Ron Darling Biography

Ron Darling (born Ronald Maurice Darling Jr.) is a prominent American former baseball player and current television sports color commentator. From 1983 to 1995, he played in Major League Baseball as a member of the New York Mets team that won the 1986 World Series. Since 2006, he has been the co-lead color commentator for Mets broadcasts on SNY alongside former teammate Keith Hernandez.

In his repertoire, he had five pitches: the slider, a curveball, a circle changeup, a splitter, and a four-seam fastball. At the beginning of his career, his weak point was in control and he finished three seasons in the top in base on balls. As his career progressed, his control improved considerably. Sometimes he was used as a pinch runner and in 1989, he hit home runs in two consecutive starts. Besides his career with the Mets, he has also played for the Montreal Expos and the Oakland Athletics.

Currently, he works for national baseball coverage on TBS as a color commentator, as well as for the Mets on both SNY and WPIX. Moreover, he co-hosts several MLB Network programs.

Ron Darling Education

He received his education at Saint John’s High School. After high school, he attended Yale University. During his time at the university, he was recruited to play college football as a quarterback but he transitioned to defensive back. After his freshman season, he quit the team and instead focused on baseball. Initially, he played shortstop for the Yale Bulldogs baseball team.

Ron Darling Career

Ron Darling Minor Leagues

He was selected by the Texas Rangers in the first round (ninth overall) of the 1981 MLB draft. On April 1, 1982, he was traded along with Walt Terrell from the Rangers to the Mets for Lee Mazzilli. Later after three seasons, he was traded to the Detroit Tigers for Howard Johnson.

Ron Darling New York Mets

In 1984, he won a spot in the starting rotation and maintained a spot there almost uninterrupted until 1990. The 1985 season was an improvement for Darling a career-high and NL-leading 114 walks. On July 4th, he made the only relief appearance of his first seven seasons during a marathon 19-inning 16-13 win. He finished the game in which 13 runs were scored in the extra innings alone. During that game, the Mets blew four leads and nearby blew a fifth. Overall in 1985, he posted his career-best winning percentage with a 16-6 record. On October 1, he pitched nine shutout innings on only four hits but the game was scoreless until the 11th.

Ron Darling World Series

Everything came together for the Mets in 1986 and Darling was no exception. He finished with a 15-6 record and posted a career-best 2.81 ERA, which was third-best in the NL. Moreover, he received the only Cy Young Award votes of his career, finishing fifth behind Mike Scott of the Astros. When he started Game 3, the 1986 National League Championship Series was tied 1-1, but he pitched poorly and left after giving up four runs in five innings. The Red Sox bounced back in Game 7 after Game 6, scoring nearly three early runs against Ron. Shaky into the fourth inning, he was relieved but the Mets recovered to win their second World Championship.

Ron Darling Trade and American League

In 1991, he was back in the New York Mets’ starting rotation. On July 15, 1991, he was traded with a minor league to Montreal for former closer Tim Burke. His three starts for Montreal were poor with an ERA of 7.41. On July 31, 1991, he was traded to the Oakland Athletics for two minor leaguers. After the 1991 season, he became a free agent and re-signed with Oakland. The following year, he had his last quality year, finishing with more than 200 innings pitched, a 3.66 ERA, and 15 wins.

Again, he resigned with Oakland after 1992, this time being a multi-year deal over $2 million per season but he was unable to repeat his 1992 performance. However, the 1993 season was awful for him. Through July, his ERA hovered around 6.00 and he was relegated to long relief for over a week. On his 35th birthday on August 19, 1995, Oakland released him after a bad loss thus bringing his playing career to an end.

Ron Darling Post Retirement

Since 2000, he has been active in television. He has thus worked as a broadcaster for the Oakland Athletics, had a Fox show called Baseball Today, and appeared on The Best Damn Sports Show Period. Moreover, he provided baseball analysis for the YES Network, Fox Sports Net, and in 2004, CSTV. The Mets announced on January 28, 2020, that Ron would be inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame on May 17 in a ceremony at Citi Field. But the ceremony was moved to July 31, 2021. In 2005, he was involved in banking ventures in Southern California and was then hired to be the television color commentator for the inaugural season of the Washington Nationals.

The following year, he was hired as a color commentator and studio analyst by SportsNet New York for the New York Mets. Because of his work on the Mets broadcasts, he won an Emmy Award as Best Sports Analyst. In 2007, he was a color analyst for TBS’s coverage of the 2007 MLB Playoffs. As of 2008, he provides commentary for the network’s regular-0season coverage paired with Chip Caray. He then worked as a studio analyst for MLB Network in 2013. In 2015, he volunteered to provide play-by-play commentary for television broadcasts of Mets spring training games. Due to health reasons, he took a leave of absence from the Mets in April 2019.

Ron Darling Age

Ron was born on August 19, 1960, therefore he is 63 years old as of August 2023. He thus celebrates his birthday on August 19th of every year.

Ron Darling Height

He stands at a height of 6 feet 3 inches (1.91m) tall.

Ron Darling Family

Darling was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Ronald Darling (a French-Canadian Father) and Luciana Darling (a Hawaiian-Chinese Mother). He has a brother by the name of Eddie Darling.

Ron Darling Wife

Ron is married to the love of his life, Joanna Last, a makeup artist for Fox Sports. They got married in 2004. He was previously married to Antoinette O’Reilly. Darling has three kids, two with his first wife Antoinette by the names of Tyler Darling and Jordan Darling. And another kid with his wife Joanna, a son by the name of Ronald Maurice Darling III (born in February 2016).

Ron Darling’s Net Worth

Darling has a net worth of $11 million which he has earned through being a former baseball player and a sports color commentator.

Ron Darling Salary

He earns an annual salary of $1 million.