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Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

batmagadanleadoff Sep 06 2017 01:03 AM

The Big Sports Illustrated Interview: Mets Legend Keith Hernandez On Baseball, Books, Broadcasting And Battles Now a beloved broadcaster for the team he helped lead to the 1986 World Series title, Hernandez has long been a man of many passions, which he discusses at length here with SI. Jon Wertheim Monday September 4th, 2017 An Oakland A’s media guide pokes out beneath some papers on the kitchen table. Otherwise, a tour of Keith Hernandez’s tasteful four-bedroom home in Southampton, N.Y., offers no indication that the owner made—and makes—his living in sports. The walls are covered, floor to ceiling, with artwork and classic movie posters. Miles Davis plays from the speakers. A library’s worth of books—leather-bound copies of the classics, dense history texts, a self-help guide by the late Debbie Ford—are strewn throughout. The home’s greatest extravagance might be a feline bachelor pad for Hernandez’s cat, Hadji. Even at the height of his baseball career more than three decades ago, Hernandez was a man of diverse interests. He was one of the few major leaguers to make a clubhouse ritual of killing a New York Times crossword before games—in pen, no less. Upon his retirement in 1990, Hernandez enrolled in Greek and Roman history courses at Columbia. He writes and paints and is constantly nourishing his curiosities. Today, Hernandez, 63, is back to spending most of his summers at the ballpark. Along with Gary Cohen and his former teammate Ron Darling, Hernandez forms one-third of the Mets' television broadcast team, the best booth in baseball and a source of balm for the Mets’ chapped fans in this unhappy season. But even as an analyst, he hardly plays the role of the affable ex-jock. Hernandez, the crusty autodidact, is as likely to discuss the woes of his rose garden—voles have been blazing a path of destruction—than the woes of the Mets’ starters. “Do you know who I am?” may be the celebrity’s lament; Hernandez takes no chances. Hours before he’s due at work on an aggressively hot July day, when Hernandez opens the door to greet a visitor, he is already wearing his Mets employee ID on a lanyard around his neck. The symbolism is unmistakable: Hernandez wears his dorky employee badge because he no longer self-identifies as a star. He’s no longer sitting across from Keith Richards or schmoozing with Jack Nicholson or, for that matter, being asked to play himself on Seinfeld. He lives on a quiet cul-de-sac a few blocks from the ocean. By his own happy admission, his is a world removed from his bright-lights-big-city 1980s existence. “I’m just another guy,” he says, “who likes his job and doesn’t like his commute.” It’s 86 miles from Southampton to Citi Field. Hernandez makes the drive to the 55 Met home games he calls each season. He tries to appreciate the beauty of the scenery. He tries to stay off his phone and within the speed limit—though one suspects that most cops in Suffolk County would glimpse that moustache and downgrade a ticket to a warning. Mostly, Hernandez is happy for the time alone with his thoughts. On this day, though, he spends the drive in conversation, his breadth of interests on vivid display. Below are outtakes from a sprawling road trip conversation, lightly edited for length and clarity. SI: Bill Nack—a great SI writer—did a piece on you when you were playing, in October 1986. It starts with you saying, “I most fear boredom and loneliness, life after baseball. Life after baseball equals boredom and loneliness.” KH: We all go through different phases. Look at me now. I never dreamed I’d be in the booth. If [when I retired as a player in 1990] someone would have asked me, ‘When you’re 63 you want to be doing 110 games broadcasting?’ I would have said, ‘Absolutely not. That’s not what I want to do.’ ” SI VAULT: He's Still Not Home Free (10.13.1986), by William Nack SI: What did you want to do? KH: Find a job somewhere or rob banks. SI: Does your life equal boredom and loneliness? I’m guessing no— KH: Not now. But I needed to get away from baseball for a few years. Six or seven years, didn’t watch a game. I think that helped. SI: What are you reading these days? KH: Lot of things. I have three books about the 50th anniversary of [the Beatles album] Sergeant Pepper. One’s about the album design. One’s about the music. One’s about famous people and artists from all walks of life talking about how the album influenced their lives. The one I’m liking most is about the album cover, which was just extraordinary. . . . [Traffic begins to congest] See, this is why I leave early. I leave just a little later and it turns into a very stressful drive. SI: So when do you get home? KH: Little before midnight. SI: Like being a player. KH: It’s a young man’s game. SI: Game goes 15 innings, I hope you have a place to crash in the city. KH: I have a hotel near Times Square. They give me a great rate. . . . See, this is Shinnecock [golf course] and [Long Island] National back-to-back. Two of the great courses in the country. SI: You play? KH: My back can’t take it. And I don’t really have the patience for it. But it’s beautiful driving by them. [fimg=944]https://imagesvc.timeincapp.com/v3/mm/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn-s3.si.com%2Fs3fs-public%2F2017%2F09%2F05%2Fhernandez-home.jpg&w=800&q=85[/fimg] SI: Are you reading any history? KH: I go in spurts. I read more in the off-season than during the season. Right now, I have a two-volume Civil War history book that just came out. I’m reading about the Texas Brigade, John Bell Hood’s original brigade before he went on to divisional command. I’ve read the overviews but I like reading about the specific units. They have more intimacy, more quotes from soldiers. SI: What do you think it is with the Civil War? Sports figures love the history. KH: Politically, it starts from the get-go of the Union. It culminates with the Civil War but the politics between the North and the South are amazing. Split the Whig Party. But it started early and steamrolled for decades. Kansas-Nebraska Act, Missouri Compromise. Things don’t happen overnight in politics. SI: Or economics either, right? The cotton gin. The railroad. Shipping. KH: Right, shipping all that cotton to Europe. King cotton. [Knowing what was to come] the South wouldn’t have signed the Constitution. And there’s no Union. It’s an interesting period, say 1800 to the Civil War. The issue was slavery. It wasn’t going to get fixed—eradicated—without a war. SI: I think of you as such a California guy, but so much of this predates California. KH: Well, 1849 was the Gold Rush. I have a flag at home with 46 stars. I gotta remember to hang that up. SI: As a Bay Area native, did you get into local writing? KH: Like what? SI: I don’t know, maybe Dashiell Hammett— KH: I did read Dashiell Hammett, but from that I really got into John le Carré. Spy novels. Len Deighton, the Cold War. Espionage. Love those. SI: I didn’t realize that le Carré is still with us and still writing. KH: Yes! He’s writing another book! He’s bringing back George Smiley! And Peter Guillam, his younger acolyte. I guess Smiley will be retired and Guillam will be the main protagonist. I can’t wait for this to come out. The Big Interview: Mike Tyson | David Ortiz | Marshawn Lynch | Mike Krzyzewski SI: Off-season reading. KH: I have a bad back, and in Florida [where Hernandez spends the off-season] I have a Jacuzzi tub and I’ll go in there—sometimes a couple hours—and just read. I’m just finishing a Churchill book, Last Lion by William Manchester. There are three volumes. The last is the war years and the post war years. . . . With history books—it’s not like a novel where you lose the story—you can pick up where you leave off.
