Ron Darling

Ronald Maurice Darling Jr. (born August 19, 1960) is an American former professional baseball player and current television sports color commentator.

For Texas, Mazzilli never regained his limited glory of the late 1970s.

In 1980, Darling played collegiate summer baseball for the Cotuit Kettleers of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL).

He batted .336 with six home runs while posting a 4–3 mark on the mound.

At the league's all-star game at Yankee Stadium, he singled, doubled and homered as the CCBL left fielder, then came on in the final inning to pitch in relief, preserving the CCBL's one-run victory over the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League.

On May 21, 1981, Darling faced future Mets teammate Frank Viola, then playing for St. John's University, in an NCAA post-season game, and he had a no-hitter through 11 innings.

Darling was selected in the first round (ninth overall) of the 1981 MLB draft by the Texas Rangers.

He put up mediocre numbers with the AA Tulsa Drillers.

Darling was set to graduate in December 1982, but he was drafted by the Texas Rangers in June 1981.

He was traded along with Walt Terrell from the Rangers to the Mets for Lee Mazzilli on April 1, 1982.

For the Mets, Darling and Terrell would eventually combine for seven double-digit win seasons.

Three seasons later, the Mets traded Terrell to the Detroit Tigers for Howard Johnson.

Darling would have compiled decent numbers with the AAA Tidewater Tides in 1982 and 1983 except for very high base on balls counts during both seasons.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right-handed pitcher from 1983 to 1995, most notably as a member of the New York Mets team that won the 1986 World Series.

Despite his control problems, Darling was called up to the majors in late 1983.

The Mets had the worst record in the National League and second-worst in the majors when Darling debuted on September 6, 1983.

Darling was a 1985 National League All-Star and won the Gold Glove Award for National League pitchers.

He ranks fourth in Mets team history in wins (99) and is also in the top 10 in complete games, innings, strikeouts and shutouts.

During the 1986 World Series, Darling allowed just three earned runs in 17 2⁄3 innings and won Game 4 in Boston to even the series.

An above-average athlete, he was sometimes used as a pinch runner and, in 1989, he hit home runs in two consecutive starts.

Apart from his career with the Mets, Darling also played for the Montreal Expos and the 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.

In September 2022, he pre-recorded announcements for MTA NYCT's 7 line, along with Keith Hernandez and Gary Cohen.

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.

Darling was recruited to play college football as a quarterback at Yale University for the Yale Bulldogs football team.

Darling transitioned to defensive back after finding that Yale had a glut of talent at the quarterback position.

He quit the team after his freshman season and focused instead on baseball.

He initially played shortstop for the Yale Bulldogs baseball team.

Later in his collegiate career, he agreed to pitch only on the condition that he be allowed to play shortstop and outfield on his days off.

Darling was named the league's MVP and outstanding pro prospect, and was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame in 2002.

He was the last former Yale Bulldog to reach the Major Leagues until pitcher Craig Breslow made his debut in 2005 (and was not followed by another Yale player until catcher Ryan Lavarnway in 2011).

Since 2006, he has been the co-lead color commentator for Mets broadcasts on SNY alongside former teammate Keith Hernandez.

In the 12th inning, St. John's broke up the no-hitter and then scored on a double-steal to beat Yale 1–0.

Darling's performance remains the longest no-hitter in NCAA history, and the game is considered by some to be the best in college baseball history and was the subject of a New Yorker story by Roger Angell, who attended the game.

Darling went on to play more games in Major League Baseball than any Yale alumnus since 19th-century pitcher Bill Hutchison.

In 2020, Darling was inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame.

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 had one of the best pickoff moves among right-handed pitchers.