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108 Stitches: Loose Threads, Ripping Yarns, and the Darndest Characters from My Time in the Game
This is New York Times bestselling author and Emmy-nominated broadcaster Ron Darling's 108 baseball anecdotes that connect America’s game to the men who played it.
In 108 Stitches , New York Times bestselling author and Emmy Award-winning broadcaster Ron Darling offers his own take on the "six degrees of separation" game and knits together wild, wise, and wistful stories reflecting the full arc of a life in and around our national pastime.
Darling has played with or reported on just about everybody who has put on a uniform since 1983, and they in turn have played with or reported on just about everybody who put on a uniform in a previous generation. Through relationships with baseball legends on and off the field, like Yale coach Smoky Joe Wood, Willie Mays, Bart Giamatti, Tom Seaver and Mickey Mantle, Darling's reminiscences reach all the way back to Babe Ruth and other early twentieth-century greats.
Like the 108 stitches on a baseball, Darling's experiences are interwoven with every athlete who has ever played, every coach or manager who ever sat in a dugout, and every fan who ever played hooky from work or school to sit in the bleachers for a day game.
Darling's anecdotes come together to tell the story of his time in the game, and the story of the game itself.
In 108 Stitches , New York Times bestselling author and Emmy Award-winning broadcaster Ron Darling offers his own take on the "six degrees of separation" game and knits together wild, wise, and wistful stories reflecting the full arc of a life in and around our national pastime.
Darling has played with or reported on just about everybody who has put on a uniform since 1983, and they in turn have played with or reported on just about everybody who put on a uniform in a previous generation. Through relationships with baseball legends on and off the field, like Yale coach Smoky Joe Wood, Willie Mays, Bart Giamatti, Tom Seaver and Mickey Mantle, Darling's reminiscences reach all the way back to Babe Ruth and other early twentieth-century greats.
Like the 108 stitches on a baseball, Darling's experiences are interwoven with every athlete who has ever played, every coach or manager who ever sat in a dugout, and every fan who ever played hooky from work or school to sit in the bleachers for a day game.
Darling's anecdotes come together to tell the story of his time in the game, and the story of the game itself.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published April 2, 2019
89 people are currently reading
350 people want to read
About the author
Ron Darling
6 books14 followersRon Darling is an Emmy Award-winning baseball analyst for TBS, the MLB Network, SNY, and WPIX-TV, and author of Game 7, 1986 and The Complete Game. He was a starting pitcher for the New York Mets from 1983 to 1991 and the first Mets pitcher to be awarded a Gold Glove.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews
April 17, 2019
Really enjoyed Ron Darling's nuanced insights into the game I love and his stories of the characters with whom he has played. My favorite moments? His discussion of the chess game the likes of Gibson and Seaver would play on the mound, and his candid recollections of his own failings. He also reminded me of some of my favorite games as a Mets fan. Hoping he recovers quickly from his surgery yesterday and he is back in the broadcast booth again soon.
September 4, 2019
3.5 stars
"For me, baseball is the most nourishing game outside of literature. They both are retellings of human experience." -- 'Bart' Giamatti, MLB commissioner from April to September 1989
Author Darling is a guy who, in a professional sports sense, has been there - he was starting pitcher for the New York Mets (1983-1991), then had a brief detour to the Montreal Expos before wrapping up his playing career with the Oakland A's (1991-1995). For approximately the last twenty years he's been a fixture as a broadcaster / commentator, popping up on several of the cable sports networks.
With 108 Stitches I can glean that Darling kept his eyes and ears wide open during all of these years affiliated, one way or another, with major league baseball. He's got some good stories, anecdotes, and observations from his time on the field, in the locker room, on the road, and in the broadcasting booth. (The funniest bit has to be about Bob Murphy - the radio 'voice' of the Mets for 40+ years - passing out drunk before a big game in 1986.) Darling's tone is casual, though he can occasionally go for the dramatic (the chapter 'Some Crying in Baseball') as well. This was a pretty good summer read.
"For me, baseball is the most nourishing game outside of literature. They both are retellings of human experience." -- 'Bart' Giamatti, MLB commissioner from April to September 1989
Author Darling is a guy who, in a professional sports sense, has been there - he was starting pitcher for the New York Mets (1983-1991), then had a brief detour to the Montreal Expos before wrapping up his playing career with the Oakland A's (1991-1995). For approximately the last twenty years he's been a fixture as a broadcaster / commentator, popping up on several of the cable sports networks.
With 108 Stitches I can glean that Darling kept his eyes and ears wide open during all of these years affiliated, one way or another, with major league baseball. He's got some good stories, anecdotes, and observations from his time on the field, in the locker room, on the road, and in the broadcasting booth. (The funniest bit has to be about Bob Murphy - the radio 'voice' of the Mets for 40+ years - passing out drunk before a big game in 1986.) Darling's tone is casual, though he can occasionally go for the dramatic (the chapter 'Some Crying in Baseball') as well. This was a pretty good summer read.
April 27, 2019
Charming stories from Darling's years in baseball at all levels. Written in a breezy conversational style. Be it funny or shocking he's not afraid to tell the truth. An all around enjoyable read.
April 23, 2019
2.5 stars
I am underwhelmed by 108 Stitches, which mainly was underdeveloped, short snippets that didn't say much. All you say about John Franco is that he was so short that he could dance on tables without hitting his head? The only mention about Jesse Orosco is that he called out the manager and drank a lot on the team plane?
I am surprised that Ron Darling focused on obscure, inconsequential events. He could have focused on significant baseball moments or significant things that players and coaches did. I would have loved to hear more like his section describing what made Mel Stottlemyre a great pitching coach or how much he learned about pitching from Al Jackson, and less on irrelevant things like spending 3/4 of a page how cool Ron Darling thinks Tucker Ashford's name is.
I am disappointed that Ron Darling took this opportunity to take jabs at several players. It was unnecessary to share these thoughts, and it makes Ron Darling look small and mean spirited.
108 Stitches has some worthy moments, but they are few and far between.
I am underwhelmed by 108 Stitches, which mainly was underdeveloped, short snippets that didn't say much. All you say about John Franco is that he was so short that he could dance on tables without hitting his head? The only mention about Jesse Orosco is that he called out the manager and drank a lot on the team plane?
I am surprised that Ron Darling focused on obscure, inconsequential events. He could have focused on significant baseball moments or significant things that players and coaches did. I would have loved to hear more like his section describing what made Mel Stottlemyre a great pitching coach or how much he learned about pitching from Al Jackson, and less on irrelevant things like spending 3/4 of a page how cool Ron Darling thinks Tucker Ashford's name is.
I am disappointed that Ron Darling took this opportunity to take jabs at several players. It was unnecessary to share these thoughts, and it makes Ron Darling look small and mean spirited.
108 Stitches has some worthy moments, but they are few and far between.
March 20, 2019
Ron Darling can be described as a baseball lifer, first as a player as he enjoyed a moderate amount of success as a pitcher with the New York Mets, Montreal Expos and Oakland Athletics. He is now a successful broadcaster for the Mets and also for TBS on their national baseball telecasts. Having spent decades in the game, he would naturally have many stories to tell and he does so in this, his third book.
At the beginning, Darling tells the reader that baseball has its own “six degrees of separation” and that is how everything in the game is somehow connected, but makes a better analogy by describing the makeup of a baseball and its 108 stitches. Pull one story out of his memory and he connects it with another, which is related to yet a third one and soon one will see how everything in the game is connected, just like the 108 red stitches keep a baseball together.