 SI: What’s the appeal of history? KH: I don’t know. You learn lessons from history. History repeats itself. Don’t you think that, for some reason, men in general have more of an interest in history? SI: Why do you think that is? KH: Don’t want to make it a gender thing. But men like history and I’m one of those guys. SI: Think it’s that—because of the social structures in place— the majority of these pivotal figures from events of years ago were male? KH: Where we are today, time marches on. SI: With the history, do you travel much? KH: I’ve done the battlefields. I’ve been to Gettysburg probably more than half a dozen times. Usually when I drive to Florida I go to Shenandoah, the Virginia Battlefields, Antietam. But I travel so much during the season, I get to Florida and I just chill. MLB Houston Residents Find Comfort And Community As Astros Return Home After Hurricane Harvey SI: This curiosity, where did it start? KH: I remember as a kid, I couldn’t wait to get my library card, get my first book. There was a sphinx on the cover and I figured I was going to read about the Egyptians. But it was this archeology. It was so dry. But I forced myself to read it because it was my first book out of the library. Should have gotten a Hardy Boys. SI: Confirm or deny: Your best asset as broadcaster is your storytelling? KH: I have a good knack for writing. I had teachers that taught me how to write. But the most practical class that I ever took in high school was an elective: I took a year of typing. So I’m on the computer, and I can type properly. It just flows from my brain. I had a very good English lit teacher. Got me very much interested in literature my sophomore year in high school. That’s why I have all my classics. Also, it improved my vocabulary. I think I have a pretty good vocabulary. When I read, if I didn’t understand a word, I would always have a dictionary with me, look it up. Then when computers kind of came in, you could have a little pocket dictionary, battery-powered. SI: How much preparation goes into the broadcast? KH: It’s spontaneous. Ronny [Ron Darling] comes prepared, but we’re analysts. Gary [Cohen] is the one who has to be the maestro. He has to be up on everything, every aspect, whether it’s a player or something new in the game. . . . The Colorado series, every game was a blowout. Like 8–0 in the second inning. Those are the tough ones. You’re losing and you really have to hold the audience, so that’s when you start telling stories. SI: Does that play to your strength? KH: It is a strength. I have lots of stories. Gary watched the TV programs I watched—The Jetsons, Tom and Jerry—and we have fun with that. The three of us have fun with music. This is what you do when you have two hours of broadcast time and it’s 10–0. Some people just want pure baseball but you can’t please everybody. John Iacono SI: What was your relationship with Ron Darling when you played? KH: There were only about five of us that lived in the city. He and I were two. You have to live on the East Side because Shea is in Flushing. If you want to live on the West Side and do crosstown traffic, be my guest. But I was on 49th and Second. Ronny stayed downtown. He was more of a loner, more bohemian. As a teammate, I was very involved with the pitcher during a game but with Ronny, he didn’t like to be bothered. So I left him alone to his own devices. I respected that. As we’ve come into the booth together, I think our friendship has grown exponentially. We’ve gotten to know each other without the pressure of performing. SI: Really, you’re not— KH: Baseball is an entirely different level of performance in my mind. SI: What did playing in New York mean to your career? KH: New York broadened my horizons. Probably one of the best things that’s ever happened to me, even though it didn’t seem that way at the time. SI: What did you think of the city before you lived here? KH: We stayed at the old New York Sheraton, right off the park. It was always a rest town for me. I just went to the hotel bar. I went out in New York City twice when I was a Cardinal. I mean, the hotel bar was fine. They had a lot of airlines, European airlines that were staying there, so there was no need to go wandering around. SI: And then when you were traded in 1983— KH: I was married when I got traded. Had two kids. In the off-season, we split up for good. Then Rusty Staub said to me in spring training, ‘If you’re single, you got to stay in the city.’ I got a feel for the city. Well, with Rusty, we had a great time. I got acclimated to the city. . . . I bought in ’85 at Sterling Plaza on 49th and 2nd, a real nice two-bedroom. I wish I’d kept it. It would be worth a fortune. I sold it in ’03. I made good money, but it would have been ridiculous today. MLB Let the Race Begin! Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander Among Best Storylines as Playoffs Approach SI: Beyond the real estate, you took advantage of being there. KH: I had the great fortune to meet Bobby Zarem, a publicist headquartered in New York. Not under my employ, we were just good friends. He opened up a whole world of Manhattan to me as far as the arts, theater, symphony, movies, because he did a lot of stuff with movies. SI: You were a regular at Elaine’s— KH: Elaine’s is where everybody hung out. That’s where Bobby hung out. He opened up the whole part of New York that very few people get to observe so intimately. SI: I read once about you and Keith Richards— KH: He was there one night with his wife, at the dinner table. It’s just one example. He was absolutely fantastic. Totally what I did not expect. Totally normal, unaffected. His wife was adorable. SI: Who else? KH: Gosh, I mean, Placido Domingo. Michael Caine. . . . I saw Phantom of the Opera three times with my two girls. This was when you couldn’t get in; I was third row center, going backstage.I had dinner with Elia Kazan. Huge baseball fan. I couldn’t get him to talk about his movies. He wanted to talk baseball. Finally he brought up East of Eden with James Dean and Raymond Massey, that was the father. He was a by-the-book actor, everything had to be structured. James Dean was from that school, you know, the actor’s school. They were supposed to be at odds. Massey would come in after a shoot. ‘This guy is crazy, he’s going off the script.’ Elia would say, ‘I’ll go to him, get him back on track.’ Then he’d go to James Dean and tell him to keep doing the same thing. He wanted Massey to be angry, have this angst. SI: Did you try to impress this on players today? “You’re lucky enough to play in New York. Take advantage of it.” KH: I don’t have a whole lot of contact at the ballpark. They have the extra room back there [in the clubhouse] that we never had where media is not allowed. SI: You didn’t have ambitions of managing? KH: No, no. Today managers got to be there at 12 noon. It’s a full job, 12 to midnight, for crying out loud. I have no desire, no desire to wear a uniform. I don’t think I’m that great a communicator, to be honest with you. I think I would have a hard time. Things are a little different today. I would have less patience with shoddy play. I don’t have the desire to put the time in. Don’t want to sort of go back in the minor leagues and manage. That’s hurting the game a little, too, because when I got into the minor leagues, I always had ex-major leaguers as coaches, ‘cause they didn’t make the money. I was right before the big burst in salaries, but I certainly made good money. I don’t think [many stars today] are ever going to manage. . . . Some people need to stay in the game. Some don’t. SI: Where are you now with your relationship with baseball? KH: I don’t like a lot of things that are changed in the game. I don’t like the length of the game. I don’t like the challenges. I don’t like the direction the game is going with the home runs. It’s just too many teams. The four-team expansion, there’s just not enough talent to go around. Just the reliance on bullpens now, protecting the starting pitchers. I mean, if you look at the standings in both leagues, there’s hardly anybody over .500. They’re under .500 for a good reason. Like I always say, three-games series, a second division team will show you in a three-game series why they’re a second division team. There’s a lot of them. Stephen Lovekin/WireImage.com/Getty Images SI: You sound like an old-timer— KH: I just think the quality of play is slipping. Don’t want to sound like an old-timer, but baseball has finally succumbed to football. You talk to all the NFL linemen, 270 pounds was a big lineman. It’s all about technique and footwork. Today they’re 350 pounds, and they say there’s no footwork any more, they just smother you, try to pancake you. Basketball with the three-point play, the dunk. Golf, how far they can drive the ball with the equipment. Tennis, it’s all about serve now. Everybody wants the big power instead of the little details, the minutia. So baseball’s finally caved into it. I mean, the people that run the game know what they’re doing. They’re doing their cost/benefit analysis. The ball is going out of ballparks at a record pace, more so than in the steroid era this year. It’s doing it for a reason. They want more home runs. They made all these new ballparks, and they made them tiny. The players now, I go on the field, I’m six feet tall, these players, I’m dwarfed. They’re all 6' 6", 6' 5", 6' 4". I mean, they’re just, what, two generations, look how much taller they are. They’re bigger and stronger. They made the parks smaller. I would love to play these parks today, these tiny parks. SI: What do we do about this, especially the pacing? KH: Well, Gary [Cohen] said he never thought he would be for it, but he’s for it: a time clock, put a time clock on it. SI: On the pitcher? KH: On the hitter also. The hitter has got to be in the box, too. Okay, I think the real problem is you don’t have starters going seven innings now. Most teams will have a decent eighth inning relief and a stopper. It’s the front end of the bullpens that are just dreck. A lot of 3-2 counts. Relievers taking an inordinate amount of time for some reason. A lot of them are slow workers. The clock could correct that. I’m on the fence on that one. But [Cardinals starter Michael] Wacha threw a complete game last night. Everybody was acting like Moses had parted the Red Sea. Most every game, if it’s a well-pitched game, you’re in the fifth inning, God, it’s an hour and 15 minutes, you might have a two and a half hour game. In the sixth, here come the bullpens. Sure enough you got a three-hour plus game. Drives me nuts. SI: Challenges— KH: The challenges don’t help. I do not like the challenges at all. Pitchers today, there’s too many 3-2 counts. Pitchers get 0-2 and don’t know how to put a hitter away. There’s always been guys that have been wild, throw a lot of pitches. But there’s more today. I do think that managers overmanage today. Heaven forbid you leave in a righthander to face a lefthander, you know, because you might get second guessed by the media or your general manager. When I played, the managers were left alone. The GMs now are hands on. A lot of them are saber guys, they’re all analytics. . . . I don’t think we’ll ever see small ball any more, stolen bases. SI: Think a lot of this goes through cycles? KH: They put me on the field last night, down where the photographers were. I was watching. I don’t see any great speed. I mean, when I played, the Cardinal teams, we had Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, Vince Coleman, Willie McGee, Omar Moreno. You had all kinds of speed and threats for stolen bases. That is gone. The speed in the game has gone. SI: You don’t think guys today are as fast? KH: I’m not saying that. There’s not enough speed burners. We had more speed burners. I mean, really fast guys. And it’s more station-to-station now. One base at a time. It’s boring to me. I mean, you’ve got the new rules with the catcher. If it had been a backup catcher [who got hurt in a 2011 collision at home plate], there never would have been a rule change. But it was their precious million dollar poster boy, [Buster] Posey. It’s not his fault. But they changed the rules. It’s ridiculous. The rules are clearly stated in the rulebook. I mean, to me the rulebook is like the Constitution: It is not a living, breathing document. That rulebook is very clear on the strike zone. There’s no reason to alter it. MLB Adrian Beltre's Antics, Giancarlo Stanton's Power Anchored a Very Fun August SI: I thought we weren’t touching politics. KH: I think they got it right. The baseball rulebook is right. I think the Constitution got it right. Getting into politics, that’s why it’s so hard to get an amendment. There won’t be any tyranny. SI: I know you’re writing your memoir. Enjoy it? KH: I’m enjoying it very much. Missed memories, wrong recollections. Things pop up, percolate up, that you had forgotten. Then you have this amazing computer age that you can draw on all this data. . . . dig up all the St. Louis Cardinal articles [in the] Post Dispatch. We’ve done a lot of research. It’s been very interesting going back. SI: What are you learning about Keith Hernandez? KH: Right now we’re about in the mid ’70s, late ’70s. My career is just starting to take off after a lot of early struggles. But when I started in the minor leagues, when I took off in Triple A, it’s very interesting to see some of my quotes, how confident I was. Then how easily when I got to the big leagues, and I struggled, how easily that confidence was shaken, put to the test basically. Had to have the strength to come back. That’s what I found interesting so far, how cocksure I was when I was killing Triple A. My first three years in the big leagues were a struggle. Finally the second half of my third year, I took off. Boy, those were years I don’t ever want to relive. Rich Schultz/Getty Images SI: The first few years [of struggle] make for disguised blessing? Or is that an oversimplification? KH: No, I would rather have had success. I went through a lot of hard times. I went through a lot of struggle. A few times I was in tears. It brought me to my knees just about. SI: You know the gold standard for the sports memoir? KH: Andre Agassi? SI: Andre Agassi. You’re prepared to go there, visit some dark places? KH: You have to be. I had great moments. I had not-great moments. I was part of the Pittsburgh drug trials. You do a book like this and you have to be willing to put it all out there. SI: What’s next? KH: I’ll figure out something. SI: You enjoy the TV? KH: I do. In a few years from now I might not want to do 110 games a year. But I enjoy it. But want to know something? SI: What’s that? KH: When I quit doing this, I won’t watch a baseball game ever again. Like Mitzi Gaynor, I’ll wash that game right out of my hair. https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/09/04/keith ... -interview I didn't catch the Southhampton digs. When did Keith move from Sag Harbor?

