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Being Ronnie Darling

Elster88 Jun 07 2006 08:23 AM

I don't think we did a Ron Darling thread yet. He once dated Madonna. He didn't like wearing a hat. The ladies in the family loved him. He was nice to Timmy after Game 1 in '86. I'm pleased with his performance as color man on SNY so far.

metirish Jun 07 2006 08:26 AM

He's married to a former model form Dublin, still is I think, lives in the City and has no need for a car anymore, takes the train instead, IMO has improved as a color guy as the season has gone on.

RealityChuck Jun 07 2006 09:02 AM

He's a Yale graduate. When he was traded to the Mets, the fans howled at the team for giving away Mazzilli. By '86, it stood as one of the best deals the team ever made.

ScarletKnight41 Jun 07 2006 09:07 AM

We started following him when he was in college, reading about this guy who was tearing up the Ivy League. Ron had looks, brain, and All Star ring and a World Series ring - my definition of the perfect guy :)

Benjamin Grimm Jun 07 2006 09:26 AM

RealityChuck wrote: When he was traded to the Mets, the fans howled at the team for giving away Mazzilli. By '86, it stood as one of the best deals the team ever made. Was there that much howling at the time of the trade? Bad Guys said something about that too but I don't recall people being too up in arms about losing Mazzilli. By spring of 1982 we had pretty much given up on hoping he'd be the next Mickey Mantle.

Edgy DC Jun 07 2006 09:55 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jun 07 2006 09:55 AM

I don't remember much howling either. The stakes were so low in being a Met fan at the time, and we were so despondent at the time, hearing of Mr. Met being on the block would have been greeeted with resignation. I dug Mazzilli, and hate trades, but I certainly recognized what they were doing, and why. I just felt badly that no team he was on after that had room in the outfield. George Wright was Texas's centerfielder at the time, and that was his one good season. Larry Parrish, Billy Sample, and Johnny Grubb were acing Mazzilli out of the corner slots. The Yankees dealing for him was largely framed as a way to get Bucky Dent out of the way while dampeing the effect on the matinee appeal of the Yankees. They had Mumphrey in center and their typicall alotment of a dozen corner outfielders. Pitsburgh had Dave Parker, Mike Easler and Lee Lacy on the corners, but they were trying, and failing to develop Marvel Wynne in center, they and the Mets having mutually suckered each other in the Ortiz/Wynne deal. Mazzilli still had the fine on-base percentage in Pittsburgh, but his power wasn't much, and so he hit just well enough to not put them off the Wynne plan. It was good to have a pinch-hitter who walks. But, oh, yeah, we're talking about Darling. Mullet.

soupcan Jun 07 2006 09:55 AM

Yeah I don't remember much of an uproar when Mazzilli was traded for Darling and Terrell. I'm fairly certain that Ron and Toni(?) have been divorced for a while now. Ron is part Hawaiian, was a Sports Illustrated cover boy and was chosen by that same magazine as its preseason favorite to win the Cy Young award (in 1987 I think).

SteveJRogers Jun 07 2006 10:03 AM

I'd say he was the Koosman of 1986 era more so than Bob Ojeda. Darling always seemed like that #2 guy more so than anyonelse on that staff Cameo in Mr. 3,000 and I think couple of other movies in recent years as well. Pitched with the A's in the 1992 ALCS as well Interesting that while his WS performance was great, his LCS performances was horrid

Elster88 Jun 07 2006 10:18 AM

Yancy Street Gang wrote: ="RealityChuck"]When he was traded to the Mets, the fans howled at the team for giving away Mazzilli. By '86, it stood as one of the best deals the team ever made. Was there that much howling at the time of the trade? Bad Guys said something about that too but I don't recall people being too up in arms about losing Mazzilli. By spring of 1982 we had pretty much given up on hoping he'd be the next Mickey Mantle. Because Met fans get attached to their superstars to the point that they are blind to the possiblity that trading said superstars could benefit the team. Come on, EVERYBODY knows that. SC = do I really need to say?

