After sharing the details of his former New York Mets teammate Lenny Dykstra‘s on-field World Series tirade directed at Boston Red Sox starter, Dennis Boyd, who started Game 3 of the Fall Classic in the Mets’ title-winning season of 1986, former Mets pitcher and current SNY analyst Ron Darling and his former teammate have found themselves in a bit of a spat.
According to Darling’s upcoming book (excerpt, quote below via New York Post), “108 Stitches: Loose Thread, Ripping Yarns, And The Darndest Characters From My Time In The Game”, the Mets’ lynchpin outfielder from that legendary 1986 squad went on an obscenity-laced tirade just before the start of Game 3.
“Darling claims Dykstra was in the on-deck circle before leading off the first game at Fenway Park, ‘shouting every imaginable and unimaginable insult and expletive in [Boyd’s] direction — foul, racist, hateful, hurtful stuff.”
Darling was a guest on WFAN on Monday afternoon and delved a bit deeper into the situation.
“Lenny had a way about him. He was a little crazy. The world has changed. What was said 33 years ago in a fraternity of young men trying to play a sport,” Darling said. “As you look back on it when you’re 57 or 58 years old, you’re kind of ashamed of the complicity of yourself to these kinds of things.”
Despite Darling’s attempt at extinguishing — or at the very least controlling — the mini-firestorm regarding his comments, Lenny Dykstra didn’t handle himself with a quarter of the grace the former hurler did.
“When you start bringing up this kind of stuff, this is crossing the line. And again, it’s not acceptable and it’s flat-out lies,” Dykstra told The Post, adding that he’d “drop [Darling] like a red-headed [expletive] stepchild.”
Stay classy, Lenny.