Frayed Knot Sep 06 2017 01:12 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I think that's the 12-piece sectional couch that Jerry helped him move.

Chad Ochoseis Sep 06 2017 01:27 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I didn't catch the Southhampton digs. When did Keith move from Sag Harbor? That confused me, too. According to Wikipedia, Sag Harbor is an incorporated village partially located within the Town of Southampton. Who knew? Not ever having been a Long Islander, I never got the town/village distinction they have there. But I remember my 7th grade social studies teacher noting that Oceanside, where he lived, was part of the Town of Hempstead, and I think the Town of Huntington takes up a fairly large chunk of Suffolk County, including plenty of places that wouldn't be thought of as Huntington.

MFS62 Sep 06 2017 01:34 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Elia Kazan was a baseball fan? Interesting. Later

Fman99 Sep 06 2017 01:42 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Living a week in this guy's life, in 1985, or now, would probably be a good time.

cooby Sep 06 2017 01:50 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Thanks, Keef

Ceetar Sep 06 2017 02:49 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Chad Ochoseis wrote: I didn't catch the Southhampton digs. When did Keith move from Sag Harbor? That confused me, too. According to Wikipedia, Sag Harbor is an incorporated village partially located within the Town of Southampton. Who knew? Not ever having been a Long Islander, I never got the town/village distinction they have there. But I remember my 7th grade social studies teacher noting that Oceanside, where he lived, was part of the Town of Hempstead, and I think the Town of Huntington takes up a fairly large chunk of Suffolk County, including plenty of places that wouldn't be thought of as Huntington. Town of Oyster Bay is pretty big too I think. I'm not really up on the how and why. I worked for the Town of Hempstead for a while (in the village of Elmont) and I lived in the town, in the village of Valley Stream but not THE incorporated village of Valley Stream. how's that for confusing? Like, Valley Stream was my address. that's where I lived. But we had to pay "out of town" prices for the pool or the library. (we didn't pay the village taxes) Basically I think it's a way for the villages to sorta police/run themselves in a more community-oriented way. So whereas Valley Stream had a police dept, garbage collection, and other community things, as an outsider we were plowed/policed by the Town of Hempstead. Not all villages are incorporated. Our 'local' fire dept was Elmont, but we went to Valley Stream schools.

A Boy Named Seo Sep 06 2017 03:26 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I'm as surprised that Keith's place is so cluttered with stuff as I was when I found out Keith is a cat guy. That's a lot of throw blankets and pillows and candles and vuvuzelas!? What the hell are those horn things on the table behind him bookending the antelope?? And did Keith win Wimbledon?? Still love ya for ever, Mex!

Edgy MD Sep 06 2017 03:39 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

They're bud vases. Very generic, but generically elegant, stuff. Keith is a catalog shopper.

d'Kong76 Sep 06 2017 03:55 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

That's an interestingly busy room, it's like the complete opposite of our quite boring living room. Cat looks fake or perhaps taxidermy'd?

Frayed Knot Sep 06 2017 04:21 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Chad Ochoseis wrote: I didn't catch the Southhampton digs. When did Keith move from Sag Harbor? That confused me, too. According to Wikipedia, Sag Harbor is an incorporated village partially located within the Town of Southampton. Who knew? Not ever having been a Long Islander, I never got the town/village distinction they have there. But I remember my 7th grade social studies teacher noting that Oceanside, where he lived, was part of the Town of Hempstead, and I think the Town of Huntington takes up a fairly large chunk of Suffolk County, including plenty of places that wouldn't be thought of as Huntington. Yeah, that's pretty much it; it's a way of dividing up local jurisdictions. Nassau County, for instance, is made up of three townships plus two independent cities with all the small villages except for those two indies are part of the larger towns. Suffolk is the same only larger with, I believe, ten townships encompassing all the small villages. In Keith's case a resident would tell you they live in Sag Harbor because it's more specific and, not a small consideration on the east end, also more prestigious. A reporter might give the more generic Southhampton to mean the same thing or Keith could have specifically asked him to be less specific so as to not draw fan-boy attention; I could definitely see that. Very generic, but generically elegant, stuff. Keith is a catalog shopper. More likely his interior decorator is.

Edgy MD Sep 06 2017 04:24 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

If that's the work of a professional interior decorator, Keef is getting seriously ripped off.

Benjamin Grimm Sep 06 2017 05:13 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I like how that's called "cluttered." If I came home and my house looked like that, I'd say, "Hey! Where did everything go?" To follow up on FK's post, Suffolk County is divided into multiple towns. Within those towns are some villages, but when you're in a town you're not necessarily in a village. It's just that some communities within the town decide to incorporate. I'm not sure exactly what it means, but I remember that in my hometown of Smithtown there's The Village of the Branch. I lived in Hauppauge, which wasn't a village. And my grandmother lived in Nesconset, also not a village. They were really just ZIP Codes, I guess. The reason we lived in "Hauppauge" was because that's that post office that delivered our mail, so that was our mailing address. There's something similar where I live in Pennsylvania. The counties are divided into "townships" instead of "towns", and what we called "villages" in Suffolk County are called "boroughs" here.

Edgy MD Sep 06 2017 05:58 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

And Nassau is three towns (Hempstead, North Hempstead, Oyster Bay), each containing dozens of villages, plus two cities (Long Beach, Glen Cove). Town of Hempstead is this sweet little bastion of an un-necessary level of bureacracy that can go corrupt to the core for decades at a time while life generally functions workably because of its utter redundancy between the village governments below and the county above.

Ceetar Sep 06 2017 06:08 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Edgy MD wrote: Town of Hempstead is this sweet little bastion of an un-necessary level of bureacracy that can go corrupt to the core for decades at a time while life generally functions workably because of its utter redundancy between the village governments below and the county above. And the extra level of bureaucracy was the death knell for the Islanders at the Coliseum! The Town of Hempstead is garbage though. Crappy employer. I was in a remote park that no one cared about and even I wasn't free from the power games. There are two types of employees, seasonal workers/grunts and overly-ambitious coattail hangers that think they're more important than they are.

d'Kong76 Sep 06 2017 06:29 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I live in a city surrounded by a large town. We don't live in the city school district but rather one of the nicer districts in the town. The school district has this neat old nuclear power plant (that is scheduled for closing) that pays a ton of school taxes. You ever assess two nuclear reactors? Me neither, but they pay! Our school taxes are estimated to go up around 50%. I don't see any kids in my future and want to live in the city school district. Or Montana. What this has to do with Keith's crib I have no idea.

