Ron Darling says Dysktra directed racist Tirade at Oil Can, Dykstra sues

reggiecleveland

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https://canoe.com/sports/baseball/lenny-dykstra-sues-ron-darling-over-book-claiming-racist-tirade

Darling wrote Dykstra was “one of baseball’s all-time thugs” and was in the on-deck circle at Boston’s Fenway Park before Game 3 of the 1986 World Series while Boyd warmed up “shouting every imaginable and unimaginable insult and expletive in his direction — foul, racist, hateful, hurtful stuff.” Darling went on to call it “the worst collection of taunts and insults I’d ever heard — worse, I’m betting, than anything Jackie Robinson might have heard, his first couple times around the league.”

Dykstra’s lawsuit called Darling’s account a “fictional portrayal” and “false and self-serving.”
Darling also rips other teammates.
https://nypost.com/2019/04/02/ron-darlings-tell-all-skewers-others-not-just-lenny-dykstra/

Gary Carter had his kids fill out thousands of all star ballots

Kevin Elster bragged about being a stud to a disgusting degree

And this one we know,...now
 Everyone remembers the miracle comeback in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series came mostly against Red Sox reliever Calvin Schiraldi. But Darling says that the Mets simply knew the reliever would collapse, because they knew he was a loser from his days as a Met. During a game in Philadelphia, Schiraldi came on and refused to battle when he was hit hard. “There was a give-up in him that came through in his body language, in his effort, in the look on his face, that told us he wanted to be anyplace in the world but out there on the mound.
 

Cesar Crespo

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Funny. I have Ron Darling and Kevin Elster autographed gear from a family friend back in the 80's who was a stripper and they would frequent the club. The Mets would play their spring training games in Port St. Lucie.

Adds some truth to the Kevin Elster comments maybe.
 

LoweTek

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I believe his Schiraldi take. I'll never forget the deer in the headlights look on his face when the second two strike hit fell in.
 

TheoShmeo

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We all know what happened with Schiraldi and Darling's take on him looks sadly and almost annoyingly accurate in retrospect. At first blush, McNamara's usage of CS should get added to his list of screw ups.

But Schiraldi did have two saves in the playoffs that year and put up good numbers in the playoffs until Game 6 and the regular season. Should Johnny Mac have known that Schiraldi would piss the bed? I don't know. Honest question.

His career stats are here:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/schirca01.shtml
 

Montana Fan

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Read a few different articles about this yesterday. Neither, Boyd, Strawberry, Gooden nor Kevin Mitchell heard or recall anything like the claims Darling is making. Perhaps Dykstra is an easy target. Boyd said they were friends and played together in Japan.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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I believe his Schiraldi take. I'll never forget the deer in the headlights look on his face when the second two strike hit fell in.
Maybe it was because he was already up to and past 60 pitches at that point. The dude was probably plumb worn out.

But sure, let's ascribe it to a character flaw. He had already saved a 1-0 game in the WS, but yeah he was just a loser.

Schiraldi's the guy who should be doing the suing. It's been 30 years and those coked-up assholes can't stop trashing his character.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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I looked it up, Schiraldi threw 55 pitches in Game 6. That's a lot. Maybe McNamara could have gotten off his lazy ass and brought Stanley in after the first or even second hit in the 10th inning, which was Schiardi's third inning of work.

And ya know, Schiraldi simply wasn't a very good pitcher. It's hardly beyond the realm of thought that the Mets batters were simply better than him. But the Mets want to act like they won that World Series not because they were better players, but because they had more character and were better people. That's fucking bullshit, and as we've seen over the years the '86 Mets most certainly were mostly horrible people.

So fuck them all. Acting like sore winners for 30 years means their championship drought is well-deserved and couldn't go to a more deserving organization. Watching the Royals pants those dickwads a couple of years ago was IMMENSELY satisfying.
 

Byrdbrain

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I'm not the only one who chuckled at the thought of Gary Carter's kids filling out all those all star ballots, right?
 

singaporesoxfan

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Read a few different articles about this yesterday. Neither, Boyd, Strawberry, Gooden nor Kevin Mitchell heard or recall anything like the claims Darling is making. Perhaps Dykstra is an easy target. Boyd said they were friends and played together in Japan.
Buster Olney has been discussing this over the last week on his podcast. Besides the fact that Strawberry / Gooden / Mitchell all don't recall anything like that, Olney made the point that Boyd has very strong memories of the times he's heard racist abuse, even at the high school level, and it would be out of character for Boyd to not remember something like this if it really happened.
 

