September 7, 2025 • 15 mins
Every little kid who's ever taken the mound in Little League dreams of someday getting the ball for Game Seven of the World Series. Ron Darling got to live that dream - only it didn't go exactly as planned. In Game 7, 1986, the award-winning baseball analyst looks back at what might have been a signature moment in his career, and reflects on the ways professional athletes must sometimes shoulder a personal disappointment as his team finds a way to win. Published to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the 1986 New York Mets championship season, Darling's book will break down one of baseball's great "forgotten" games - a game that stands as a thrilling, telling and tantalizing exclamation point to one of the best-remember seasons in Major League Baseball history. Working once again with New York Times best-selling collaborator Daniel Paisner, who teamed with the former All-Star pitcher on his acclaimed 2009 memoir, Game 7, 1986, Darling offers a book for the thinking baseball fan, a chance to reflect on what it means to compete at the game's highest level, with everything on the line.
ABOUT RON DARLING
is an Emmy Award-winning baseball analyst for TBS, the MLB Network, SNY and WPIX-TV as well as author of The Complete Game. He was a starting pitcher for the New York Mets from 1983-1991 and the first Mets pitcher to be awarded a Gold Glove.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-view-from-the-writing-instrument--1023245/support.
ABOUT RON DARLING
is an Emmy Award-winning baseball analyst for TBS, the MLB Network, SNY and WPIX-TV as well as author of The Complete Game. He was a starting pitcher for the New York Mets from 1983-1991 and the first Mets pitcher to be awarded a Gold Glove.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-view-from-the-writing-instrument--1023245/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Tarol and iHeartRadio taking you to where the Mets play,
and when we come back, we'll be unplugged and totally
uncut with Ron Darling.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
He was one of the anchors of a very deep
pitching SAT, finishing third in the National League with a
two point eight long earned run efforts, and he continued
the baffl hitters during the postseason. His cra of a
World Series over seventeen and two third sitnies was just
(00:30):
one point five three. He won Game four to even
the World Series at two. This for me, Hailey is
Beck would have mess this season as an analyst on
SPORTSNETH New York, Number twelve, Hei Carl.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Ha Darling, Good morning. How are you doing today, Sir
hi Erl.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Well, I appreciate you that you've reached out beyond the
baseball cards and the history of baseball and your sharing
your journey. This is a spectacular moment for baseball fans.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Well, thank you very much. I just think that I
don't know, maybe this is how my brain works, but
when you take a look at your career, it can't
all be wine and roses, and mine certainly wasn't well.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
To play the baseball game. My neighbor tried to really
get up into the majors. He played all the way
through minor leagues and stuff like that. To be there
takes so much of the person as well as the team.
And that's what I've always loved about baseball. It's not
a solo sport.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yeah, it's a strange game because it is a team
sport with an individual struggle put in the middle of it.
And I think that as far as reaching the major leagues,
it really takes a village of people to get you there,
you know, from moms and dads driving and coaching, to
friends and neighbors, to sometimes even your siblings putting some
(01:51):
of their dreams on hold to allow you to have
your dream. And you know, when you're all said and
done with your career, you look back on it just
you know, there's soul. There's a thousand things that have
to go right for you to have a chance to
playing the major leagues and h and you're lucky if
that happens.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Did did you feel like one of the luckiest guys
on the on the in the world, Just like lou
Garrig would.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Say, I think that Luke Garig is it's hard to
even compare to a guy that was able to utter
those words on that faithful day when he decided to
do it at the Yankee Stadium. I do know this
is that, yes, you feel like you've been You've got
the golden ticket, that you won the lotto, all of
(02:33):
those things. But once you get there, the harsh reality
is is that you're going to have some nights that
are going to bring you to your knees and make
you cry. And so uh, it's another lesson that nothing's free.
All great things come with the cost, and uh and
and so they should.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
How do you take a love for hockey and become
a pitcher in the major leagues?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Well, great, great question. If you grew up where I
grew up, and I remember I had this discussion with
the comedian Dennis Leary. We both grew up in and
around the Worcestern, mass area, which is centrally located in Massachusetts.