Frayed Knot Sep 06 2017 06:32 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I often found it both sad and funny to read through the letters to the editor in NEWSDAY that would simultaneously decry and celebrate the degree of corruption, nepotism, and patronage that existed in Nassau County/ToH; people would say that they hated how it worked but then admit that it gave their kid his summer job so they supported it whole-heartedly. The classic may have been after a big snowstorm where some didn't get their streets plowed for four or five (or more) days. Then a guy writes back to essentially call all those complainers a bunch of idiots for not having the foresight to do as he did which was buy a house on the same street as some assistant transportation commissioner (or other such title) since everyone knows those are the streets which should and do get plowed early and often. And of course the way localities often "solve" such problems is to double or triple the amount of assistant transportation commissioners so that more neighbors now feel that they have an in with local gov't. There'll still be those unconnected slobs who won't get their streets plowed but now there are fewer of them even as higher and higher taxes are now required to keep the streets of those insiders clean and dry.

A Boy Named Seo Sep 06 2017 06:44 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

d'Kong76 wrote: That's an interestingly busy room, it's like the complete opposite of our quite boring living room. Cat looks fake or perhaps taxidermy'd? Real cat. Note the big piece of cat furniture in front of the window. Saw some SNY vid w/ Keith and his gato and Keith positively loves that cat.

G-Fafif Sep 06 2017 06:59 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Saw some SNY vid w/ Keith and his gato and Keith positively loves that cat. If you haven't already, meet Hadji!

Benjamin Grimm Sep 06 2017 07:08 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

He named his cat after Howard Johnson?

G-Fafif Sep 06 2017 07:11 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: He named his cat after Howard Johnson? Only against righties.

Edgy MD Sep 06 2017 07:21 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: He named his cat after Howard Johnson? He both named the cat and nicknamed Howard after his favorite cartoon character.

d'Kong76 Sep 06 2017 07:34 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Real cat. Note the big piece of cat furniture in front of the window. Must be the focus or lighting. To me the cat almost looks photoshopped in. I thought that thing by the window was some kind of art thing. I haven't seen any of the SNY things yet, but hear they're pretty good.

themetfairy Sep 06 2017 08:23 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

G-Fafif wrote: A Boy Named Seo wrote: Saw some SNY vid w/ Keith and his gato and Keith positively loves that cat. If you haven't already, meet Hadji! Pure gold!

cooby Sep 06 2017 08:32 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

:) Hadji is cute, and how could you not love him?

Frayed Knot Sep 06 2017 09:10 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: I'm as surprised that Keith's place is so cluttered with stuff as I was when I found out Keith is a cat guy. Keith used to have one or more dogs he would talk about all the time but I never heard a mention of whatever became of it/them. Maybe the cat ate them. Or maybe his dogs just quietly disappear like his wives.

batmagadanleadoff Sep 07 2017 12:38 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Anybody know what book Keith is talking about re: Sgt. Pepper's album cover art. I Amazon searched the Sgt. Pepper books, but can't say for sure, which book it could be. I'll bet the Lunchman knows the answer. I think he's read every rock and roll book there is, especially Beatles books.

Edgy MD Sep 07 2017 12:55 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

No, but this looks like a bargain at $.01.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Sep 07 2017 01:05 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I don't know that book actually. And if anyone has a new rock book suggestion let me know.

Edgy MD Sep 07 2017 01:14 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

There's a memories-of-Bowie book by the drummer from The Spiders from Mars, and three (?!) separate recent memoirs about The Fall, who must have been much bigger than I remember. Jimmy Webb has a memoir called The Cake and the Rain. I enjoyed a book about songwriting he wrote 20 years ago. But I bet you'll go for this. Maybe John'll let us know when and why he started looking like Mandy Patinkin.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Sep 07 2017 01:17 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

The Steely Dan thing got me to thinking which of H+O outlives the other.

cooby Sep 07 2017 12:04 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I read Johns book. It's great

