Ron Darling

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Ronald Maurice Darling Jr. (born August 19, 1960) is an American former right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for the New York Mets, Montreal Expos, and Oakland Athletics.

Darling currently works as a color commentator for national baseball coverage on TBS, as well as for the Mets on both SNY and WPIX; he also co-hosts several MLB Network programs. During his 13-year career, Darling amassed a 136–116 won-loss record, with 13 shutouts.

He had 1,590 strikeouts and a 3.87 ERA.

In 1985, he was picked for the All-Star team. Darling had five pitches in his repertoire: the slider, a curveball, a circle changeup, a splitter, and a four seam fastball.

In the beginning of his career, Darling's weak point was control, and he finished three seasons in the top four in base on balls; as his career progressed, his control improved considerably.

He was considered one of the better fielding pitchers of the time and won a Gold Glove Award in 1989.

Darling had one of the best pickoff moves among right-handers.

An above-average athlete, he was sometimes used as a pinch runner.

In 1989, he hit home runs in two consecutive starts.

Early life

Darling was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a Hawaiian-Chinese mother and a French-Canadian father. After growing up in Millbury, Massachusetts, he attended St. John's High School in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.

Personal life

Ron was married to Irish Wilhelmina model Antoinette O'Reilly, with whom he had two children, Tyler Darling and Jordan Darling. She had small roles on television and in movies, sometimes using her married name, Toni Darling. During their marriage, they appeared in numerous magazine features together. In 2004, Darling married Joanna Last, a makeup artist for Fox Sports. In February 2016 they had a son, Ronald Maurice Darling III.

Darling lives in Connecticut. His younger brother, Edwin, a first baseman, was drafted by the New York Yankees in 1981 and played 69 games in their farm system over two seasons.

On May 6, 2019, Darling announced that he had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

Darling was the cover model for the August 1986 issue of GQ.

Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, broadcast by NBC, ran so long that the network chose not to air Saturday Night Live rather than show it after the game. When it was shown for the first time two weeks later, Darling filmed a special introduction, apologizing on behalf of the Mets for preempting SNL.

In 1988, Darling appeared in an episode of Sesame Street in which he taught Telly Monster about baseball statistics.

Darling is mentioned in the Law & Order season 13 episode "Under God". In the episode, Lennie Briscoe tells Ed Green how he blurts out Darling's first name for no reason because the pitcher reminds Briscoe of his daughter Cathy, who was killed in 1998. Cathy had a crush on the pitcher during the 1986 season when she was a teenager.

Darling had small roles in the films Shallow Hal and The Day After Tomorrow; he also played himself in Mr. 3000.

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Career

The Texas Rangers selected Darling in the first round (ninth overall) of the 1981 MLB draft. With the AA Tulsa Drillers, he had weak numbers. On April 1, 1982, Lee Mazzilli was traded from the Rangers to the Mets with Walt Terrell from the Rangers. The Mets, Darling and Terrell will eventually play for seven double-digit victories. Terrell was traded by the Mets to Howard Johnson for three seasons. Mazzilli, a Texas boy, never recovered his limited glory of the late 1970s.

Darling may have had good numbers with the AAA Tidewater Tides in 1982 and 1983, but not in 1982 and 1983 due to a thin base on ball counts in both seasons. Darling was called up to the majors in late 1983, despite his control issues. When Darling debuted on September 6, 1983, the Mets had the worst record in the National League and second-worst in the majors. He was good to get off the field, but the Mets lost 2–0 and the game was down 1–0. He was off to a good start. In addition, the Mets were the only ones in offense in the N.L. All three of Darling's first three starts—in which he went 0–3—were all excellent pitching results (11 strikeouts, 9 walks, 2.08 ERA, and 6 runs over the course of the three seasons) were all good runs. He won the entire game for the first time in his career and was in the Majors for good.

Darling earned a spot in the starting rotation in 1984 and has been occupying the position nearly every day until 1990. Although his early walk percentages were poor—he even led the league in walks in 1985—he never showed the same walk percentages he had while playing AAA ball.

Darling and Terrell are both getting their first long-term involvement in the Majors, as well as young star and eventual Rookie of the Year Dwight Gooden's debut in the majors in 1984; the Mets went from second-best in their division to fourth-best in the majors in 1984. In 1984, Darling had trouble pitching at Shea Stadium, which was more than 50% higher than his home ERA. In June (5–0) and July (1.88 ERA), he had a string of seven victories in seven starts, including two straight games four-hit shutouts, but the remaining two-thirds of the season were not as fruitful. At the end of July, the Mets were in first place, but Darling's 2–6 record the rest of the way was no help, and the Chicago Cubs won the division by 6+1 games. Darling's average age was 3.81 for 12-199 in all.

