Ron Darling, Pitcher AUGUST 25, 1986

A few years ago, when former major league righthander Ron Darling
was considering an offer from the Farrelly Brothers to appear in
their flick Shallow Hal with Gwyneth Paltrow, his son Tyler told
him, "You have to do it, Dad. She's the bomb." Not one to ignore
coaching advice, Darling played a Peace Corps volunteer in the
2001 film and recently shot a scene in which he plays a
newscaster in an upcoming thriller tentatively titled Tomorrow,
with Sela Ward and Dennis Quaid as costars.

Although the Yale-educated Darling enjoys the Hollywood diversion
and has an agent at William Morris keeping an eye out for other
possible cameos, he doesn't aspire to become another athlete
turned struggling actor. Currently content to chauffeur his two
boys (Tyler, 15, and Jordan, 9, whom he has joint custody of with
his ex-wife, Toni) around Los Angeles and Blackhawk, Calif.,
Darling could see himself one day returning to baseball. If so,
he says, he'd want to work in a front office. "Maybe somewhere
down the road I'll do that with my alma mater, the Mets," says
Darling, 42, who retired in 1995 after 13 seasons.

He was inducted into the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame
this month, alongside Texas Rangers manager Buck Showalter and 10
others. Darling was the league's MVP in 1980, going 4--3 with a
4.86 ERA and hitting .336 with six homers. "That's the first
season I had the confidence that I wasn't just Ivy League good, I
was good," he says.

Born in Honolulu and brought up in Millbury, Mass., Darling
refers to his Cape Cod days as the "last summer of innocence." He
spent 1981 and '82 in the minor leagues and moved up to the
majors with the Mets in '83, going 99--70 with a 3.50 ERA over 8
1/2 seasons, including the '86 world championship year. Darling,
who often played second fiddle to teammate Dwight Gooden, won the
Gold Glove in '89 and was the last National League pitcher to
receive the award before Greg Maddux began a streak that has now
reached 13. After the good times in New York, Darling struggled.
He was traded twice in two weeks in 1991--playing only three
games for the Montreal Expos before being sent to Oakland.
Darling had one winning season for the A's between '91 and '95,
and his ERA was 4.63. His decision to retire came down to three
simple factors. "I missed my family, I was sick of traveling, and
I wasn't that good anymore," he says. "I felt guilty when I was
on the road all the time." So Darling went from star pitcher to
leisure-time dad--a role that suits him just fine.
--Kristin Green Morse

COLOR PHOTO: MANNY MILLAN (COVER) INCOMING Darling finished with a 136--116 record and a 3.87 ERA over 13 seasons.

COLOR PHOTO: GERRY GROPP INCOMING Darling finished with a 136--116 record and a 3.87 ERA over 13 seasons.

Darling, 42, is raising his sons in California and dabbling with
acting, including an appearance in Shallow Hal.