batmagadanleadoff Sep 27 2017 02:34 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I don't know that book actually. And if anyone has a new rock book suggestion let me know. So new, it's not out yet..... [fimg=333]https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51IHfli04eL.jpg[/fimg] [fimg=222]https://www.newyorker.com/images/svg/tny-logo.svg[/fimg] The Story Behind Devo’s Iconic Cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” By Ray Padgett September 25, 2017 One afternoon in 1978, Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale—the two prime architects of the band Devo—were fidgeting in Peter Rudge’s office, near the Warwick Hotel, in Manhattan, with Mick Jagger. Rudge was the Rolling Stones’ manager, and Devo had recorded an odd cover of the band’s hit “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”—so odd that their label said they needed Jagger’s blessing to release it. Mothersbaugh put the tape in a boom box and pressed Play. As the sounds of the cover filled the room, Jagger sat stone-faced. What he was hearing didn’t sound much like the “Satisfaction” he’d written. Keith Richards’s iconic riff was gone, and the original melody was nowhere to be found. Was this a homage, Mick must have wondered, or were they mocking him? “He was just looking down at the floor swirling his glass of red wine,” Casale recently remembered, adding, “He didn’t even have shoes on, just socks and some velour pants. I don’t know what his habits were then, but this was early afternoon and it looked like he had just gotten up.” For thirty seconds or so, the men sat in silence, listening to the weird robo-funk coming from the boom box. Then something changed. “He suddenly stood up and started dancing around on this Afghan rug in front of the fireplace,” Casale said, of Jagger, “the sort of rooster-man dance he used to do, and saying”—he impersonated Jagger’s accent—“‘I like it, I like it.’ Mark and I lit up, big smiles on our faces, like in ‘Wayne’s World’: ‘We’re not worthy!’ To see your icon that you grew up admiring, that you had seen in concert, dancing around like Mick Jagger being Mick Jagger. It was unbelievable.” “We were less than nothing,” Mothersbaugh said. “We were just these artists that nobody had ever heard of, from Akron, Ohio.” The description is an exaggeration, but only a small one. After forming, in 1972, Devo had spent the subsequent half decade building up a huge fan base in the Midwest, but had not made a dent beyond. To get gigs, they would lie to clubs and say they were a Top Forty covers band. Once promoters figured out that they were not, they were rarely invited back. One impediment to the band’s wider success was that, as far as Devo was concerned, Devo wasn’t a band at all but, rather, an art project, created to advance Casale’s theory of “de-evolution,” the concept that instead of evolving, society was in fact regressing (“de-evolving”) as humans embraced their baser instincts. Inspired by the Dadaists and the Italian Futurists, Devo’s members were also creating satirical visual art, writing treatises, and filming short videos. The first of those videos included the band’s first-ever cover, of Johnny Rivers’s spy-show hit “Secret Agent Man,” in which the band interspersed their grainy performance with decidedly odd footage of two people in monkey masks spanking a housewife. Devo’s version of that song provided a template for “Satisfaction.” It was a pop hit everyone knew, radically deconstructed. Devo’s secret agent was “more like a janitor than a gigolo,” as Mothersbaugh put it. They released their cover on a nine-minute film called “The Truth About De-Evolution,” which they would screen before gigs. The band used to rehearse in their practice space outside of Akron, in an abandoned garage behind a car wash. They had no heat and would rehearse wearing winter coats and gloves with the fingers cut off, so that they could play their guitar strings. One January afternoon in 1977, Casale’s brother Bob came up with a guitar line, the robotic seven-note opening that would replace the original “Satisfaction” riff. The drummer Alan Myers joined in with a typically bizarre Devo beat. “It sounded like some kind of mutated devolved reggae,” Casale said, of the rhythm. “I started laughing, and I came up with a bass part that I thought was a conceptual reggae part. We just kept playing it, and Mark just started singing.” The song Mothersbaugh sang wasn’t “Satisfaction” but “Paint It Black.” (Mothersbaugh was a huge Stones fan.) But, as the band futzed around, they couldn’t get the lyrics to match their jerky rhythm. Then, Casale recalled, “Mark started singing ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ to our jam, and that did it.” The band soon realized that “Satisfaction” offered an ideal vehicle to bring their de-evolution philosophy to the masses. They weren’t covering the song, they would say; they were “correcting” it. “I think those are some of the most amazing lyrics that were ever written in rock and roll,” Mothersbaugh said, “dealing with conspicuous consumption and the stupidity of capitalism and sexual frustration all in one song. It pretty much encapsulated what was going on with kids at that time, much more than any of the hippie songs, as far as I was concerned.” The more Devo played the song, the more it evolved—or devolved. Early videos show a version much slower than it would become—a mid-tempo rumble that wore out its welcome by the end. It was interesting conceptually, and no doubt a fun surprise for concertgoers, but not necessarily something you’d want to listen to repeatedly. “The versions that we were doing of all our songs in the early days were very slow and more bluesy, like Captain Beefheart material,” Mothersbaugh recalled. “We started off at Akron speed,” Casale joked. “But then, once we went to New York