Despite a career-high and NL-leading 114 walks, Darling's 1985 season was an improvement. His April was marked by a one-hit seven-inning no-decision and a five-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts. Darling won by a narrow 19–13 victory on July 4, his only relief appearance of his first seven seasons in his first seven seasons. Darling won by 13 runs in the extra innings alone, and the Mets blew four runs and nearly blew a fifth during the game. He was selected to his first All-Star squad after starting 9–2, but did not participate in the tournament. Overall, he set his career-best winning percentage in 1985 with a 16–6 record. His record may have been higher, but in eight of his starts, he received seven no-decisions and a loss despite allowing less than two earned runs in each game. Darling pitched nine shutout innings on only four hits on October 1, but the game was scoreless until the 11th. Darling barely made it to the playoffs, but Gooden's undefeated 24–4 record made him a definite number-two starter.

Darling was no exception in 1986, when all came together for the Mets. He finished with a 15-6 record and a career-best 2.81 ERA, which was third-best in the NL. He also received his first Cy Young Award votes of his career, finishing fifth behind Mike Scott of the Astros in fifth place. The Mets ruled the way for the majority of the season, with their top four starters all receiving Cy Young votes. Darling scored 12 strikeouts in a five-hit complete game victory on May 27, raising his record to 6–0 after a disappointing April. He was great on the track but even better at home with a ten-two record at Shea. When he and his colleagues, Bob Ojeda, Rick Aguilera, and Tim Teufel were arrested outside a bar in Houston on July 19 for clashing with security guards (who were also off-duty police officers), he was on the streets. In time for the upcoming game, the four four players were announced in time. Darling and Teufel pleaded guilty in 1987 to a misdemeanor charge of resisting capture, a year of probation, and fined $200. A judge would have called off the probation period a month later. The incident brought the Mets' reputation as a rowdy crew this season, but Jeff Pearlman's book "The Bad Guys Won" reveals an irony that, although some members of the team were alcoholic, Tim Teufel's behavior was out of place, and the confrontation began when the average drunkene — the four players involved were among the few exceptions — became more inebriated than he ever was, including one that was out of character, began when the Mets Despite the run-in, Darling was featured on the front page of Sports Illustrated's August 25 issue.

When Darling began Game 3 in 1986, the National League Championship Series was tied 1-1, but after giving up four runs in five innings, he pitched poorly and left. The Mets won both the game and later the series, then the series. Darling started the World Series against the Boston Red Sox. In Game 1, he pitched well, allowing only a single unearned run over seven innings, but Bruce Hurst had a tough time losing a 1–0 game to him. Darling started Game 4 and extended his 0.0 ERA to 14 innings as the Mets defeated the Mets in a 3–1 series deficit, with the Mets winning easily 6–2. The Red Sox came back in Game 7 after losing three runs against Darling in Game 6. Darling was released in the fourth innings, but the Mets won their second World Championship.

Darling went 12-8 in 1987, but the remainder of the team suffered most of the way. Darling's ERA was over 6.00 in April and he did not win a game in May or June, ending 0–4 with 8 no-decisions between victories. After the All-Star break, he won six consecutive starts, but his second half had only reduced his ERA to 4.29, the lowest level in his first seven seasons. Darling had a no-hitter through seven innings on June 28, but the Mets lost the game. Darling was expected to face him in mid-September after suffering with one of his few injuries. He missed the last two weeks of the season, and the Mets skipped the postseason.

Darling came back in 1988 with a record-breaking 17 wins. In his first four games, he got off to a slew of shutouts. With three shutouts and a 2.70 ERA, a first-half record of 10–5 was not enough to warrant an All-Star spot. He had compiled a career-high 4 shutouts on the season, but he also had one of his worst games, losing in the first inning of an 11-2 loss on July 19. Darling's home-versus-road discrepancy was astronomical, with him going 14-1 at Shea and only 3-8 on the road, with a road ERA more than twice as high as his home ERA. He started the season off with a bang, winning his last five games. The Mets cruised into the playoffs, but Darling was unable to do well in the 1988 National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. With the series tied 1-1, he fell into a par 3–0 hole early in the round, but the Mets recovered twice to win 8–4. Darling was matched against 1988's best pitcher, Orel Hershiser, in a deciding Game 7, but he was overmatched. Darling gave up six runs and was disqualified in the second innings, but Hershiser pitched a five-hit shutout, shocking the Mets and winning the series' Most Valuable Player award. The one-sided game was the Mets' first postseason appearance since 1999.

