Darling-Viola College Duel Remembered

EDITOR’S NOTE -- Associated Press sports writer Jim O’Connell was a spectator at the NCAA game between Yale and St. John’s in 1981 in which Ron Darling pitched an 11-inning no-hitter but lost to Frank Viola.

The trade that brought Frank Viola to the New York Mets reunited two players whose names became synonomous with one of the greatest collegiate baseball games ever played.

When Ron Darling of Yale and Viola of St. John’s hooked up in an opening-round NCAA game in 1981, it turned into much more than the school’s respective aces trying to advance their team to the College World Series.

It was a 12-inning, 1-0 St. John’s victory in which Darling had a no-hitter for 11 innings and struck out 16. The only run scored on a single by St. John’s second baseman Steve Scafa, who then stole second, third and home.

It became known simply as the Darling-Viola game.

The numbers have become more impressive as the years go on. One New York paper lengthened the no-hitter by a couple of innings and reduced Viola’s seven-hitter by four hits in a story when Viola won the AL Cy Young Award last year.

No matter what’s done, it can’t improve on the actual product and now both principles are teammates.

“It was a long time ago. But I remember it was one of those important games where you want to pitch as well as you can,” Darling said. “I remember being impressed with Frank. He had great control at such an early age.”

When nine innings were over, Viola had allowed six hits, walked two and struck out seven. Darling had walked five with 10 strikeouts. No one on either team had reached third base. It was classic baseball.

“I remember thinking ‘How long can this gone on?”’ Viola said. “It was one of those games when you remember every detail.”

There were plenty of small nuggets that only added to early lore.

The No. 2 St. John’s starting pitcher that year was John Franco, a three-time All-Star reliever with the Cincinnati Reds.

Also in the Yale lineup that day were center fielder Rich Diana, who went on to play in the NFL as a running back for the Miami Dolphins, and shortstop Bob Brooke, a member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic hockey team currently with the NHL’s Minnesota North Stars.

Baseball writer Roger Angell made the game a chapter in one his books of essays. He spent the day in the stands with Boston Red Sox great Smokey Joe Wood. When Wood wasn’t reminiscing about his days at Yale, he praised both pitchers profusely.

Viola’s mother, Helen, did not attend the game under doctor’s orders as she had suffered a mild heart attack the month before. The tension at the ballpark grew thicker with each pitch so those close to Viola realized what a great idea it was that Mrs. Viola had passed on being at Yale’s ballpark that day.

“People said how tense and exciting it was to be there and I’m sure it was,” she said, “but when I didn’t get a phone call after a couple of hours I started thinking the worst. I was a wreck at home waiting for anybody to call. I didn’t know how long the game was going on. I cried when they finally called me and told me what had happened.”

Darling was drafted that June in the first round by the Texas Rangers and Viola went early in the second round to the Twins.

The Mets acquired Darling in a trade the next April and the two did start against each other once on the Triple A level.

They became friends through a fraternity of pitchers involved in classic games. The Darling-Viola game was brought up when each made his first World Series appearance, Darling in 1986, Viola the next year when he was named most valuable player winning two games in the seven-game series.

“Things changed so much for each of us but we talked whenever we could,” Viola said. “We both knew what the other was going through.”

Now they will be able to talk every day. The names that formed an adjective to describe a game are on the same roster and there’s one person that pleases very much.

“The night of the game I remember thinking ‘They’re both going to go on to big things,”’ Frank Viola Sr. said. “I was really hoping that game would be the last time they ever faced each other. They could never have one better than that.”