And you're the age we are, fifty five fifty six
years old. You had one hero, and that was Bobby Or.
Your mom and dad wanted you to be like Bobby Or.
(03:19):
When you played outside and you played street hockey, someone
who would pretend to be Barkley plaguer for the Blues.
Someone would pretend to trip you up because you were Bobby,
or coming out of the corner with the feet from Sanderson,
and someone usually the biggest guy in the block would
play Gump Warsley, the goalie for the for the sin
of loose Blues. So it was a childhood that was
(03:41):
like no other because of Bobby or it's just.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
It's playing that game inside your mind and all of
a sudden, it just starts affecting everything that you're doing.
And then people go, WHOA, he's onto something.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, it's just an amazing thing to you know, you
have a dream when you're a kid, and there's a
lot of kids that have this dream, you know, of
someday playing a professional sports And you know, I have
families all the time come up to me and then
some are out of control with trying to get their
kids to play professional sports. And you know what, I've
come down with this adage and it might be right
(04:12):
or might be wrong. You know, you don't really pursue
professional sports. They'll kind of pursue you when the moment's right,
and that's the best piece of advice I could give.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Now we're both pretty much the same age. Did you
use the pitch back as well to find tune that ball?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Oh, pitch back for baseball? I used the old tire
hanging off the tree from my football with someone pushing it. Yeah,
we didn't have all the sophisticated toys. I couldn't go
to my iPad and learn how to hold the pitch,
but I figured it out anyway.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Your mother played a major role in this because she's
a volleyball player.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Not only vallbell player, but also a great softball player.
You know, my mom is unfortunate in the sense that
she's too old to have benefited from title line. My
mother would have been a collegiate player in many sports.
She was the best athlete in our family growing up,
and she's in her mid seventies, and to this day,
I know she could have a proper game of catch.
(05:12):
And I'm not talking about lobbing the ball back and forth.
I'm talking about having a proper game of catch. And
that's where all my brothers I had a brother who
played the Yankee farm system. All my brothers played collegiate baseball,
so we all get our talent from her.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
It's amazing how the family united like that, because it
inspires each person inside the family to do their own thing.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Well, I think what's great. And you know, when I
wrote this book, I wrote a little blurb and gave
one each to my brothers, and I thought long and
hard about it, and to each one it was unique.
You know my brother Eddie, who's a year younger than me,
that played in the Yankees farm system. I wrote to
him that without his competition day in and day out,
(05:54):
I never would have been where I wanted to be.
My brother Brian, who lived in New York many years
while I was playing. Without his friendship and ability to
talk about tough things, I would have been very hard
to last thirteen years in the major leagues. And my
youngest brother, who was nine years younger than I would
would come in on weekends and he used to always
have this saying that he owned the halls of Shay Stadium. Well,
(06:17):
I don't think he owned the halls, but that's what
I wrote in the book.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
On the book cover, it says failure in triumph in
the biggest game of my life as that broadcaster today,
do you agree that it was part of the failure
in triumphs that's made you the better broadcaster in the
game that you share with us.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Absolutely. You know, I didn't think that what I was
going through as a major league player would determine or
help me as I moved along later in life. If
I hadn't gone through that, I certainly wouldn't be able
to look at the bright side and the not so
bright side in sports. Whenever I try to watch these
players play and they're so excellent, I have to remind
(06:56):
myself one thing I used to play that would help
me analyze, but I can't play anymore. It's their game,
and that's the fun part of the job is that
you know when I watch them and they're going to
have their failures too. It's easy because I can go
back to when I failed and understand how that happens.
And so when I talk about them, I can't say, boy,
(07:17):
how can that guy be horrible today? You don't speak
like that. You just say, hey, I had my day
when I came up short, and this is the reason
why it happens. And it's made it a lot of
fun to do what I do. Well.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Being in that press box. You've seen how the game
of baseball has changed in the stands for the fans.