Darling also drops names of the people in his story in (almost) alphabetical order and these people, mostly players who were teammates at one time or other broadcasters, range from the obscure to the superstar. Most of the stories are about the Mets, since that is the team with which he has spent the most amount of time, but there are also good stories about his time with Oakland as well. He was only on the Expos for about two weeks, so he doesn’t recall much about them, but is able to portray that transitional period about as well as one can expect.
These anecdotes can range from hilarious to poignant. There is one chapter on crying in baseball which was probably the best, as those were the touching stories and a reader will almost tear up when reading some of those. The best of these for me was the one on a young player in a late season game. The young player had struck out in the second inning, killing a Mets rally. The Mets got things going again in the third, the young man’s turn came up again – and the manager pinch hits for him. This left that player demoralized and was sobbing on the bench – and his teammates felt sympathy instead of the usual indifference. I left the names out so as not to spoil the story, but this is an example of the prose that Darling produces throughout the book.
The book ends with Darling’s take on the modern game, one which he views from the broadcast booth and while he is critical of many of the strategies of today’s analysis-driven game, he doesn’t come across as a grumpy old man as many former players can do. Instead, he offers illustrations of what makes today’s baseball different from when he played. It is a fitting conclusion to a book that starts slow, but picks up steam and ends up being a fast, fun read for hard core baseball fans. Readers who are more casual fans may not pick up on all the names as easily, but should still be able to enjoy reading about some of Darling’s favorite people and stories.
I wish to thank St. Martin’s Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
At the beginning, Darling tells the reader that baseball has its own “six degrees of separation” and that is how everything in the game is somehow connected, but makes a better analogy by describing the makeup of a baseball and its 108 stitches. Pull one story out of his memory and he connects it with another, which is related to yet a third one and soon one will see how everything in the game is connected, just like the 108 red stitches keep a baseball together.
Darling also drops names of the people in his story in (almost) alphabetical order and these people, mostly players who were teammates at one time or other broadcasters, range from the obscure to the superstar. Most of the stories are about the Mets, since that is the team with which he has spent the most amount of time, but there are also good stories about his time with Oakland as well. He was only on the Expos for about two weeks, so he doesn’t recall much about them, but is able to portray that transitional period about as well as one can expect.
These anecdotes can range from hilarious to poignant. There is one chapter on crying in baseball which was probably the best, as those were the touching stories and a reader will almost tear up when reading some of those. The best of these for me was the one on a young player in a late season game. The young player had struck out in the second inning, killing a Mets rally. The Mets got things going again in the third, the young man’s turn came up again – and the manager pinch hits for him. This left that player demoralized and was sobbing on the bench – and his teammates felt sympathy instead of the usual indifference. I left the names out so as not to spoil the story, but this is an example of the prose that Darling produces throughout the book.
The book ends with Darling’s take on the modern game, one which he views from the broadcast booth and while he is critical of many of the strategies of today’s analysis-driven game, he doesn’t come across as a grumpy old man as many former players can do. Instead, he offers illustrations of what makes today’s baseball different from when he played. It is a fitting conclusion to a book that starts slow, but picks up steam and ends up being a fast, fun read for hard core baseball fans. Readers who are more casual fans may not pick up on all the names as easily, but should still be able to enjoy reading about some of Darling’s favorite people and stories.
I wish to thank St. Martin’s Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
March 10, 2019
Granted, it helps if you're somewhat of a baseball nerd to enjoy this book to its fullest, but if you have even a normal fan's knowledge of the game, you'll get something out of it. Darling dishes on some of his erstwhile teammates, opening up the dugout for those of us who sit behind that enclosure. His insight focuses mainly on fellow pitchers and broadcasters, but there was one chapter that displayed his and other players' humanity -- Some Crying in Baseball, wherein the examples are extraordinarily poignant. Baseball like any sport is made of up characters and individuals who can't help but take personally an unexpected trade or lineup change, forcing them to realize that management regards them not as human beings, but as bargaining chips. (I distinctly remember the Wilmer Flores episode he cites.) 108 Stitches hold together the ball, and since each ball is hand sewn, there are bound to be irregularities that give it ability to be thrown in different ways, and also dictate the unpredictability of its arc leaving the bat. So Darling gives 108 short stitches of his own, giving insights as well as whetting this reader's appetite for Opening Day.
September 28, 2022
I’m a fan of Darling’s previous work and his announcing experience with the Mets, so this seemed a no brainer.
When I turned to page 1, I wondered if this was just going to be a list of everyone Ron Darling played with, starting with Don Aase, and the answer is 'kind of'.
Despite the forward, which suggested it is a history of interesting baseball stories or the news item about Lenny Dykstra yelling racial taunts at Oil Can Boys which brought the book tons of attention, the book itself really isn’t anything more than what I stated above.
Which isn’t a bad thing. I enjoyed the book. Like when the Mets announcers pull out baseball cards in a blowout and reminisce, Darling is an interesting recounter of some life stories.
So if that idea sounds good to you, the book might be for you. Players that Darling played with means we are talking players with careers from the 60s to the 00s, and for fans it’s a trip down memory lane. From Frank Howard to Jamie Quirk to Steve Sax to Mike Bordick, with a handful of insights on more recent players from his announcer years.
Besides Darling’s insight, his stories are of the sport, of the time- sophomoric, and often improper. As well as occasionally insensitive- and doesn’t make himself look any better.
There’s no deep gravitas here which may go with writing a third book in a decade. Nor does he dive too far back in time (as the foreword seems to suggest- there's not much in retelling stories that predate Darling's career). That said, if the idea of nothing more than Ron telling random anecdotes about his career is interesting to you, then this is worthwhile. A perfect beach read for the baseball fan.
When I turned to page 1, I wondered if this was just going to be a list of everyone Ron Darling played with, starting with Don Aase, and the answer is 'kind of'.
Despite the forward, which suggested it is a history of interesting baseball stories or the news item about Lenny Dykstra yelling racial taunts at Oil Can Boys which brought the book tons of attention, the book itself really isn’t anything more than what I stated above.
Which isn’t a bad thing. I enjoyed the book. Like when the Mets announcers pull out baseball cards in a blowout and reminisce, Darling is an interesting recounter of some life stories.
So if that idea sounds good to you, the book might be for you. Players that Darling played with means we are talking players with careers from the 60s to the 00s, and for fans it’s a trip down memory lane. From Frank Howard to Jamie Quirk to Steve Sax to Mike Bordick, with a handful of insights on more recent players from his announcer years.
Besides Darling’s insight, his stories are of the sport, of the time- sophomoric, and often improper. As well as occasionally insensitive- and doesn’t make himself look any better.
There’s no deep gravitas here which may go with writing a third book in a decade. Nor does he dive too far back in time (as the foreword seems to suggest- there's not much in retelling stories that predate Darling's career). That said, if the idea of nothing more than Ron telling random anecdotes about his career is interesting to you, then this is worthwhile. A perfect beach read for the baseball fan.
April 10, 2019
Somewhat Disappointing!!
As I traveled back in time with Ron Darling, and focused on his candid revelations, I found myself surprisingly perplexed. The ballplayer I’d come to respect was tarnishing his profile in my eyes. I observed more than one insensitive recollection that radically changed my feelings about Ron. Many of his anecdotes seemed to distance him from many in his sports circle. Not having the patience or desire to communicate with one who stutters was the straw that broke this camel’s back. Moving forward, I will cautiously evaluate Ron Darling’s recollections, especially as an outgrowth of having been disappointed by this book.