and saw the amazing energy of the Ramones and the Damned, it just put a fire under us.” The quintet started getting some music-industry interest. David Bowie even introduced the group onstage, at one of their 1977 New York shows, calling them “the band of the future.” Their first single, “Mongoloid,” released earlier that same year, had got little buzz; now, the band decided to capitalize on its momentum by recording “Satisfaction” as their second single, releasing it on their own label. Soon after, as labels were bidding over the Ohio eccentrics, the band decamped to Germany, to record their début album with the producer Brian Eno and with Bowie, who wanted to help. Warner Bros. signed the band. From the start, there was tension during the recording sessions. “They were a terrifying group of people to work with because they were so unable to experiment,” Eno later said. “When they turned up to do this record in Germany, they brought a big chest of recordings they’d already done of these same songs. We’d be sitting there working, and suddenly Mark Mothersbaugh would be in the chest to retrieve some three-year-old tape, put it on, and say, ‘Right, we want the snare drum to sound like that.’ I hate that kind of work.” “Our goal was to just try and make it as faithful to what we were doing as we could,” Mothersbaugh recalled. “But Brian and David added on extra harmony vocals, and they put in synth parts. When we weren’t in the studio, Eno would go in on his own and record extra parts over the top of our songs. Most always, we took all the stuff out that they did.” In the end, the song basically emerged unchanged from Devo’s prior recording. It’s a little unclear why Warner, once they learned that Devo wanted to include “Satisfaction” on their début album, demanded that Devo get it approved by Jagger’s people. Cover songs don’t need anyone’s approval: you can cover anything you want as long as you pay the original copyright holder and don’t change the words. Casale thinks Warner may have been worried that their cover was so different that it might have been considered satire—a separate legal entity for which one needs permission. (Devo had run into a similar issue covering “Secret Agent Man,” and ended up using a sneaky runaround to get permission from his Japanese publisher since Rivers himself refused.) Warner also mentioned in a meeting with Devo that they had a five-thousand-dollar promotional budget. When the band asked what that would go toward, Warner suggested cardboard cutouts of the band for record stores. Mothersbaugh and Casale had a counter-offer: that Warner give them the money to make a music video. At the time, the idea of using video as its own creative medium to promote music was novel. “They thought we were crazy,” Mothersbaugh recalled. The first thing the band did with that five thousand dollars was get a wardrobe for the video. But they didn't want to look like rock stars—they wanted to look like anything but. “We didn’t want to be lumped in with rock and roll, and we thought the way people dressed in rock and roll was stupid,” Mothersbaugh said. “We were looking for something more interesting and more theatrical and more dramatic. What can we do to let people know we’re not the same?” For the better part of a year, Casale had worked by day designing a sales catalogue for a janitorial-supply company. Often, he would bring home the brochures for inspiration, searching for the ugliest janitorial outfits he could find. It was in one of these catalogues that he found the yellow waste-disposal suits that the band decided to wear in the video. “The yellow suits were great, because they had this look that was totally the opposite of something that hugged your balls or your butt, or showed off your physique in any way,” Mothersbaugh said. “It was kind of the opposite: they hid us.” Devo rented out an Akron theatre to perform the song in, filmed the video on the cheap, and got it ready for its big début. When MTV launched, in 1981, very few bands had videos ready for the network to play. As a result, Devo’s “Satisfaction” video earned endless rotations. But the band’s big break came when they performed the song on “Saturday Night Live,” wearing the suits and pitch-black sunglasses, and doing the same jerky robo-motions, as in the video. (At the beginning of the performance, you can briefly hear Mothersbaugh play Keith Richards’s original “Satisfaction” riff, before segueing into his own.) A little-known band like Devo would not ordinarily merit consideration on “S.N.L.” but the band’s manager dangled the possibility of a performance by Neil Young, whom he also represented, over the television producers’ heads to persuade them to book Devo. People at home watching weird comedy on a Saturday night were, as it turned out, exactly Devo’s target demographic. “Overnight, we went from being this little club band to having to rebook our upcoming tour to larger venues,” Casale said. Without “Satisfaction,” Devo might not have had a career. Four decades and many hits later, Mothersbaugh still calls it “the quintessential Devo tune” and says that none of that success would have happened without that meeting with Mick Jagger: “When I walk out in front of a car later today, not paying attention to traffic, and get squashed like a bug, and I’m watching all the good moments of my life zip by, I know that one will appear a couple of times.” This piece was adapted from “Cover Me: The Stories Behind the Greatest Cover Songs of All Time,” by Ray Padgett, which is out October 3rd from Sterling Publishing. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultu ... tisfaction Official Video [youtube]jadvt7CbH1o[/youtube] Live on SNL (1978) including stylized opening Keith Richards style Satisfaction riff [youtube]WdkwCWbVJ8Y[/youtube] Early live slow version [youtube]jAGOgMxUHKM[/youtube]