Do you like it that way or does it take
our mind off from the game itself?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Well, I think that every generation has their own way
of getting their relaxation. And who am I to question
if texting or taking pictures or selfies during the game,
any of that stuff is It's not how our parents
grew up watching the game, how we grew up watching
the game. But it's a different world, different place, and
(08:00):
I'm just happy that Major League Baseball is starting to
extend those fences so folks who are not always taking
taking in the game and not taking score or whatever,
that people won't be hurt.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Don't you see your book as being the next level
of a baseball card, because I mean I can see
the collectors taking it and putting it in the cases
and stuff to protect it. But at the same time,
it's almost like we get to hold your life beyond
that card.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Now, boy, what a question, Yes, great question. Absolutely. I
think that what sabermetrics do, and we talked about the
back of the baseball card, a part of that, and
all the stats do is that they're amazing. They reveal
what kind of player you are, but without the hugs,
(08:47):
without the joy, and without the sorrow. So I guess
that's where my books are trying to go, is that
I understand the numbers, I understand how things happen, but
there's a human side to all of this. And the
human side is what I'm interested in, the sociology of
what makes us tick and not tick on certain moments.
(09:08):
And that's why there's a failure before the triumph there. Now,
the triumph being that the Mets won the World Series,
and the second trime for me is in writing this book,
I've been able to put the bed my inability in
a Game seven.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
So basically this opens up a door for you to
get on with your life now.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
It really is. It's pretty sad that thirty years later
I would still be a pining for another chance at
a Game seven, but that's the nature of the beast.
We always want to Everyone wants to have that mulligan.
You just don't have it in professional sports.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
How do you get rid of that voice in your
head that says, man, if I could just go back
there and change it, if I could just do this,
because it just it travels beside you.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Yeah, Well, I think That's what this book is all about,
is that I think I take a journey on things
that I could have changed within that game. And what
you realize, especially if you're a starting pitcher in a game,
is that you have all the power in your hand
the control what's going to happen. But when it starts
to slip away, it happened so quickly it's like you've
(10:10):
been catapulted over a waterfall and you can't stop it.
And I think those are the kind of the lessons
I learned in writing this that it's you know, it's
certainly not the period and the Goodwill Hunting movie where
you said it wasn't your fault, But I feel like
it wasn't my fault now because you know, you gave
your best effort and it was the Boston Red Sox
(10:31):
who who determined my fate, not me.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Now, being that writer, how did you keep the separation
between because you are an announcer and you also are
a writer, and you're also a player. That's three different
personalities that had to come alive in one place.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
But I think they all helped each other, you know,
they became symbiotic in a way because I was able
to not only remember the days when physically that was
the most important part of my life, write about it
in an honest and truthful way, which would be painful,
but also look at it as of I was watching
myself play today, and how would I analyze Ron Darling
(11:09):
in game seven? What happened to him? That? What mistakes
did he make that only allowed him to get eleven
outs in that game as opposed to twenty one outs
or more. All of those symbiotically came together and helped
me get through these two hundred pages.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
So was there ever a moment where you had to
go to YouTube and just watch it so you could
get into that mindset again? I mean, you know, I
know you lived it, but you.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Know what's interesting about former pitchers is that you can
almost remember every pitch to every batter. And did I
look at it yet? Absolutely, But it didn't take long
for me to get into the pattern exactly what was happening,
and I could call pitch for pitch, I could recall
pitch for pitch. I knew which ones were missed, which
(11:53):
ones the umpire missed, and which ones I didn't execute.