SteveJRogers Jun 07 2006 10:32 AM

You mean like trading David Wright for... Awww never mind

RealityChuck Jun 07 2006 11:17 AM

Yancy Street Gang wrote: ="RealityChuck"]When he was traded to the Mets, the fans howled at the team for giving away Mazzilli. By '86, it stood as one of the best deals the team ever made. Was there that much howling at the time of the trade? Bad Guys said something about that too but I don't recall people being too up in arms about losing Mazzilli. By spring of 1982 we had pretty much given up on hoping he'd be the next Mickey Mantle. Well, it wasn't like today, when you had bloggers screaming all over the place. But Maz was the team's most popular ballplayer and, if not Mantle, a solid major leaguer and the face of the team. He was coming off a bad year, but that was due to injuries, so no one was counting him out: he still was third on the team with RBIs, second in homers, and second in SB, depite appearing in fewer than 100 games (some of that was due to the pathetic nature of the team's offense, of course, but that only meant his contribution was desperately needed). And to trade him -- considered one of the team's top players -- for a couple of unknown minor league pitcher raised a lot of criticism at the time. This was in the "Bow-tie Cashen" era, when the NY tabloids all agreed that Frank Cashen was an idiot and had no idea how to build a team. The team was dismal, and the columnists were blaming him for the fact it had shown no improvement (the comments vanished during the 1984 season, of course, though the low point was when he left Seaver unprotected during the offseason before that). In the long term, of course, it was a great trade. I mentioned 1986, because if you looked at the principals: 1. Darling was the Mets #2 reliever. 2. Terrell had been traded for Howard Johnson, the franchises best third baseman until Alfonso and Wright. 3. The player they had given up -- Mazzilli -- was playing for the Mets.

Edgy DC Jun 07 2006 11:19 AM

We need the Wayback.

Farmer Ted Jun 07 2006 11:24 AM

Ron was willing to say hello, shake my hand, and talk a bit about baseball on the #7 platform after a Mets game few years back. Credit points from me.

Benjamin Grimm Jun 07 2006 11:26 AM

Yeah, I'm not remembering things that way at all. We were (foolishly, as it turned out) optimistic about the 1982 season. Remember, we had a new outfielder named George Foster. Lee Mazzilli was a never-was from the old, pre-George Foster days, and there was no longer any room for him. I think most Mets fans had had their fill of Maz by then, and it didn't bother them to see him go.

OlerudOwned Jun 07 2006 02:23 PM

His link still goes to David Cone's page.

Johnny Dickshot Jun 07 2006 02:47 PM

I certainly recall being optimistic about his arrival by trade and as detailed above, Mazzy's appeal and value was clear to have been on the downswing by the time that trade came around. I was also hopelessly optimistic at the time and so any trade looked good to me, but there was a time where it seemed Cashen did nothing that wasn't genius.

