Ron Darling said Tuesday on ESPN Radio that he stands by his account that former New York Mets teammate Lenny Dykstra shouted racial slurs at Boston Red Sox pitcher Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd before his first at-bat in Game 3 of the 1986 World Series.
Darling made his comments on ESPN Radio’s Golic & Wingo show after Dykstra threatened to sue him over his allegations in an appearance on 98.7 ESPN New York’s Michael Kay Show on Monday. Former Mets teammates Dwight Gooden and Kevin Mitchell also said on the Michael Kay Show that they never heard Dykstra say the slurs to Boyd.
“I heard what I heard and I put it in the book for a reason,” Darling said Tuesday.
He said he has received text messages from other members of the 1986 Mets who said “they have my back.”
In his new book, “108 Stitches: Loose Threads, Ripping Yarns, and the Darndest Characters from My Time in the Game,” which was released Tuesday, Darling writes Dykstra was “shouting every imaginable and unimaginable insult and expletive in his [Boyd’s] direction — foul, racist, hateful, hurtful stuff” when he was in the on-deck circle before leading off the game.
Dykstra homered in the at-bat after the alleged slurs, which Darling writes were “worse than anything Jackie Robinson might have heard.”
On the Michael Kay Show, Dykstra strongly denied Darling’s claims and threatened legal action.
“I’m going to sue him and the publisher,” Dykstra said in the interview. “I wrote a book myself. I had 30 lawyers calling me fact-checking everything. There is not one person to back this up, because you know why, it’s not true. It’s all a lie.”
Dykstra said Darling crossed the line by putting his account in print and threatened to “drop him like a red-headed f—— stepchild” if he sees him.
Lenny Dykstra wants to drop Ron Darling like the red headed step child. #LGM #MLB pic.twitter.com/n72JiXyK0S
— Over The Top Sports (@OverTheTopSport) April 1, 2019
Darling, now a Mets analyst for SNY, said Tuesday he heard about Dykstra’s threats.
“Those are uncomfortable. No one wants to be threatened,” Darling said. “I don’t think at this point I would say anything to Lenny Dykstra, not a thing after these threats.”
You never want to be on the bad side of someone like Dykstra.
Not only is he as tough as nails, he’s crazy.
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