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iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher Ron Darling is out with a new book, 108 Stitches: Loose Threads, Ripping Yarns, and the Darndest Characters from My Time in the Game, in which he recalls some of his most memorable encounters and experiences as a ballplayer. Following public comments made by ex-teammate Lenny Dykstra in response to the book, however, Darling hopes fans will understand his intention behind writing it.
Darling alleges that during the 1986 World Series, Dykstra hurled “racist” and “hurtful” comments at then-Red Sox pitcher Dennis Boyd, which Dykstra has vehemently denied.
In an exclusive conversation with ABC News, Darling stands by his comments, saying he was merely recounting the moment not to hurt Dykstra, but rather, to “empty what had been in my head a long time, ‘cathartic-wise.'”
His aim was also to illustrate that “37 years ago, the atmosphere, the dugouts, and locker rooms at many times were awful places to be,” and this was just one example of it.
Darling asserts he has never been accused of lying and has an amazing memory, and just hopes to move on from the conflict. However, he says “that’ll be up to Lenny.”
The former all-star also goes on to describe today’s dugouts and locker rooms as being more civil, calling today’s players more “intelligent, caring of each other, and not as mean.”
A baseball television analyst and former pitcher whose MLB career spanned 13 seasons, Darling has spent most of his life involved in the game. With 108 Stitches, he hopes to honor his experiences by telling stories about “forty years of wonderful characters, people who have taught me a lot, and some unseemly things certainly that others and I have been involved in.”Copyright © 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.