And it was a really difficult, fun journey. If that
makes any sense. I know it's an oxymoron, but it
was really so much fun to go through it and
analyze it. And then afterwards I was sweating and exhausted,
So it was a strange trip.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
So that moment before you would throw the ball. When
I was in Little League, I always would look the
guy in the eye and just give him a cocky
little smile. Did you ever do anything like that to
that batter, show on them that, hey, I've got more
strength than you've got.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Yeah, well you had the moonlight Graham thing working with
the wink, right. I know I never had that, because
but what I did do, and this is a long
before they've had coaches helping with this stuff and therapists,
is that I remember. I used to visualize where I
wanted the ball to go, and in the nights before
I would pitch, I would lay in bed and go
(12:48):
through the lineup, just one time, one through nine, and
it was always perfect. You know, the first batter was
retired on a couple of pitches. The second batter would
strike on the curveball in the dirt, and I would
play it over and over in my mind. I'm sure
golfers do that professionally when they are playing the Masters
or playing eighteen holes, they walk themselves through a sixty six. Well,
(13:10):
I've always walked myself through seven, eight or nine shutout
innings in a dream, but it was more of a
nightmare in the game seven. But it worked out the
right way because of my Mets teammates.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
You're very open when you say that a lot of
the up and coming stars need to be multiple in
their tasks as sports players. It shouldn't be just baseball.
It should be several different levels of play.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Well, I think what happens for when you're in the
moment of playing professional sports is that you feel as
though if your dedication isn't one hundred percent towards that goal,
then you'll never make it. I think that it's kind
of the opposite way. I think that when you are
there at the ballpark doing your thing, I think it's
(13:52):
very important. But if you don't get your mind off
of that thing and it's a twenty four hour deal,
I think you're there's no chance of you having a
long career. You've got to have other interests, You've got
to have an outlet, you've got to have other things
to do. I would say I didn't do it as
much as I should have. If I'm looking and writing
a letter to me as a young man, I would
(14:13):
have said, hey, let things go when they're done, they're done,
and move on. And this book has allowed me to
move on a lot of.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
There seems to be a lot of injuries these days.
I mean, why is it that during your day we
didn't see a lot of those or is it just
that the social network has opened the door for us
to look deeper into the into the lives of these players.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
I don't know if it's a social network, but I
think we do a much better better job medically on
being able to figure out how guys are injured. I
think we do a much better job, specially with pictures,
on correcting an injury. That's why you have so many
Tommy John surgeries. And it's a different place in time,
you know. Today, guys feel as though, if you're a
starting pitcher, let's use that if I can make twenty
(14:55):
five If I'm going to make twenty five starts, I'm
gonna have to be excellent for twenty five starts in
my day, good or bad. The only way you could
really make money is that you have to take the
ball every five days. That's you know, in some strange ways,
that leads to some injuries. But I do know guys
in my day, and it didn't make us more macho.
The guys are stronger and bigger and in better shape
(15:17):
than we were, but we knew that if you didn't pitch.
They how you used to have a phrase, you can't
make the club if you're in the tub, and if
you don't get out there, you couldn't make money in
our days. So that's just what you had to do.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Well, I want to thank you for painting the picture
of baseball in this modern age because our attention span
is only so long, but you keep us in that game, sir.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Thank you, Errol. We really appreciate it.
Hey, Tarol and iHeartRadio taking you to where the Mets play,
and when we come back, we'll be unplugged and totally
uncut with Ron Darling.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
He was one of the anchors of a very deep
pitching SAT, finishing third in the National League with a
two point eight long earned run efforts, and he continued
the baffl hitters during the postseason. His cra of a
World Series over seventeen and two third sitnies was just
(00:30):
one point five three. He won Game four to even
the World Series at two. This for me, Hailey is
Beck would have mess this season as an analyst on
SPORTSNETH New York, Number twelve, Hei Carl.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Ha Darling, Good morning. How are you doing today, Sir
hi Erl.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Well, I appreciate you that you've reached out beyond the
baseball cards and the history of baseball and your sharing
your journey. This is a spectacular moment for baseball fans.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Well, thank you very much. I just think that I
don't know, maybe this is how my brain works, but
when you take a look at your career, it can't
all be wine and roses, and mine certainly wasn't well.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
To play the baseball game. My neighbor tried to really
get up into the majors. He played all the way
through minor leagues and stuff like that. To be there
takes so much of the person as well as the team.
And that's what I've always loved about baseball. It's not
a solo sport.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yeah, it's a strange game because it is a team
sport with an individual struggle put in the middle of it.
