From the drawers of the Top Secret Fyles:
When I was a child in the 1970s with very little exposure to Major League Baseball on TV, I learned to listen to games on the radio. It was clear back then to whom I listened — the Yankees’ announcing team of Bill White, Frank Messer and Phil “The Scooter” Rizzuto, and the Mets’ trio of Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy and Ralph Kiner.
The Mets’ and Yankees’ crews featured a unique setup, with one broadcaster rotating every three innings in the radio booth, and the other two rotating on TV. Also, Nelson (the folksy Tennessean who had a majestic voice), Murphy (the ultimate pro who previously broadcasted Red Sox games) and Kiner (the former star athlete) brought their own individuality together, and the seamless chemistry worked together for 17 years, until Nelson left after 1978 for the Giants’ booth.
Years later, the Mets’ SNY TV booth is arguably the finest with play-by-play man Gary Cohen, the band’s modest maestro, along with former Mets Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez. Eighteen years and still going strong.
It’s getting to the point in my life that I can’t miss a word these guys have to offer during a game. I always followed the Yankees’ daily activity more than the Mets, but now that scenario has changed.
There’s no question that Cohen and Darling are both at the top of their games, but it’s Hernandez, who will turn 70 in October and earlier signed a three-year deal to remain aboard, is must-see TV. Sorry about that, Turner Sports’ NBA guru Charles Barkley.
Hernandez can relate to the most experienced baseball fan and to the youngest. He’s now a cult hero at Citi Field. He’s not in Rizzuto’s hallowed territory as a veteran announcer but he’s in rarified air. Hernandez’s insights, especially on hitting and defense (perhaps the greatest defensive first baseman of all-time), are spot on.
Hernandez perhaps isn’t the smoothest announcer — he always seems to botch the open somehow, but I would too if I had the chance — but he’s fair. He can be complimentary when need be and critical when a player makes an error in judgment.
It’s also the little things — like Hernandez’s over-the-air sighs when play lags, or his disdain for interleague play, or finally his rant when a salesman is sitting behind home plate during a day game and conducts business over his cell phone with legal pad in hand — that makes the Mets’ broadcasts so entertaining. Don’t forget when the game becomes a laugher, it’s time to break out the baseball cards in the late innings.
Thanks Gary, Ron and Keith for being the best in the business and that’s my rant.
Times sports copy editor Richard Fyle can be reached at rfyle@wdt.net
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