Philip Jeff Frye

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Oil Can was interviewed on WFAN about this last week and said it was literally the first time he'd heard about it. You can listen to it here.
 

santadevil

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NSFW (he drops a few F bombs on-air):

According to this, he did so yesterday
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/26481314/ex-met-dykstra-sues-darling-libel-defamation

One day I really hope there is a movie about Lennie Dykstra's life.
I've followed his after baseball career a bit and it all seems like a work of fiction.
Doesn't seem like a good guy or anything, and as mentioned, is probably an easy target for this type of accusation.

But, from Darling's perspective, this will probably move quite a few books
 

joe dokes

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I looked it up, Schiraldi threw 55 pitches in Game 6. That's a lot. Maybe McNamara could have gotten off his lazy ass and brought Stanley in after the first or even second hit in the 10th inning, which was Schiardi's third inning of work.

And ya know, Schiraldi simply wasn't a very good pitcher. It's hardly beyond the realm of thought that the Mets batters were simply better than him. But the Mets want to act like they won that World Series not because they were better players, but because they had more character and were better people. That's fucking bullshit, and as we've seen over the years the '86 Mets most certainly were mostly horrible people.

So fuck them all. Acting like sore winners for 30 years means their championship drought is well-deserved and couldn't go to a more deserving organization. Watching the Royals pants those dickwads a couple of years ago was IMMENSELY satisfying.

He turned out to not be good. But anything other than "he saved their asses" in the regular season would undersell how good he was in '86. He didnt pitch his first game until late July. 14 of his 25 appearances were 2 innings or more, including 6 of his 9 saves. 25 games, 51 innings. Both Stanley and Joe Sambito were terrible in August, while Schiraldi was dominating.

He pitched a total of 15 games with the Mets. He certainly sucked in those games, but I think Darling is applying some serious hindsight.
 
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mauidano

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As it relates to credibility, I think most are going to look at Dykstra and his storied past and find it hard to believe him now. He's a first class scumbag. On the other hand what does Darling have to gain by all of this in a book? Probably could have done his cross checking a little better. I suppose controversy always sells.
 

garlan5

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i was a big nails fan as a kid. saw him play minor league ball when i was a wee little guy. his career kinda faded and died after the 94 strike. around the same time in that same minor league town i started watching and following phil plantier and slowly i became a red sox fan as he transitioned to the bigs. Nails was no more and i never really heard much about him until the 2000s and clearly that guy was a nut case or turned into one. It's hard to say if he's truthful here. it seems genuine but truly it's a coin toss
 

ledsox

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You can see a very normal game 3 warm up for Oil Can in this video and long shots of Dykstra waiting to hit.

I was at games 3 and 4 (blame me). My uncle gave us great seats about 5 rows up from the Sox on deck circle and I took my cousin. Being so close I remember checking the Mets on deck circle st the beginning of the game. I don't recall any weirdness or bad vibes except for what was happening when the ball was in play (awful game). Dykstra actually led off game 3 with a HR and had 3 singles.
 

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This is a strange story, because Lenny Dykstra is a really shitty human being. I'm fascinated with his post-baseball life and I've read a lot of stuff about him and, he's not a good dude. Would it surprise me if he was a racist? Probably not.

But judging from the evidence and personal accounts by Boyd himself and other members of the Mets team, it doesn't seem like Dykstra made those remarks.

The question then remains: did Darling just make this up or was he just plain wrong? I'm not sure why Darling needs to make this story, unless he's always hated Dykstra and just wants him to twist in the wind for a little bit. There are plenty of outlandish stories about the 1986 New York Mets and I don't think that you need to make an asshole an even bigger asshole. That's like putting a hat on a hat.

I have a feeling that Darling either misremembered or just flat out got the story wrong. And instead of admitting it (which he would never do), he's doubling down. Whatever the case may be, both parties look like idiots. And that Schiraldi stuff is bush league. Like SJH said, you beat the guy and pretty much destroyed his career (Schiraldi was never the same after Game 6), there's no need to pile on the guy. How does that help the 1986 Mets?

At the end of the day, fuck those guys.
 

cornwalls@6

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Darling VS Dykstra is the classic, no-winners, root for mutual injuries, match-up if I've ever seen one. That said, the fact that none of the other principals involved remember anything like that happening, makes Darling look like a guy trying to sell books. I have no doubt that Dykstra is a very shitty guy, but making these accusations without a shred of supporting evidence from anyone else, pretty much establishes Darling's ass-hole bonafides as well. Along with his comments about CS. Fuck him, and that whole team.
 