The Mets started losing after their 100-win 1988 season ended in the 1990s, kicking them into the 1990s. Darling's 1989 was off to a disappointing start as 1988 had come to an end. He recovered in May with a solid May, but the entire season was uneven, finishing 14-14 with a 3.52 ERA. Darling's five starts in his last seven starts led to the Mets' suspension from the playoffs. Darling was the first Mets pitcher to win the Gold Glove Award. He was also the last NL pitcher to win the award before Greg Maddux's spectacular run of 13 consecutive Gold Gloves. Darling defeated Jon Matlack in his 83rd game with the Mets on August 10, 1989, putting him ahead of Jon Matlack in fourth position on the Mets' all-time wins list, where he remains today (behind Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden, and Jerry Koosman).

The Mets were in transition in 1990, and boss Davey Johnson's employment was in jeopardy. Darling was admitted to the bullpen for the first time in his career. His first relief outing in late April was positive, but it was followed by three bad starts. The remainder of his season was a mixture of beginning and ending. Darling was in the bullpen for the next month with an ERA of 4.60 in late August. He made two starts to close out his season and won them both, but the Mets were unable to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates. In total, 1990 was Darling's first losing season (7-9), and it was his first losing season to date.

Darling was back in the New York Mets' starting lineup in 1991. Despite knowing that his pitching had been improved over the years, he was still awful, winning three games with scoreless pitching but losing several other games. Darling had low attendance at Shea Stadium in previous seasons, but the team was still doing well on the road. In his second-last game with the Mets, he pitched a scoreless two-hit ball over eight innings against the Montreal Expos on the road. Darling was traded from a minor leaguer to Montreal on July 15, 1991, for former close Tim Burke. Darling's three starts for Montreal were poor, with an ERA of 7.41, and the Expos cut him to the Oakland Athletics for two minor leaguers on July 31, 1991. The Expos were left with three minor leaguers, none of whom played more than two games in the majors after the Darling trades.

Darling won his first three games after getting off to two seven-inning scoreless starts in Oakland. Then, his poor control, has recovered, and Darling has lost seven straight decisions, including the last six. He allowed two or fewer runs in three of those losses. Oakland, the league pennant, was barely above.500 before purchasing Darling. His purchase had no effect on Oakland's records.

Darling signed Oakland as a free agent after the 1991 season. He had his last quality year in 1992, with more than 200 innings pitched, a 3.66 ERA, and 15 victories. Darling's inconsistent for the majority of the season, but the only two-hitters of his career showed flashes of brilliance, with three complete game two-hit shutouts. He was the victim of poor run support, including a no-decision seven-inning one-hitter, an eight-inning two-hitter that became a no-decision after an unearned run, and two other games in which he allowed one earned run and took the loss. Darling had the most outstanding team percentages on the team. Oakland played little trouble in the postseason, and Darling was scheduled to start Game 3 with the series tied. He pitched well but lost two expensive home runs and lost. The A's continued to fail Games 4 and 6, though Darling never pitched in the postseason.

Darling resigned with Oakland again in 1992, this time in a multi-year contract for over $2 million per year, but he was unable to repeat his 1992 success. Darling's 1993 season was brutal. His ERA stood around 6.00 during July, and he was relegated to long-term disability for more than a week. He pitched better after July, lowering his ERA to 5.16, but he lost five of his last six games.

Darling's 1994 would have been as bad as 1993 outside of July. He made five starts in July with one no-decision under three years old. It was Darling's last hurrah. He made two starts in August before the 1994 Major League Baseball strike ended the season. Darling won double digits in victories in July, but he came in second last year, but his ERA was below.500. Despite pitching that was average at best, Darling led the American League in 25 games off the season.

Darling began to fail in his four starts, with a ERA over 9.00 in each of them but not in the fifth inning. On May 30, his only complete game of the season came to a 1–0 loss. Darling won only four games with an ERA of 6.23. Oakland released him on August 19, 1995 (his 35th birthday), bringing his playing career to an end.

Career statistics

Darling had a 136–116 winless record and a 3.87 ERA in 1,620 innings pitched, with 13 shutouts and 37 complete games in a thirteen-season major league career. He ranks fourth in Mets total games, innings, strikeouts, and shutouts, and he is also in the top ten in complete games, innings, strikeouts, and shutouts.

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