As I traveled back in time with Ron Darling, and focused on his candid revelations, I found myself surprisingly perplexed. The ballplayer I’d come to respect was tarnishing his profile in my eyes. I observed more than one insensitive recollection that radically changed my feelings about Ron. Many of his anecdotes seemed to distance him from many in his sports circle. Not having the patience or desire to communicate with one who stutters was the straw that broke this camel’s back. Moving forward, I will cautiously evaluate Ron Darling’s recollections, especially as an outgrowth of having been disappointed by this book.
March 1, 2019
Just in time for baseball season, this is a wild ride through baseball history. Ron Darling weaves his way through America's Pastime playing a bit of Six Degrees of Separation, often including personal anecdotes of players he crossed paths with during his time in the majors. With its quick, digestible chapters, this is the perfect book for reading in between innings or during those 7th inning stretches
May 18, 2019
If you're a Mets fan this is not a bad read. I am a Mets fan but I was somewhat disappointed. The book seems disjointed - it's tied together alphabetically and anecdotally, but many of the stories just aren't that interesting. I did bust out laughing reading about Bob Murphy being out cold drunk on the trainer's table during one of Davey Johnson's team meetings. There are a handful of other stories that are funny but that's about it. I probably would enjoy Darling's book on the 86 series more. In any case we are all pulling for Ron's complete recovery from thyroid cancer - a great pitcher on a great 86 World Championship team. We want him back in the booth asap.
February 13, 2019
Received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I love baseball. Absolutely love baseball. I also love a good story, so this book was a homerun for me (I promise, that's my only baseball pun). And while I doubt anyone who doesn't love baseball would read this book, let me just go ahead and tell you that this book isn't for a casual fan.
There is a lot of name dropping in this book, and it got a little... annoying, honestly. It's not like I thought there wouldn't be name dropping or anything, but some of them are so obscure that I focused more on who Darling was speaking of rather than the story he was telling. Some of the stories themselves were a little dry, and while they made sense to the over-arching plot of the book, my eyes definitely glazed over a bit while reading.
This book delivers what it's selling, though. It was interesting to me, an avid baseball fan, to see all the connections Darling made during the book. This is also one of the view books where I really loved the preface; there was this extended metaphor about the game of baseball as the actual baseball itself that I found strangely beautiful and moving.
I got through this pretty quickly, so I definitely see myself going back through it more slowly to really appreciate the story being told. If you're interested in the history of baseball told in a non-linear, somewhat creative way, this is the book for you.
10/10 would recommend to die-hard baseball fans; 7/10 would recommend to everyone else.
I love baseball. Absolutely love baseball. I also love a good story, so this book was a homerun for me (I promise, that's my only baseball pun). And while I doubt anyone who doesn't love baseball would read this book, let me just go ahead and tell you that this book isn't for a casual fan.
There is a lot of name dropping in this book, and it got a little... annoying, honestly. It's not like I thought there wouldn't be name dropping or anything, but some of them are so obscure that I focused more on who Darling was speaking of rather than the story he was telling. Some of the stories themselves were a little dry, and while they made sense to the over-arching plot of the book, my eyes definitely glazed over a bit while reading.
This book delivers what it's selling, though. It was interesting to me, an avid baseball fan, to see all the connections Darling made during the book. This is also one of the view books where I really loved the preface; there was this extended metaphor about the game of baseball as the actual baseball itself that I found strangely beautiful and moving.
I got through this pretty quickly, so I definitely see myself going back through it more slowly to really appreciate the story being told. If you're interested in the history of baseball told in a non-linear, somewhat creative way, this is the book for you.
10/10 would recommend to die-hard baseball fans; 7/10 would recommend to everyone else.
September 14, 2021
I'm surprised to say that my first reaction to reading this collection of anecdotes was that Ron Darling is profane. I am so used to his mannered, intellectual analysis of baseball that the street language threw me.
This is not his first book so instead of a career memoir, this is a loosely organized review of people he's known one way or another as a result of baseball. His career in the majors and the broadcast booth has exposed him to a variety of players, coaches, and managers, giving him an interesting perspective.
Some of these are interesting, some revelatory, and some amusing. My favorite may be the tale of Don Zimmer, one of my favorites, but no doubt readers will pick their own.
The book is coauthored with my old fantasy baseball league pal Dan Paisner, who no doubt helped polish some of these. This is a book for not just Mets fans but those who love the game and want some inside scoop on the key figures from the last 40 years.
This is not his first book so instead of a career memoir, this is a loosely organized review of people he's known one way or another as a result of baseball. His career in the majors and the broadcast booth has exposed him to a variety of players, coaches, and managers, giving him an interesting perspective.
Some of these are interesting, some revelatory, and some amusing. My favorite may be the tale of Don Zimmer, one of my favorites, but no doubt readers will pick their own.
The book is coauthored with my old fantasy baseball league pal Dan Paisner, who no doubt helped polish some of these. This is a book for not just Mets fans but those who love the game and want some inside scoop on the key figures from the last 40 years.
July 17, 2019
The meandering nature of this book meant it took me longer to read than other baseball memoirs, but certainly did not diminish how much I enjoyed it. Ron adopts a no-holds-barred approach here, using his recollections to form a nuanced look at the many personalities he engaged with over the course of his career. He treats each story with care, and does not save the ugly bits just for others - he takes much responsibility for some of his own lesser actions. My favorite chapters, though, were the ones about the managers he played for and his impressions of those he has worked with in the broadcast booth.
May 6, 2019
Stories about baseball and the players Ron Darling played with or knew. Stories ratings depend on the way account is told and your knowledge of the player. The Lenny Dykstra story has caused a flurry of opinions, but I believe Darling's tale of the third game of the '86 World Series. Sad that Dykstra uttered such foul words to Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd, and sadder that no one stood up to condemn Dykstra.
December 21, 2024
A nice breezy collection of stories from a solid starter for close to 15 years and an announcer for even longer. There is not much rhyme or reason in the order of the tales. He goes through different names and tells tales that lead to other tales with more names. All are interesting, and his last bit about the state of the game is right on.
Recommended, can be read easily in short bursts, and it's like having a conversation.
Recommended, can be read easily in short bursts, and it's like having a conversation.
July 19, 2019
Nice little read filled with anecdotes from the writer;s playing career. Nothing more, nothing less.
August 29, 2022
This is an entertaining baseball book. If you were a Mets fan in the '80s, it will be a lot of fun for you to read.
September 14, 2019
There's a car dealer in our town who mumbles cornpone, pointless jokes on his television advertisements. My sweetie and I watch them closely when they come on in attempts to understand what he is saying and what the punch lines are. But, for the most part, they are 30-second stories that have some sense of buildup and hope of a payoff with little point. We just sit there, saying "What did he just say?"
Ron Darling's book is of the same. The stories seem to fall flat, as if in a "you had to have been there" kind of way. It's almost as if the inclusion of a player's name is enough to satisfy the reader. It's like, "Here's a story about Gary Carter... well, it's not that great of a story, but, by gosh, I played with Gary Carter in my career."
In one story, he sets up a long deal about playing golf with his son and Yogi Berra in a charity tournament. He says his kid is a very good golfer and goes on about the day. The "payoff" is that his pre-teenaged son doesn't want to shower with the older guys. Eventually he does and... he sees Yogi Berra bend over while in the shower. That's it. The payoff in that story is Yogi's ass.
Also, Darling comes off somewhat whiney and spoiled. I'm surprised he didn't get some flak from his network television job, because the book will surely alienate some of his baseball fans. I was also surprised over the amount of cursing he did. He isn't representing the network well.