LoweTek

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I looked it up, Schiraldi threw 55 pitches in Game 6. That's a lot. Maybe McNamara could have gotten off his lazy ass and brought Stanley in after the first or even second hit in the 10th inning, which was Schiardi's third inning of work.

And ya know, Schiraldi simply wasn't a very good pitcher. It's hardly beyond the realm of thought that the Mets batters were simply better than him. But the Mets want to act like they won that World Series not because they were better players, but because they had more character and were better people. That's fucking bullshit, and as we've seen over the years the '86 Mets most certainly were mostly horrible people.

So fuck them all. Acting like sore winners for 30 years means their championship drought is well-deserved and couldn't go to a more deserving organization. Watching the Royals pants those dickwads a couple of years ago was IMMENSELY satisfying.
SJH, if it matters, I really appreciate your defense of Schiraldi. I used to do the same thing around here for Bob Stanley. I think Stanley is one of the most underappreciated former Red Sox players, at least inmy lifetime. Also, I heard a story McNamara wanted Crawford to follow Schiraldi but fate intervened.

I was probably a little harsh on Shiraldi. McNamara is certainly the responsible party in the situation. But Schiraldi sure looked defeated once they started hitting him. It's pretty unusual for a player to be so critical of a former teammate, which is why I gave Darling's take some benefit of the doubt.
 

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SJH, if it matters, I really appreciate your defense of Schiraldi. I used to do the same thing around here for Bob Stanley. I think Stanley is one of the most underappreciated former Red Sox players, at least inmy lifetime. Also, I heard a story McNamara wanted Crawford to follow Schiraldi but fate intervened.

I was probably a little harsh on Shiraldi. McNamara is certainly the responsible party in the situation. But Schiraldi sure looked defeated once they started hitting him. It's pretty unusual for a player to be so critical of a former teammate, which is why I gave Darling's take some benefit of the doubt.
I hear you. I just fume when I see players trash former teammates with character assassinations. Schiraldi didn't fail because he was a loser; a loser doesn't slam the door in a 1-0 World Series game on the road, right? Schiraldi was COOKED. 55 pitches, 3rd inning of work....I mean, the guy was probably gassed.

What the Mets are doing is trying to ascribe their championship to character. We won because we're better people. To which I say, given all that's transpired in the time that's passed since they won: FUCK THAT NOISE. They are clearly mostly objectively terrible people who were really good at baseball.
 

BornToRun

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I hear you. I just fume when I see players trash former teammates with character assassinations. Schiraldi didn't fail because he was a loser; a loser doesn't slam the door in a 1-0 World Series game on the road, right? Schiraldi was COOKED. 55 pitches, 3rd inning of work....I mean, the guy was probably gassed.

What the Mets are doing is trying to ascribe their championship to character. We won because we're better people. To which I say, given all that's transpired in the time that's passed since they won: FUCK THAT NOISE. They are clearly mostly objectively terrible people who were really good at baseball.
You’re not wrong. I read Jeff Pearlman’s “The Bad Guys Won” about the ‘86 Mets and the title is 100% fitting. That team was filled with garbage people who would’ve finished in last place if “character” won baseball games.

I also sympathize with Calvin Schiraldi. It’s not his fault he was hung out to dry when he had nothing left in the tank. The thing I’ve noticed is that every person on the field who you could conceivably blame for Game 6 from Buckner to Stanley to Calvin all seem to accept responsibility for their role in things. The one person who never has, that I’m aware of, is John McNamara. Slandering Dave Stapleton and saying Clemens took himself out of the game come to mind.
 

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Mixed up in all of this is how unbelievably petty all the Mets are about Gary Carter. That guy got a ton of hate thrown his way during his career by teammates who seemed to hold his squeaky clean personal life and helpfulness with fans (the guy actually took a Berlitz course in Montréal to be able to talk to people) against him. His trade to the Mets put them over the top, and he still gets shit for it. He’s dead now, that’s just who the guy fucking was.

Meanwhile Darling has pulled way more out of a fourth starter’s career than he should because he went to Yale and marred an heiress. At least Gary’s in Cooperstown Ron, unlike you.
 

JohntheBaptist

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Mixed up in all of this is how unbelievably petty all the Mets are about Gary Carter. That guy got a ton of hate thrown his way during his career by teammates who seemed to hold his squeaky clean personal life and helpfulness with fans (the guy actually took a Berlitz course in Montréal to be able to talk to people) against him. His trade to the Mets put them over the top, and he still gets shit for it. He’s dead now, that’s just who the guy fucking was.

