A Darling Obsession...

Ron Darling

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Former NY Mets pitcher and current broadcaster, Ron Darling has another book out, "108 Stitches: Loose Threads, Ripping Yarns, and the Darndest Characters from My Time in the Game."

This time, he "dishes dirt" on the famed Championship, '86 Mets, specifically on troubled former star, Lenny Dykstra.

In the book, Darling accuses Dykstra of issuing a vile, racial rant against Red Sox pitcher, Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd before game 3 of the 1986 World Series.

Only, when interviewed, Dennis Boyd says, he never heard it, nor was ever impacted by it.

Moreover, former Mets, Darryl Strawberry, Doc Gooden and Kevin Mitchell (all black) have defended the Len Dykstra they knew, as NOT being that kind of person.

So, now it comes down to dueling accusations. Darling is a polished broadcaster who's led a trouble free life. Dykstra is an easy target, as a guy who's had all sorts of legal and personal problems post baseball.

Even more interesting, is that Ron Darling DID mention the incident in a previous book, absent the racial aspect of Dykstra's rant, in fact he complimented Dykstra's ranting skills in that earlier book, “Game 7, 1986: Failure and Triumph in The Biggest Game of My life," from 2016.

In that account, there's no mention of any racial epithets being shouted by Dykstra. In fact, Darling basically applauded that rant.

“He (Dykstra) was relentless, fearless, tasteless, running his mouth every which way,” Darling wrote. “I’d never seen anything like it — really, it was remarkable.”

Why would Ron Darling exaggerate, or lie?

Money...plain and simple.

Controversies sell books and there are few controversies guaranteed to bring about more focus in America than..."racism."

The media has mostly sided with Darling. I find Darling's claims self serving and questionable.

He's said nothing publicly for over 30 years. WHY? Because he was part of that ball club. He was down with every "misogynistic," "homophobic," and otherwise insensitive thing that went on back then. If he wasn't, he wouldn't have been welcome on the team.

For that reason alone, I find Ron Darling's throwing Len Dykstra under the bus to be troubling, to say the least.

If it truly bothered him, why didn't he object at the time? At the least why wait over three decades to mention it publicly and then only to sell some books?

His doing this smacks of unearned virtue claiming, "Len Dykstra was a rabid racist, but I'm not. See? I called him one, first."

This is the temper of this age.

We scoff at the Salem Witch Trials and their "proof by accusation," as we go about doing the same thing ourselves...EVERY DAY.
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