And, did you know Darling pitched for Yale and played in what some consider to be the greatest college baseball game ever between Yale and St. John? Well, if you didn't know that after reading "108 Stitches" you weren't paying attention.
This a decent book for hardcore baseball fans if only to see the names in print of players they remember from the 1980s and 1990s. However, the stories leave you wanting more.
Ron Darling's book is of the same. The stories seem to fall flat, as if in a "you had to have been there" kind of way. It's almost as if the inclusion of a player's name is enough to satisfy the reader. It's like, "Here's a story about Gary Carter... well, it's not that great of a story, but, by gosh, I played with Gary Carter in my career."
In one story, he sets up a long deal about playing golf with his son and Yogi Berra in a charity tournament. He says his kid is a very good golfer and goes on about the day. The "payoff" is that his pre-teenaged son doesn't want to shower with the older guys. Eventually he does and... he sees Yogi Berra bend over while in the shower. That's it. The payoff in that story is Yogi's ass.
Also, Darling comes off somewhat whiney and spoiled. I'm surprised he didn't get some flak from his network television job, because the book will surely alienate some of his baseball fans. I was also surprised over the amount of cursing he did. He isn't representing the network well.
And, did you know Darling pitched for Yale and played in what some consider to be the greatest college baseball game ever between Yale and St. John? Well, if you didn't know that after reading "108 Stitches" you weren't paying attention.
This a decent book for hardcore baseball fans if only to see the names in print of players they remember from the 1980s and 1990s. However, the stories leave you wanting more.
July 27, 2020
I strongly recommend avoiding this book. If I could give it zero stars I would.
My love of baseball began in 1962 when my father and my uncle took me to the Polo Grounds to see the brand-new New York Mets play. I still remember my first glimpse of the field! It was love at first sight.
When this book was published it was quite controversial, and there were a lot of people wondering why Darling wrote it. Well, you can't really criticize something you haven't read, and when I saw it at a (very) reduced price, I bought it to see what the problem was.
This is more like reading a transcript of sessions with Darling's therapist. This guy did him wrong, that guy did him wrong, this one was a jerk, these teammates were horrible... Okay, we get it. But didn't his mother ever tell him if you can't say anything nice...
I really enjoy listening to Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling do Met games on SNY. At least, I did, until I read this book. Now I have a hard time listening to Ron Darling. I lost a lot of respect for him because of this book. Some things don't have to be shared.
I don't really think this is a spoiler, it's more of a warning - at one point, two men were in the broadcast booth doing a public service announcement regarding prostate cancer. In case you don't know anything about prostate cancer, one of the side effects of treatment can be incontinence. Apparently the man sitting in Darling's chair had a problem, and the chair became urine-soaked. So we are treated to the story of how Darling had to do the rest of the broadcast standing up, and they just couldn't get rid of this chair no matter how hard they tried. Really, Ron? Gee, my heart bleeds for you...
One more time - I strongly recommend avoiding this book.
My love of baseball began in 1962 when my father and my uncle took me to the Polo Grounds to see the brand-new New York Mets play. I still remember my first glimpse of the field! It was love at first sight.
When this book was published it was quite controversial, and there were a lot of people wondering why Darling wrote it. Well, you can't really criticize something you haven't read, and when I saw it at a (very) reduced price, I bought it to see what the problem was.
This is more like reading a transcript of sessions with Darling's therapist. This guy did him wrong, that guy did him wrong, this one was a jerk, these teammates were horrible... Okay, we get it. But didn't his mother ever tell him if you can't say anything nice...
I really enjoy listening to Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling do Met games on SNY. At least, I did, until I read this book. Now I have a hard time listening to Ron Darling. I lost a lot of respect for him because of this book. Some things don't have to be shared.
I don't really think this is a spoiler, it's more of a warning - at one point, two men were in the broadcast booth doing a public service announcement regarding prostate cancer. In case you don't know anything about prostate cancer, one of the side effects of treatment can be incontinence. Apparently the man sitting in Darling's chair had a problem, and the chair became urine-soaked. So we are treated to the story of how Darling had to do the rest of the broadcast standing up, and they just couldn't get rid of this chair no matter how hard they tried. Really, Ron? Gee, my heart bleeds for you...
One more time - I strongly recommend avoiding this book.
January 26, 2019
Breezy read. Darling throws a surprising amount of shade, in and around talking about writing the book in a meta, and distracting, way. The final chapter, out of the blue, he ages 30 years and drops a lecture right out of John Smoltz's oeuvre about "today's game."
April 11, 2019
https://www.themaineedge.com/sports/s...
Baseball, perhaps more than any other sport, is defined by its stories.
None of our American pro sports leagues have the same lengthy history within the culture. Nor do they have the same reverence for that history. Baseball is about narrative, a constant tale-telling that is built around connecting the present to the past.
Ron Darling’s new book “108 Stitches: Loose Thread, Ripping Yarns, and the Darnedest Characters from My Time in the Game” is about telling those stories, all through the lens of his own experience in the game. And he’s got plenty of experiences to talk about – a 13-year major league career where he won 136 games as a starting pitcher and two decades in the broadcast booth.
Darling’s conceit is a simple one: A series of stories about the various figures with whom he crossed paths over the course of nearly four decades in professional baseball. All told, there are 108 tales – just like there are 108 stitches on a baseball.
These stories range all over Darling’s baseball timeline. He tells stories of former teammates and managers, spending much of his time discussing his eight seasons with the New York Mets. Darling talks about his four-year run in Oakland some, but his focus is largely on those Mets teams of the mid-1980s. Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez (who also pops up in Darling’s broadcasting stories) and so many more Mets – some less well-known than others – appear throughout.
They’re all fairly short snippets, snapshots of a life lived in the big leagues. The book is fashioned as a sort of “Six Degrees of Ron Darling” game, where he offers up tales of people who have crossed his path. Some of these interludes are lengthy, where Darling goes deep on his feelings regarding certain players and managers who have been a part of his baseball experience. Others are more ephemeral, as Darling had just a brief interlude with them before the moment passed.
And while those lengthier stories are engaging and fun to read, the briefer tales are almost more interesting in their way. There’s something fascinating about the transient nature of professional baseball; with players and coaches moving from team to team, there’s a steady stream of these figures on the fringe, people who quietly appear and quickly duck out again just as quietly. Hearing Darling’s memories of THOSE guys, the transitory figures … it’s nice to get some deeper cuts.
But of course, “108 Stitches” isn’t just about these other people. It’s also about Ron Darling’s connection to them. Throughout, we’re allowed a glimpse into Darling’s memories – by recalling these players from his past, he can better contextualize the recollection of his own career. We get stories of moments on the mound, yes, but we also get tales from the dugout and the locker room and the broadcast booth. We even spend some time with Darling outside the stadium as he adjusts to being a young kid living in Manhattan.
While he spends plenty of time sharing his thoughts about those he feels helped him along the way, Darling is also unafraid to make his feelings known about someone he didn’t like. Truth presented in an unvarnished form is always going to rub some the wrong way, though to be fair, he doesn’t let himself entirely off the hook.
It’s worth noting, however, that there are a couple of stories in the book that have drawn considerably more attention than the rest. One in particular involving a former teammate has been a bit of a lightning rod, with vehement denials and threats of lawsuits and whatnot. Still, with a few exceptions, the book is largely celebratory in tone, embracing a “for love of the game” attitude that’s hard to resist.
“108 Stitches” is an old-fashioned baseball book from an old-fashioned veteran of the game. Darling is an intelligent, old-school baseball lifer, one who loves the game and loves what it has given him. This book is an entertaining guided stroll through some 40 years of one man’s baseball memories, a fun read for any fan with a fondness for the game’s rich narrative tapestry.