Meanwhile Darling has pulled way more out of a fourth starter’s career than he should because he went to Yale and marred an heiress. At least Gary’s in Cooperstown Ron, unlike you.
I agree, its always had the vibe of crooked cops demonizing the one who won't take a bribe. Not just because they think it makes him a goody two shoes but because what it will mean for them in comparison.
 

Spacemans Bong

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I agree, its always had the vibe of crooked cops demonizing the one who won't take a bribe. Not just because they think it makes him a goody two shoes but because what it will mean for them in comparison.
Not just that, with the Mets and the Expos of that era, there’s a consistent theme that Carter is a phony yet nobody ever offers concrete proof of anything towards it. Like it’s ok that Mookie Wilson can be quiet and religious, but Carter is secretly full of it because he’s good at doing commercials (in two languages!) and signs lots of autographs.
 

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Not just that, with the Mets and the Expos of that era, there’s a consistent theme that Carter is a phony yet nobody ever offers concrete proof of anything towards it.
I can't offer you proof but I met Gary Carter and several of his Expo teammates. Carter was ripped on by at least 4-5 of his contemporaries before he arrived at the event (he was late). When he did arrive, he did nothing to dissuade the point of view. He was an arrogant jerk, to be generous in my description. This was well before he got into the HoF just after he retired.

He was a great player but from my experience it's highly likely there is truth in what you have heard about him personally.
 

Sandwich Pick

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Funny. I have Ron Darling and Kevin Elster autographed gear from a family friend back in the 80's who was a stripper and they would frequent the club. The Mets would play their spring training games in Port St. Lucie.

Adds some truth to the Kevin Elster comments maybe.
"The Worst Team Money Could Buy" went into detail about the sex lives of Elster and Darling. The fear of AIDS is what finally convinced Elster to change his ways.
 

Spacemans Bong

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I can't offer you proof but I met Gary Carter and several of his Expo teammates. Carter was ripped on by at least 4-5 of his contemporaries before he arrived at the event (he was late). When he did arrive, he did nothing to dissuade the point of view. He was an arrogant jerk, to be generous in my description. This was well before he got into the HoF just after he retired.

He was a great player but from my experience it's highly likely there is truth in what you have heard about him personally.
I believe you, but that's more descriptive than anything I've heard from a former Met or Expo in public. It's all either "Gary wasn't one of the guys", which given the sources can be read as Carter wouldn't do blow and chase tail on the road, or "Gary loved doing commercials", which is just meaningless piffle.
 

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Funny. I have Ron Darling and Kevin Elster autographed gear from a family friend back in the 80's who was a stripper and they would frequent the club. The Mets would play their spring training games in Port St. Lucie..
This is is the most amazing revelation in this thread. Why would a Red Sox fan own gear signed by the ‘86 Mets?

I’m tempted to buy it from you, so I can fucking burn it.
 

Cesar Crespo

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This is is the most amazing revelation in this thread. Why would a Red Sox fan own gear signed by the ‘86 Mets?

I’m tempted to buy it from you, so I can fucking burn it.
I was 8-9 and had a huge collection of baseball cards. There are a few other autographs there too like Mackey Sasser, Roger McDowell, Howard Johnson. No one actually good.

And it was the 88 Mets.

edit: I'd also go watch some of their ST games when I'd visit in the summer because it was like a 5 minute walk. It was a pretty awesome experience at the time even if it wasn't my team. So up close and personal.
 
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DJnVa

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Dykstra spent 9 hours dumpster diving

“The bread is so hard on those subs,” Dykstra told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday. “I took my teeth out and put them in a napkin, folded it up and forget them there.”
Dykstra left the restaurant which is about two miles from his home and later realized he’d forgotten his teeth in the napkin.
“When I went back, the workers said they threw all the napkins in the garbage,” Dykstra said. “I told them there was no f---- way I was leaving without my f---- teeth.”
The dentures are specially made with bone marrow and valued at $80,000, he said.
 

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A buddy of mine covered the Phillies when Nails was there. On a road trip to Milwaukee, Nails drank a case of Budweiser in his room after a day game. By himself.

Is he drunk in the videos or is that just normal Nails behavior?
 

garlan5

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If this was 10 years ago he would have a VH1 reality series. It's quite amazing what his life has turned into post baseball. Think about being a kid seeing that guy and the 93 Phillies and try to imagine him being on shows like mad money to squatting in a house to dumpster diving for teeth.