And I think that as far as reaching the major leagues,
it really takes a village of people to get you there,
you know, from moms and dads driving and coaching, to
friends and neighbors, to sometimes even your siblings putting some
(01:51):
of their dreams on hold to allow you to have
your dream. And you know, when you're all said and
done with your career, you look back on it just
you know, there's soul. There's a thousand things that have
to go right for you to have a chance to
playing the major leagues and h and you're lucky if
that happens.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Did did you feel like one of the luckiest guys
on the on the in the world, Just like lou
Garrig would.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Say, I think that Luke Garig is it's hard to
even compare to a guy that was able to utter
those words on that faithful day when he decided to
do it at the Yankee Stadium. I do know this
is that, yes, you feel like you've been You've got
the golden ticket, that you won the lotto, all of
(02:33):
those things. But once you get there, the harsh reality
is is that you're going to have some nights that
are going to bring you to your knees and make
you cry. And so uh, it's another lesson that nothing's free.
All great things come with the cost, and uh and
and so they should.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
How do you take a love for hockey and become
a pitcher in the major leagues?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Well, great, great question. If you grew up where I
grew up, and I remember I had this discussion with
the comedian Dennis Leary. We both grew up in and
around the Worcestern, mass area, which is centrally located in Massachusetts.
And you're the age we are, fifty five fifty six
years old. You had one hero, and that was Bobby Or.
Your mom and dad wanted you to be like Bobby Or.
(03:19):
When you played outside and you played street hockey, someone
who would pretend to be Barkley plaguer for the Blues.
Someone would pretend to trip you up because you were Bobby,
or coming out of the corner with the feet from Sanderson,
and someone usually the biggest guy in the block would
play Gump Warsley, the goalie for the for the sin
of loose Blues. So it was a childhood that was
(03:41):
like no other because of Bobby or it's just.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
It's playing that game inside your mind and all of
a sudden, it just starts affecting everything that you're doing.
And then people go, WHOA, he's onto something.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, it's just an amazing thing to you know, you
have a dream when you're a kid, and there's a
lot of kids that have this dream, you know, of
someday playing a professional sports And you know, I have
families all the time come up to me and then
some are out of control with trying to get their
kids to play professional sports. And you know what, I've
come down with this adage and it might be right
(04:12):
or might be wrong. You know, you don't really pursue
professional sports. They'll kind of pursue you when the moment's right,
and that's the best piece of advice I could give.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Now we're both pretty much the same age. Did you
use the pitch back as well to find tune that ball?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Oh, pitch back for baseball? I used the old tire
hanging off the tree from my football with someone pushing it. Yeah,
we didn't have all the sophisticated toys. I couldn't go
to my iPad and learn how to hold the pitch,
but I figured it out anyway.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Your mother played a major role in this because she's
a volleyball player.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Not only vallbell player, but also a great softball player.
You know, my mom is unfortunate in the sense that
she's too old to have benefited from title line. My
mother would have been a collegiate player in many sports.
She was the best athlete in our family growing up,
and she's in her mid seventies, and to this day,
I know she could have a proper game of catch.
(05:12):
And I'm not talking about lobbing the ball back and forth.
I'm talking about having a proper game of catch. And
that's where all my brothers I had a brother who
played the Yankee farm system. All my brothers played collegiate baseball,
so we all get our talent from her.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
It's amazing how the family united like that, because it
inspires each person inside the family to do their own thing.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Well, I think what's great. And you know, when I
wrote this book, I wrote a little blurb and gave
one each to my brothers, and I thought long and
hard about it, and to each one it was unique.
You know my brother Eddie, who's a year younger than me,
that played in the Yankees farm system. I wrote to
him that without his competition day in and day out,
(05:54):
I never would have been where I wanted to be.