Baseball, perhaps more than any other sport, is defined by its stories.
None of our American pro sports leagues have the same lengthy history within the culture. Nor do they have the same reverence for that history. Baseball is about narrative, a constant tale-telling that is built around connecting the present to the past.
Ron Darling’s new book “108 Stitches: Loose Thread, Ripping Yarns, and the Darnedest Characters from My Time in the Game” is about telling those stories, all through the lens of his own experience in the game. And he’s got plenty of experiences to talk about – a 13-year major league career where he won 136 games as a starting pitcher and two decades in the broadcast booth.
Darling’s conceit is a simple one: A series of stories about the various figures with whom he crossed paths over the course of nearly four decades in professional baseball. All told, there are 108 tales – just like there are 108 stitches on a baseball.
These stories range all over Darling’s baseball timeline. He tells stories of former teammates and managers, spending much of his time discussing his eight seasons with the New York Mets. Darling talks about his four-year run in Oakland some, but his focus is largely on those Mets teams of the mid-1980s. Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez (who also pops up in Darling’s broadcasting stories) and so many more Mets – some less well-known than others – appear throughout.
They’re all fairly short snippets, snapshots of a life lived in the big leagues. The book is fashioned as a sort of “Six Degrees of Ron Darling” game, where he offers up tales of people who have crossed his path. Some of these interludes are lengthy, where Darling goes deep on his feelings regarding certain players and managers who have been a part of his baseball experience. Others are more ephemeral, as Darling had just a brief interlude with them before the moment passed.
And while those lengthier stories are engaging and fun to read, the briefer tales are almost more interesting in their way. There’s something fascinating about the transient nature of professional baseball; with players and coaches moving from team to team, there’s a steady stream of these figures on the fringe, people who quietly appear and quickly duck out again just as quietly. Hearing Darling’s memories of THOSE guys, the transitory figures … it’s nice to get some deeper cuts.
But of course, “108 Stitches” isn’t just about these other people. It’s also about Ron Darling’s connection to them. Throughout, we’re allowed a glimpse into Darling’s memories – by recalling these players from his past, he can better contextualize the recollection of his own career. We get stories of moments on the mound, yes, but we also get tales from the dugout and the locker room and the broadcast booth. We even spend some time with Darling outside the stadium as he adjusts to being a young kid living in Manhattan.
While he spends plenty of time sharing his thoughts about those he feels helped him along the way, Darling is also unafraid to make his feelings known about someone he didn’t like. Truth presented in an unvarnished form is always going to rub some the wrong way, though to be fair, he doesn’t let himself entirely off the hook.
It’s worth noting, however, that there are a couple of stories in the book that have drawn considerably more attention than the rest. One in particular involving a former teammate has been a bit of a lightning rod, with vehement denials and threats of lawsuits and whatnot. Still, with a few exceptions, the book is largely celebratory in tone, embracing a “for love of the game” attitude that’s hard to resist.
“108 Stitches” is an old-fashioned baseball book from an old-fashioned veteran of the game. Darling is an intelligent, old-school baseball lifer, one who loves the game and loves what it has given him. This book is an entertaining guided stroll through some 40 years of one man’s baseball memories, a fun read for any fan with a fondness for the game’s rich narrative tapestry.
April 4, 2023
RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: DARLING… PSEUDO OLD-SCHOOL… REAL… NEW AGE BACKSTABBER
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This memoir by former big league pitcher and current TV sportscaster and color commentator… Ron Darling… seems to be a bad decision… a literary “wild-pitch”… if you will… or more accurately… a *BEAN-BALL” of lack of class. The author describes so many former teammates and managers… in negative and in some cases… extremely cruel lights. Additionally to have most of the book built around describing former teammates in alphabetical order is ridiculous as far as the end user… me and you the readers are concerned. There is no real beginning middle and end to the story. There is no plot and storyline. Let me give you an example. In one segment Darling is telling you in detail about his first day in the big leagues…September 1, 1983… when teammate Ron Hodges… wordlessly comes up to Darling who’s proudly wearing his brand new virginal white… first regular season uniform… and spits a wad of disgusting tobacco juice on his pant leg. Then the VERY NEXT PARAGRAPH (Rick Honeycutt) is the 1992 season in Oakland! This back and forth… here and there… there and here is the modus operandi for the author throughout the book. I don’t know if the editor came up with the idea… or Darling came up with this idea… but whoever didn’t talk the other one out of it… should be highly embarrassed.
The negative… tearing… down… and knifing in the back of former teammates… really paints Darling as an individual who is devoid of any personal integrity. He rips former teammates whether they’re dead or alive. From manager Frank Howard… to teammates Gary Carter… Lenny Dykstra… to Mookie Wilson… who literally told Darling… “I expect more of you than that.” After hearing Darling make fun of his looks while on the team bus. Well… Mookie… perhaps you shouldn’t have expected more… after reading this book… I certainly don’t! As I write this next lack of character … and shameful exploit by the author… it’s almost too hard to fathom that a highly educated man could possibly even think it was funny… when he shares with the reader how he heckled teammate Junior Ortiz about his stuttering problem. The author even ended the story with this sentence…. “We were the b-b-b-b-b-best, after all.”
I’m quite sure that the alumni of Yale… Darling’s alma mater… are not toasting him tonite!
P.S. even the title of the book concept is described a bit off by the author. Of course the 108 stitches refers to how many red stitches in a baseball… “BUT”… the author writes on page two… “Those 108 raised stitches that give the ball its seams…” Well the fact of the matter as far as I’m aware is that all 108 stitches ARE NOT RAISED… THE FIRST AND LAST STITCH ARE HIDDEN… so in actuality… only 106 are raised. But then again I didn’t go to Yale… so I could be wrong!
P.S.S. Darling even rips the people in the broadcast booth with him. Apparently he’s way too talented to work with the likes of Hall of Famer… and gentleman Cal Ripken Jr. He says Ripken’s “demeanor doesn’t really lend itself to live television”… and regarding insights… “When he opens his mouth it doesn’t always come out, not straightaway.” His wrath against another Hall of Famer and now broadcaster Frank Thomas is shocking… Darling calls him “THE BIGGEST BABY TO EVER MAKE IT TO THE HALL OF FAME, ONE OF THE GAME’S ALL-TIME MOANERS AND WHINERS!” Regarding playing against “The Big Hurt”… Darling says… “He was just a major league pussy, the way he always cried to the ump for that call inside.”
Meanwhile… Ripken and Thomas are Hall of Famers… while Darling is a knife in the back artist.
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This memoir by former big league pitcher and current TV sportscaster and color commentator… Ron Darling… seems to be a bad decision… a literary “wild-pitch”… if you will… or more accurately… a *BEAN-BALL” of lack of class. The author describes so many former teammates and managers… in negative and in some cases… extremely cruel lights. Additionally to have most of the book built around describing former teammates in alphabetical order is ridiculous as far as the end user… me and you the readers are concerned. There is no real beginning middle and end to the story. There is no plot and storyline. Let me give you an example. In one segment Darling is telling you in detail about his first day in the big leagues…September 1, 1983… when teammate Ron Hodges… wordlessly comes up to Darling who’s proudly wearing his brand new virginal white… first regular season uniform… and spits a wad of disgusting tobacco juice on his pant leg. Then the VERY NEXT PARAGRAPH (Rick Honeycutt) is the 1992 season in Oakland! This back and forth… here and there… there and here is the modus operandi for the author throughout the book. I don’t know if the editor came up with the idea… or Darling came up with this idea… but whoever didn’t talk the other one out of it… should be highly embarrassed.