Johnny Dickshot Jun 07 2006 02:50 PM

Times: ]Lee Mazzilli's five-year career as the hometown hero of the New York Mets came to an end tonight when he was traded to the Texas Rangers for two minor league pitching prospects. The Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers also pursued Mazzilli in the closing hours as the deadline for interleague trades neared. But when those clubs declined to offer frontline pitching, the Mets decided to accept the Rangers' offer of two prize youngsters: Ron Darling, who pitched and lost a 13-inning no-hitter for Yale University last year, and Walt Terrell, who pitched at Moorehead State in Kentucky. Both pitchers have played professionally only in the Class AA Texas League, and both will report Friday to the Mets' minor league camp and open the season with Tidewater of the Class AAA International League. But they became the keys to solving the Mets' traffic jam in right field, where Ellis Valentine and Joel Youngblood won the competition with Mazzilli. ''Sentiment is not supposed to play a part in this game,'' said Frank Cashen, executive vice president and general manager of the Mets. ''But I must say it was a difficult, practical and sentimental decision to trade Lee Mazzilli. ''He is a symbol, he has made a significant contribution to the Mets. But he did not figure to get much playing time with the club in 1982. It would have killed him to come home and just sit. In all honesty, you have two more-adept right fielders in Valentine and Youngblood.'' Mazzilli was also disappointed, but not surprised. In the last year, the Mets added Mookie Wilson, George Foster and Valentine to their outfield, and Mazzilli began to sense that his role as the poster boy from Brooklyn, the glamour boy of the Mets, was ending. In his five years with the Mets, Mazzilli, a 27-year-old switch-hitter, batted .269 with 61 home runs. He was entering the third year of a five-year, $2.1 million contract with the Mets. ''You know me,'' he said, even before the trade was announced tonight, ''if I'm out of the lineup for one day, you can't live with me. Imagine how I'd be if I sat all the time. ''There's more behind this, though. I'm part of the old regime. I've been here the longest of the regulars. I'm a little too big in New York, too.'' Mazzilli also intimated that he represented part of a housecleaning move by Cashen to erase the influence of Joe Torre, who was dismissed as manager last October. Two of Torre's favorite players were Doug Flynn, the second baseman who was traded to the Rangers last winter, and Mazzilli, who now joins him in Texas. It was the second major deal in two days for Texas, which Wednesday traded Al Oliver to Montreal for Larry Parrish, whom the Rangers said they planned to use in the outfield. The Cubs apparently made the most determined effort to land Mazzilli. For the last month, they had a scout following the Mets. For the last week, they offered combinations of players. But the Mets wanted Lee Smith, a prime relief pitcher who may become a starter. Dallas Green, the new general manager of the Cubs, said no. ''I talked to Dallas four times today,'' Cashen reported. ''But the pitchers I wanted, he wouldn't give.'' The pitchers Cashen eventually got from Texas both had distinguished college careers. Darling, a 21-year-old right-hander from Honolulu, was an all-America at Yale and pitched the longest nohit game in the history of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. He pitched it against St. John's last spring in the playoff, struck out 16 batters but lost the game in the 13th inning, 1-0. In the amateur draft last June, he was the ninth player selected and the first picked by the Rangers, who then sent him to their Tulsa farm. He pitched 13 games, won four and lost two, struck out 53 batters in 71 innings and had a 4.46 earned-run average. Terrell, a 23-year-old right-hander from Indiana, pitched at Moorehead State under Steve Hamilton, the onetime relief star of the Yankees. He started at Tulsa in 1980 and last season won 15 games, lost seven, struck out 123 batters in 174 innings and had a 3.10 earned run average. Mazzilli's departure left the Mets with 27 players, two over the limit. Earlier, they sent Scott Holman to their minor league camp to further his recovery from a shoulder injury. Holman, who has done well this spring, pitched two innings in the afternoon while the Mets were defeating the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-3. The deciding runs were batted home by George Foster, who hit a tworun homer off Tug McGraw.

Elster88 Jun 07 2006 02:53 PM

] to erase the influence of Joe Torre Joe Torre, pride of the AL manging class.

Frayed Knot Jun 07 2006 02:56 PM

I hadn't realized that Darling was that high a draft pick (#9 overall) or that they dealt him within a year of selecting him. That sort of stuff wasn't all that highly publicized back then. In retrospect: dealing your 1st round pick and #9 overall PLUS another AA pitcher for Lee Mazzilli ... what da fuck was Texas thinking???!!?!?!? There was a story where a Texas area scout went up to his NYM counterpart after the deal was announced and said something along the lines of; 'you guys just stole all our players'

Elster88 Jun 07 2006 02:58 PM

That story is in Pearlman's book too. Can you imagine if that happened in this day and age....wait a second, what number did we take Kazmir in the draft again?

GYC Jun 07 2006 03:25 PM

I'm pretty sure he was in The Day After Tomorrow as a news anchor.

ScarletKnight41 Jun 07 2006 04:11 PM

[url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1074221/]Yes, he was[/url] His IMDB profile also has his Shallow Hal credit, and points out that he shares a birthday with CF's kid. This credit particularly cracks me up - ]"1986 World Series" (1986) (mini) TV Series .... Himself - New York Mets Pitcher

Centerfield Jun 07 2006 04:16 PM

ScarletKnight41 wrote: His IMDB profile also has his Shallow Hal credit, and points out that he shares a birthday with CF's kid. Cool. Ron Darling moving up my list of favorite people.

dinosaur jesus Jun 07 2006 07:05 PM

Roger Angell had that great piece about talking baseball with Smoky Joe Wood while they watched Yale play St. John's--Darling vs. Viola. Say what you want about Maz, but he was a pretty good player for a couple of years. I don't know what the hell happened to him after that.

Willets Point Jun 12 2006 04:39 PM

My first ever win in the Parody Contest was about Ron Darling.