his career not been derailed by drugs, alcohol and a string of arrests for everything from tax evasion to allegations of beating his wife.

The Mets of the mid-to-late ’80s were extremely talented on the field and excessively wild off it. They owned the Big Apple back then — not the Yankees — and Strawberry partied hard with his teammates.

“It probably was all true. We were probably a bunch of crazy guys. But let me tell you one thing: When we stepped on that field, we were all business. We were a team, and we picked each other up,” he said.

He helped New York win the ’86 World Series, but left to sign with his hometown Dodgers after the 1990 season and hadn’t donned a Mets uniform since.

“It was a real tough separation,” Strawberry said. “This is where everything happened for me. My best days of playing were here.”