The negative… tearing… down… and knifing in the back of former teammates… really paints Darling as an individual who is devoid of any personal integrity. He rips former teammates whether they’re dead or alive. From manager Frank Howard… to teammates Gary Carter… Lenny Dykstra… to Mookie Wilson… who literally told Darling… “I expect more of you than that.” After hearing Darling make fun of his looks while on the team bus. Well… Mookie… perhaps you shouldn’t have expected more… after reading this book… I certainly don’t! As I write this next lack of character … and shameful exploit by the author… it’s almost too hard to fathom that a highly educated man could possibly even think it was funny… when he shares with the reader how he heckled teammate Junior Ortiz about his stuttering problem. The author even ended the story with this sentence…. “We were the b-b-b-b-b-best, after all.”
I’m quite sure that the alumni of Yale… Darling’s alma mater… are not toasting him tonite!
P.S. even the title of the book concept is described a bit off by the author. Of course the 108 stitches refers to how many red stitches in a baseball… “BUT”… the author writes on page two… “Those 108 raised stitches that give the ball its seams…” Well the fact of the matter as far as I’m aware is that all 108 stitches ARE NOT RAISED… THE FIRST AND LAST STITCH ARE HIDDEN… so in actuality… only 106 are raised. But then again I didn’t go to Yale… so I could be wrong!
P.S.S. Darling even rips the people in the broadcast booth with him. Apparently he’s way too talented to work with the likes of Hall of Famer… and gentleman Cal Ripken Jr. He says Ripken’s “demeanor doesn’t really lend itself to live television”… and regarding insights… “When he opens his mouth it doesn’t always come out, not straightaway.” His wrath against another Hall of Famer and now broadcaster Frank Thomas is shocking… Darling calls him “THE BIGGEST BABY TO EVER MAKE IT TO THE HALL OF FAME, ONE OF THE GAME’S ALL-TIME MOANERS AND WHINERS!” Regarding playing against “The Big Hurt”… Darling says… “He was just a major league pussy, the way he always cried to the ump for that call inside.”
Meanwhile… Ripken and Thomas are Hall of Famers… while Darling is a knife in the back artist.
April 10, 2022
I don’t read many “ex jock” books. There are quite a few that have been written. I was drawn to this one because a) I was a big fan of the New York Mets in the 1980s – and – b) Ron Darling has an Ivy League education, so his writing is better than most. Try reading a book by jocks such as Len Dykstra or David Wells and you’ll understand. This book essentially is simply random recollections of various people that Darling played and/or worked with over his baseball career (he’s now a successful sportscaster, so he hasn’t “left” the game). So there’s no deep central theme or anything. At times you get the feeling that you’re simply hanging out at a hotel bar with Darling, and he’s simply telling you some great baseball tales of his past while enjoying a few drinks.
At times, Darling does tend to get a tad too cerebral. Maybe he’s trying to show off his intellect a bit? I read once that, as a player, he actually kept philosophy books in his clubhouse locker. But never mind. That really doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of reading this book. In fact, one might just learn a few new words to add to their personal dictionary. So, yes, it is very well written.
For me, it’s always rewarding to read about the behind-the-scenes stuff when it comes to professional athletes. Most of the time (not all the time) what the fan sees on the tv screen and in the newspaper is highly censored, so it’s fun to read about how athletes that we remember really were as opposed to how they appeared on television commercials and post-game interviews.
There really isn’t any continuity here. Darling tries a “loose” way of connecting the stories by telling stories about baseball personalities from the letter “A” (Don Aase) to the letter “Z” (Don Zimmer), but he even strays from that formula somewhat. His observations are all over the place. He writes about acquaintances in college, the minor leagues, his time as a Met and Athletic, and his latter broadcast days. All of the stories here are well told, and most of Darling’s recollections are about positive people. There are a few jerks that pop up within the pages. Most notably is the above-mentioned Len Dykstra. Let’s just say the story that Ron Darling tells is highly accusatory and Dykstra barked his innocence rather belligerently when this book was first released. Even if you don’t know the personalities, Darling has a fresh way of telling his stories, and if you enjoy the game, you’ll enjoy the book.
One of the minor criticisms I have of this book, is that some of the stories are too short. 108 stories over about 250 pages means Darling can’t go too deep in the weeds all the time, and one wishes for more. Example: He tells one anecdote of his new team member David Cone in 1987. History would tell us that as great a pitcher as Cone was, he had a few tendencies and habits that were quite NC-17 rated. Yet the story Darling tells is very brief and somewhat silly and inconsequential. I remember thinking: ‘That’s it’?
Another area that I was less fond of was Darling’s chapter about life in Manhattan. With Darling’s GQ looks and high profile, he’s the perfect creature for such a geography, but his observations about the town and the night life seemed a bit out of place in a book that’s supposed to be about baseball personalities. Maybe he ran out of ideas? (He’s written two other books, and maybe he found himself a bit low on content.)
Still, this was an enjoyable, quick read and one wishes that more retrospectives of this caliber could be penned by athletes for the fan who enjoys to read in addition to watching sports.
At times, Darling does tend to get a tad too cerebral. Maybe he’s trying to show off his intellect a bit? I read once that, as a player, he actually kept philosophy books in his clubhouse locker. But never mind. That really doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of reading this book. In fact, one might just learn a few new words to add to their personal dictionary. So, yes, it is very well written.
For me, it’s always rewarding to read about the behind-the-scenes stuff when it comes to professional athletes. Most of the time (not all the time) what the fan sees on the tv screen and in the newspaper is highly censored, so it’s fun to read about how athletes that we remember really were as opposed to how they appeared on television commercials and post-game interviews.
There really isn’t any continuity here. Darling tries a “loose” way of connecting the stories by telling stories about baseball personalities from the letter “A” (Don Aase) to the letter “Z” (Don Zimmer), but he even strays from that formula somewhat. His observations are all over the place. He writes about acquaintances in college, the minor leagues, his time as a Met and Athletic, and his latter broadcast days. All of the stories here are well told, and most of Darling’s recollections are about positive people. There are a few jerks that pop up within the pages. Most notably is the above-mentioned Len Dykstra. Let’s just say the story that Ron Darling tells is highly accusatory and Dykstra barked his innocence rather belligerently when this book was first released. Even if you don’t know the personalities, Darling has a fresh way of telling his stories, and if you enjoy the game, you’ll enjoy the book.
One of the minor criticisms I have of this book, is that some of the stories are too short. 108 stories over about 250 pages means Darling can’t go too deep in the weeds all the time, and one wishes for more. Example: He tells one anecdote of his new team member David Cone in 1987. History would tell us that as great a pitcher as Cone was, he had a few tendencies and habits that were quite NC-17 rated. Yet the story Darling tells is very brief and somewhat silly and inconsequential. I remember thinking: ‘That’s it’?
Another area that I was less fond of was Darling’s chapter about life in Manhattan. With Darling’s GQ looks and high profile, he’s the perfect creature for such a geography, but his observations about the town and the night life seemed a bit out of place in a book that’s supposed to be about baseball personalities. Maybe he ran out of ideas? (He’s written two other books, and maybe he found himself a bit low on content.)
Still, this was an enjoyable, quick read and one wishes that more retrospectives of this caliber could be penned by athletes for the fan who enjoys to read in addition to watching sports.