My brother Brian, who lived in New York many years
while I was playing. Without his friendship and ability to
talk about tough things, I would have been very hard
to last thirteen years in the major leagues. And my
youngest brother, who was nine years younger than I would
would come in on weekends and he used to always
have this saying that he owned the halls of Shay Stadium. Well,
(06:17):
I don't think he owned the halls, but that's what
I wrote in the book.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
On the book cover, it says failure in triumph in
the biggest game of my life as that broadcaster today,
do you agree that it was part of the failure
in triumphs that's made you the better broadcaster in the
game that you share with us.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Absolutely. You know, I didn't think that what I was
going through as a major league player would determine or
help me as I moved along later in life. If
I hadn't gone through that, I certainly wouldn't be able
to look at the bright side and the not so
bright side in sports. Whenever I try to watch these
players play and they're so excellent, I have to remind
(06:56):
myself one thing I used to play that would help
me analyze, but I can't play anymore. It's their game,
and that's the fun part of the job is that
you know when I watch them and they're going to
have their failures too. It's easy because I can go
back to when I failed and understand how that happens.
And so when I talk about them, I can't say, boy,
(07:17):
how can that guy be horrible today? You don't speak
like that. You just say, hey, I had my day
when I came up short, and this is the reason
why it happens. And it's made it a lot of
fun to do what I do. Well.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Being in that press box. You've seen how the game
of baseball has changed in the stands for the fans.
Do you like it that way or does it take
our mind off from the game itself?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Well, I think that every generation has their own way
of getting their relaxation. And who am I to question
if texting or taking pictures or selfies during the game,
any of that stuff is It's not how our parents
grew up watching the game, how we grew up watching
the game. But it's a different world, different place, and
(08:00):
I'm just happy that Major League Baseball is starting to
extend those fences so folks who are not always taking
taking in the game and not taking score or whatever,
that people won't be hurt.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Don't you see your book as being the next level
of a baseball card, because I mean I can see
the collectors taking it and putting it in the cases
and stuff to protect it. But at the same time,
it's almost like we get to hold your life beyond
that card.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Now, boy, what a question, Yes, great question. Absolutely. I
think that what sabermetrics do, and we talked about the
back of the baseball card, a part of that, and
all the stats do is that they're amazing. They reveal
what kind of player you are, but without the hugs,
(08:47):
without the joy, and without the sorrow. So I guess
that's where my books are trying to go, is that
I understand the numbers, I understand how things happen, but
there's a human side to all of this. And the
human side is what I'm interested in, the sociology of
what makes us tick and not tick on certain moments.
(09:08):
And that's why there's a failure before the triumph there. Now,
the triumph being that the Mets won the World Series,
and the second trime for me is in writing this book,
I've been able to put the bed my inability in
a Game seven.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
So basically this opens up a door for you to
get on with your life now.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
It really is. It's pretty sad that thirty years later
I would still be a pining for another chance at
a Game seven, but that's the nature of the beast.
We always want to Everyone wants to have that mulligan.
You just don't have it in professional sports.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
How do you get rid of that voice in your
head that says, man, if I could just go back
there and change it, if I could just do this,
because it just it travels beside you.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Yeah, Well, I think That's what this book is all about,
is that I think I take a journey on things
that I could have changed within that game. And what
you realize, especially if you're a starting pitcher in a game,
is that you have all the power in your hand
the control what's going to happen. But when it starts
to slip away, it happened so quickly it's like you've
(10:10):
been catapulted over a waterfall and you can't stop it.
And I think those are the kind of the lessons
I learned in writing this that it's you know, it's
certainly not the period and the Goodwill Hunting movie where
you said it wasn't your fault, But I feel like
it wasn't my fault now because you know, you gave
your best effort and it was the Boston Red Sox
(10:31):
who who determined my fate, not me.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Now, being that writer, how did you keep the separation
between because you are an announcer and you also are
a writer, and you're also a player. That's three different
personalities that had to come alive in one place.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
But I think they all helped each other, you know,
they became symbiotic in a way because I was able
to not only remember the days when physically that was
the most important part of my life, write about it
in an honest and truthful way, which would be painful,
but also look at it as of I was watching
myself play today, and how would I analyze Ron Darling
(11:09):
in game seven? What happened to him? That? What mistakes
did he make that only allowed him to get eleven
outs in that game as opposed to twenty one outs
or more. All of those symbiotically came together and helped
me get through these two hundred pages.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
So was there ever a moment where you had to
go to YouTube and just watch it so you could
get into that mindset again? I mean, you know, I
know you lived it, but you.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Know what's interesting about former pitchers is that you can
almost remember every pitch to every batter. And did I
look at it yet? Absolutely, But it didn't take long
for me to get into the pattern exactly what was happening,
and I could call pitch for pitch, I could recall
pitch for pitch. I knew which ones were missed, which
(11:53):
ones the umpire missed, and which ones I didn't execute.
