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New York Baseball: Ranking the City’s Best Broadcasters

By Steve Contursi

Sep 8, 2014; New York, NY, USA; A fan watches from the second-to-last row of the stadium during the first inning of a game between the New York Mets and the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 8, 2014; New York, NY, USA; A fan watches from the second-to-last row of the stadium during the first inning of a game between the New York Mets and the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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#1  Ron Darling 

It was a toss up between Hernandez and Ron Darling for the number one spot. In the end though, it probably is a personal choice because, as a pitcher during my playing days in high school and American Legion ball, I gravitate towards a breakdown of the game from a pitching standpoint. Nevertheless, both Hernandez and Ron Darling own the world as baseball broadcasters in New York.

The first thing to consider about Darling is that he is everything Hernandez is not. Darling is serious, erudite, and reverential to everything baseball. He also carries some baggage with him as a graduate of Yale University along with the fact that he is not above wearing glasses even though he is often surrounded by guys who like to get lots of dirt on their uniforms.

Darling wasn’t wildly successful as a pitcher in the major leagues (136-116), but he was a pitcher who took to heart the idea that pitching is different than throwing. He knows too that pitching is not exactly a science either, and that it’s more of an art. And therefore, he can be more forgiving than some others in describing the game being played on the field.

And whereas other members of the 1986 Championship Team speak gloriously about the drug fueled play on the field, Darling, in a article from Bleacher Report brings it down to earth describing it this way “They had it down to a science, with precision timing. They’d do that thing where you poke a hole in the can so the beer would flow shotgun-style. They’d time it so that they were due to hit third or fourth that inning, and in their minds that rush of beer would kind of jump-start the amphetamines and get back to how they were feeling early on in the game—pumped, jacked, good to go.”

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Darling is the epitome of what you want in a color commentator for other reasons as well. For instance, he doesn’t intrude on his fellow mates in the booth. Instead, he includes them by engaging in spirited give and take. He’s not “colorful”, but he doesn’t need to be. For that matter, I don’t believe I’ve ever heard him laugh. But, he’s informative and he’s informed. And it doesn’t get better than that.

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