September 28, 2020
My first job out of college was covering sports for a newspaper, and in the 25 years since, I've been lucky to continue working events as a side gig. In almost any sport, my favorite part is the pregame meal--the hour or two before the game when everyone sits around and tells stories of different games and long-ago seasons. Usually (but not always) there are a handful of gray-headed men leading these conversations, telling everyone about the way things used to be back in the day.
Inevitably some young person, perhaps hearing these stories for the first time, will earnestly exclaim, "You should write a book!"
Occasionally, one of the old-timers takes that earnest advice and puts their memories on paper. But if we (the readers) are lucky, they do it carefully. They sort through their best stories and put them into some sort of cohesive narrative...embellishing here and culling some irrelevancies there, and maybe setting some gems aside for a different book at a different time.
This isn't that type of book. This is the book that anyone in the press box could have written if they'd just sat at the table for a season or two and transcribed the yarns Darling was spinning off. No cohesive narrative. No logical progression from start to finish, unless you count the unimaginative alphabetical listing of people the author encountered throughout his career. This portion takes up the bulk of the book, and since it's alphabetical, the narrative jumps abruptly in time and space, leaping from 1980s New York to 21st century New York to Oakland to Montreal with a few random bounces in Tulsa or New England or the Grapefruit League.
Some of the stories are good, and the fact that the writing often seems like an unpolished transcript gives it a touch of authenticity that I find appealing. But with that conversational style, you get some redundancies and more than a little axe-grinding that comes off as whining.
It's not that the book is bad. It's just lazy writing. And to quote Mookie Wilson, "Ron...I expect more of you than that."
Inevitably some young person, perhaps hearing these stories for the first time, will earnestly exclaim, "You should write a book!"
Occasionally, one of the old-timers takes that earnest advice and puts their memories on paper. But if we (the readers) are lucky, they do it carefully. They sort through their best stories and put them into some sort of cohesive narrative...embellishing here and culling some irrelevancies there, and maybe setting some gems aside for a different book at a different time.
This isn't that type of book. This is the book that anyone in the press box could have written if they'd just sat at the table for a season or two and transcribed the yarns Darling was spinning off. No cohesive narrative. No logical progression from start to finish, unless you count the unimaginative alphabetical listing of people the author encountered throughout his career. This portion takes up the bulk of the book, and since it's alphabetical, the narrative jumps abruptly in time and space, leaping from 1980s New York to 21st century New York to Oakland to Montreal with a few random bounces in Tulsa or New England or the Grapefruit League.
Some of the stories are good, and the fact that the writing often seems like an unpolished transcript gives it a touch of authenticity that I find appealing. But with that conversational style, you get some redundancies and more than a little axe-grinding that comes off as whining.
It's not that the book is bad. It's just lazy writing. And to quote Mookie Wilson, "Ron...I expect more of you than that."
October 6, 2020
It was an unexpected pleasure to listen to Ron Darling’s commentary during the TBS broadcast of the Yankees game last night. Ron is usually part of the three-person Mets’ broadcasting team. They are the best in baseball, or sports in general, these days.
Coincidentally, I also happened to finish listening to the Audible version of Ron’s latest book (now more than a year old) early this morning. It’s voiced by the same professional reader who read a recent Audible version of E.B. White’s “Here Is New York” – which was fitting, because “Manhattan” is a recurring theme in this collection of Ron’s baseball stories. (This reader also delivers a few reverse-Yogisms as he smoothly, unknowingly butchers Jim Bouton’s last name and Asdrubal Cabrera’s first name.)
Ron’s book baffles me a bit. I enjoyed it as much as a Mets broadcast, but it left me with an uneasy feeling (also, much like the Mets). I found Ron’s narrative here and writing style – which I see criticized in other reviews – actually not as “lazy” as the author accuses himself of being. In fact, it’s rather erudite.
I also found most of the stories entertaining, but wondered at what cost. One central story about Lenny Dykstra (the source of a libel suit Darling eventually won because the judge ruled that, given his already tarnished reputation, Dykstra couldn’t be defamed) doesn’t seem to be corroborated by anyone else who was there. And there’s an unfortunate anecdote here involving someone with prostate cancer.
Ron names names over a long career, and some recollections have a snitchy quality that I can’t imagine would play well among his former teammates. But what do I know? I was never a good athlete. I was never a cool kid, like Ron, when he ate dinner at Elaine’s.
Because of my Dad (who was a good athlete), I do enjoy watching baseball. I thank Ron, Keith and Gary for all the joy they’ve provided as my wife and I have listened to them broadcast Mets games in recent years.
In the same way, I enjoyed this book. The thing is, I like Ron Darling a bit less now.
I don’t think he cares.
Coincidentally, I also happened to finish listening to the Audible version of Ron’s latest book (now more than a year old) early this morning. It’s voiced by the same professional reader who read a recent Audible version of E.B. White’s “Here Is New York” – which was fitting, because “Manhattan” is a recurring theme in this collection of Ron’s baseball stories. (This reader also delivers a few reverse-Yogisms as he smoothly, unknowingly butchers Jim Bouton’s last name and Asdrubal Cabrera’s first name.)
Ron’s book baffles me a bit. I enjoyed it as much as a Mets broadcast, but it left me with an uneasy feeling (also, much like the Mets). I found Ron’s narrative here and writing style – which I see criticized in other reviews – actually not as “lazy” as the author accuses himself of being. In fact, it’s rather erudite.
I also found most of the stories entertaining, but wondered at what cost. One central story about Lenny Dykstra (the source of a libel suit Darling eventually won because the judge ruled that, given his already tarnished reputation, Dykstra couldn’t be defamed) doesn’t seem to be corroborated by anyone else who was there. And there’s an unfortunate anecdote here involving someone with prostate cancer.
Ron names names over a long career, and some recollections have a snitchy quality that I can’t imagine would play well among his former teammates. But what do I know? I was never a good athlete. I was never a cool kid, like Ron, when he ate dinner at Elaine’s.
Because of my Dad (who was a good athlete), I do enjoy watching baseball. I thank Ron, Keith and Gary for all the joy they’ve provided as my wife and I have listened to them broadcast Mets games in recent years.
In the same way, I enjoyed this book. The thing is, I like Ron Darling a bit less now.
I don’t think he cares.
August 3, 2019
Bought this at book signing about 10 days before Ron announced his medical leave-of-absence from METS broadcasting, so I was quite shocked because I was literally 2 feet from the man, and he looked fine to me!
Got sidetracking reading some other things so finally had time to pick it up in early July, then put it down to read something I was loaned, and finally come around to return to it for one final push.
A fun read, Ron reveals more about himself (beyond Game 7), including moments he's not terribly proud of. At the book signing the issues around the passage about Lenny Dykstra had already been public and Ron stood by what he wrote, and given what we know about Ron, I have no reason to doubt what he heard.
Certainly not shy about dealing dirt about some of the characters that crossed his path (and pissed him off). Ron Hodges, Mackey Sasser, and Frank Howard don't get kid glove treatment.
Jack Aker gets back ended redemption - interesting CONNECTION story here that Jack, billed as ex-Yankee, was a guest at one of the pre-seasons get togethers one year at my son's little league, circa 1998. I believe he had a kid (or grand-kid)? playing in that league.
Although only a few pages of the book, I really enjoyed Ron's details about the relationship with his METS boothmates, Gary and Keith. Together, they make ANY Mets game, regardless of what's going on in the standing, a "must see TV" event. So much so, I really miss them when I'm forced to attend a game at Citifield (holding a partial plan for 11 of the past 12 years).
To Ron- attaboy, wishing you good health, thanks for signing this book too.
Got sidetracking reading some other things so finally had time to pick it up in early July, then put it down to read something I was loaned, and finally come around to return to it for one final push.
