Tuesday, September 2, 2008

#685 Ron Darling



Why this card is awesome: Because this is the second guy in 6 cards to be born in Honolulu. Charlie Hough was too. And for that matter, Darling's teammate Sid Fernandez was too.

Cool stat: Darling was vastly overrated. Sure, he finished his career with a 136-116 record (.540) but his ERA+ was just 95. His neutralized record was 122-138, .469. Darling has one of the most recent seasons with 4 shutouts but at best a league-average ERA.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Bobby Bonilla, Jimmy Key, and Julio Franco all appeared just before Darling, and yet Darling gets the good card number despite a below-average 1987. I guess they thought he earned it on the basis of his 1985 and 1986 seasons.

Darling was a fan favorite in New York. I've met him a few times and he's a classy guy. And a great broadcaster.