And it was a really difficult, fun journey. If that
makes any sense. I know it's an oxymoron, but it
was really so much fun to go through it and
analyze it. And then afterwards I was sweating and exhausted,
So it was a strange trip.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
So that moment before you would throw the ball. When
I was in Little League, I always would look the
guy in the eye and just give him a cocky
little smile. Did you ever do anything like that to
that batter, show on them that, hey, I've got more
strength than you've got.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Yeah, well you had the moonlight Graham thing working with
the wink, right. I know I never had that, because
but what I did do, and this is a long
before they've had coaches helping with this stuff and therapists,
is that I remember. I used to visualize where I
wanted the ball to go, and in the nights before
I would pitch, I would lay in bed and go
(12:48):
through the lineup, just one time, one through nine, and
it was always perfect. You know, the first batter was
retired on a couple of pitches. The second batter would
strike on the curveball in the dirt, and I would
play it over and over in my mind. I'm sure
golfers do that professionally when they are playing the Masters
or playing eighteen holes, they walk themselves through a sixty six. Well,
(13:10):
I've always walked myself through seven, eight or nine shutout
innings in a dream, but it was more of a
nightmare in the game seven. But it worked out the
right way because of my Mets teammates.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
You're very open when you say that a lot of
the up and coming stars need to be multiple in
their tasks as sports players. It shouldn't be just baseball.
It should be several different levels of play.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Well, I think what happens for when you're in the
moment of playing professional sports is that you feel as
though if your dedication isn't one hundred percent towards that goal,
then you'll never make it. I think that it's kind
of the opposite way. I think that when you are
there at the ballpark doing your thing, I think it's
(13:52):
very important. But if you don't get your mind off
of that thing and it's a twenty four hour deal,
I think you're there's no chance of you having a
long career. You've got to have other interests, You've got
to have an outlet, you've got to have other things
to do. I would say I didn't do it as
much as I should have. If I'm looking and writing
a letter to me as a young man, I would
(14:13):
have said, hey, let things go when they're done, they're done,
and move on. And this book has allowed me to
move on a lot of.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
There seems to be a lot of injuries these days.
I mean, why is it that during your day we
didn't see a lot of those or is it just
that the social network has opened the door for us
to look deeper into the into the lives of these players.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
I don't know if it's a social network, but I
think we do a much better better job medically on
being able to figure out how guys are injured. I
think we do a much better job, specially with pictures,
on correcting an injury. That's why you have so many
Tommy John surgeries. And it's a different place in time,
you know. Today, guys feel as though, if you're a
starting pitcher, let's use that if I can make twenty
(14:55):
five If I'm going to make twenty five starts, I'm
gonna have to be excellent for twenty five starts in
my day, good or bad. The only way you could
really make money is that you have to take the
ball every five days. That's you know, in some strange ways,
that leads to some injuries. But I do know guys
in my day, and it didn't make us more macho.
The guys are stronger and bigger and in better shape
(15:17):
than we were, but we knew that if you didn't pitch.
They how you used to have a phrase, you can't
make the club if you're in the tub, and if
you don't get out there, you couldn't make money in
our days. So that's just what you had to do.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Well, I want to thank you for painting the picture
of baseball in this modern age because our attention span
is only so long, but you keep us in that game, sir.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Thank you, Errol. We really appreciate it.
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