A fun read, Ron reveals more about himself (beyond Game 7), including moments he's not terribly proud of. At the book signing the issues around the passage about Lenny Dykstra had already been public and Ron stood by what he wrote, and given what we know about Ron, I have no reason to doubt what he heard.
Certainly not shy about dealing dirt about some of the characters that crossed his path (and pissed him off). Ron Hodges, Mackey Sasser, and Frank Howard don't get kid glove treatment.
Jack Aker gets back ended redemption - interesting CONNECTION story here that Jack, billed as ex-Yankee, was a guest at one of the pre-seasons get togethers one year at my son's little league, circa 1998. I believe he had a kid (or grand-kid)? playing in that league.
Although only a few pages of the book, I really enjoyed Ron's details about the relationship with his METS boothmates, Gary and Keith. Together, they make ANY Mets game, regardless of what's going on in the standing, a "must see TV" event. So much so, I really miss them when I'm forced to attend a game at Citifield (holding a partial plan for 11 of the past 12 years).
To Ron- attaboy, wishing you good health, thanks for signing this book too.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 11, 2022
I listened to this book on mp3 in my car.
I was not that familiar with this baseball player/author, although I had heard of him. He writes very well and is a good story-teller.
His approach to giving anecdotes about players by going through the alphabet for their last names was a bit disorienting. I enjoyed many of these stories. But it gave a sense of fractured chronology.
My brain was doing what it does, trying to put these tales into context. One of these contexts is chronological. So I think that I suffered from a form of cognitive dissonance while listening to this book. If I had read it in print, perhaps that would have been better.
There are several life lessons embedded in these recountings. I especially liked the one where Darling went home to his parents and was prepared to quit baseball for good.
I also enjoyed his encounters with celebrities. His stories about his family were nice as well.
I followed baseball pretty closely as I was growing up. Darling is my age contemporary for all practical purposes and so his anecdotes usually did not extend past what I would have experienced.
I did not follow baseball as closely as I got older. So his memories gave me insight into what I had not followed.
Recommended strictly for baseball fans.
I was not that familiar with this baseball player/author, although I had heard of him. He writes very well and is a good story-teller.
His approach to giving anecdotes about players by going through the alphabet for their last names was a bit disorienting. I enjoyed many of these stories. But it gave a sense of fractured chronology.
My brain was doing what it does, trying to put these tales into context. One of these contexts is chronological. So I think that I suffered from a form of cognitive dissonance while listening to this book. If I had read it in print, perhaps that would have been better.
There are several life lessons embedded in these recountings. I especially liked the one where Darling went home to his parents and was prepared to quit baseball for good.
I also enjoyed his encounters with celebrities. His stories about his family were nice as well.
I followed baseball pretty closely as I was growing up. Darling is my age contemporary for all practical purposes and so his anecdotes usually did not extend past what I would have experienced.
I did not follow baseball as closely as I got older. So his memories gave me insight into what I had not followed.
Recommended strictly for baseball fans.
May 28, 2019
If you've never read Game 7, 1986 by Ron Darling and you are a fan of baseball books, do yourself a favor and pick it up. That memoir is the story of Ron Darling as a baseball player, and about his role (or lack thereof) in the deciding game of the 1986 World Series, and it's a brilliant meditation (filled with salient and juicy insider details) on what it means to be a baseball player and a human being in a field of competition.
In 108 Stitches, Ron Darling allows himself to share anecdotes and stories from his life and career. In recent years there have been a series of timid as-told-to books from Cone, Piniella, Chipper Jones, and Reggie Jackson that have told sanitized, PG or PG-13 stories about life behind the scenes on the diamond, but in 108 Stitches, Ron Darling speaks to us like grown-ups, and is candid to the point I am sure he caught flak on WFAN for it. He's equally, and uproariously, critical of himself as he is of his teammates and managers, but what comes through most of all in this book is his love of the game and its characters, even with all their foibles and imperfections brought to the light. Really only Frank Howard and Lenny Dykstra take a scouring here.
I'd highly recommend this funny, thoughtful, and illuminating book to any real fan of baseball.
In 108 Stitches, Ron Darling allows himself to share anecdotes and stories from his life and career. In recent years there have been a series of timid as-told-to books from Cone, Piniella, Chipper Jones, and Reggie Jackson that have told sanitized, PG or PG-13 stories about life behind the scenes on the diamond, but in 108 Stitches, Ron Darling speaks to us like grown-ups, and is candid to the point I am sure he caught flak on WFAN for it. He's equally, and uproariously, critical of himself as he is of his teammates and managers, but what comes through most of all in this book is his love of the game and its characters, even with all their foibles and imperfections brought to the light. Really only Frank Howard and Lenny Dykstra take a scouring here.
I'd highly recommend this funny, thoughtful, and illuminating book to any real fan of baseball.
March 10, 2019
I love reading baseball books but don't know too much about actual players in MLB. I enjoyed the varied and insightful anecdotes Ron provides in this book as he recounts his life in the minors, majors and beyond. I found the format a little fragmented. Just as I was captured by one anecdote, Ron quickly moved on to another - perhaps the trade-off for his covering so many names in this one book.
My favourite parts were his reflections towards the end, where he was able to gather momentum and link the stories together in a more free-flowing manner. Given my limited knowledge of the MLB players mentioned, I still loved this book for Ron's ability to take me behind the scenes of the baseball world. I also appreciated his candour about his own actions in the past and his own thoughts towards others - it's not often someone is so forthcoming in a memoir in this way. For someone familiar with all of the players mentioned, I imagine it would be even more rewarding.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
My favourite parts were his reflections towards the end, where he was able to gather momentum and link the stories together in a more free-flowing manner. Given my limited knowledge of the MLB players mentioned, I still loved this book for Ron's ability to take me behind the scenes of the baseball world. I also appreciated his candour about his own actions in the past and his own thoughts towards others - it's not often someone is so forthcoming in a memoir in this way. For someone familiar with all of the players mentioned, I imagine it would be even more rewarding.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
June 4, 2021
When the weather warms up, and it seemed to take forever this year, I like to read baseball.
This book by one of my favorite broadcasters is about his "threads" or connections that have highlighted his career on the field and in the booth. Intelligent, insightful and at times both scathing and surprising.
I liked his alphabetical journey through some of the players and managers he encountered in his day. Brings back many memories of a day when the game seemed to be simpler and not the analytics driven, shift ridden, pitch counting, no base stealing game it has become. I guess I'm just getting old.
But "R.J." and I agree on letting players play and pitchers pitch, I quote, "It's kind of like digging deep to invest in a classic car, and then leaving it to gather dust in the garage. Take the thing out for a spin and see what it can do." You are not going to know what your team can do unless you let the players play the game as it was meant to be played.
Worthwhile read for a lazy day on the porch with a cool drink at hand.
This book by one of my favorite broadcasters is about his "threads" or connections that have highlighted his career on the field and in the booth. Intelligent, insightful and at times both scathing and surprising.
I liked his alphabetical journey through some of the players and managers he encountered in his day. Brings back many memories of a day when the game seemed to be simpler and not the analytics driven, shift ridden, pitch counting, no base stealing game it has become. I guess I'm just getting old.
But "R.J." and I agree on letting players play and pitchers pitch, I quote, "It's kind of like digging deep to invest in a classic car, and then leaving it to gather dust in the garage. Take the thing out for a spin and see what it can do." You are not going to know what your team can do unless you let the players play the game as it was meant to be played.
Worthwhile read for a lazy day on the porch with a cool drink at hand.
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