John Cougar Lunchbucket Sep 27 2017 03:04 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Cool. I'm reading the shit out of Oates book. I enjoy learning about bands I used to hate.

batmagadanleadoff Sep 27 2017 03:09 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Studying the book cover for clues reveals that there'll be a section on CCR's cover of Marvin Gaye's Grapevine.

Edgy MD Sep 27 2017 04:43 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I like that essay, but they kind of get the timeline wrong. By the time MTV launched, they had already let the world know what they were, reaching #14 with "Whip It" (unmentioned in the essay) in 1979. They seem to suggest that the SNL debut (that's a great performance in the video, up there) came following the MTV launch in 1981, but it's from 1978. If I write a book of greatest covers, I include The Beatles' "Twist and Shout" and Talking Heads' "Take Me to the River," but yeah, probably "Satisfaction." Unfortunately, too many covers (like the two I list) are white dudes taking the work of black dudes to a wider audience.

batmagadanleadoff Sep 27 2017 05:32 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Aretha - Respect The Kingsmen - Louie, Louie Jimi - Watchtower The Byrds - Turn, Turn, Turn Janis - Me and Bobby or Ball & Chain or Piece of.... Animals - House of the Rising Led Zeppelin - Babe, I'm Gonna ....

Edgy MD Sep 27 2017 11:26 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Yo La Tengo: "Meet the Mets"

cooby Sep 27 2017 01:18 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Cool. I'm reading the shit out of Oates book. I enjoy learning about bands I used to hate. I loved Hall and Oates. They had so many songs though that I forgot about half of them until I read this book. Keep in mind while you're reading that John's house in CO is now for sale if you are interested.

Edgy MD Sep 27 2017 01:28 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I'd like to buy it and broadcast a cable show from there of old musicians performing their songs. I'm not sure what I would call it, though.

cooby Sep 27 2017 01:32 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Too late. Darryl Hall already does that. It's in the book. Live From Darryl's House

seawolf17 Sep 27 2017 02:41 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

cooby wrote: Too late. Darryl Hall already does that. It's in the book. Live From Darryl's House It's a cool show.

Edgy MD Sep 27 2017 02:46 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

cooby wrote: Too late. Darryl Hall already does that. It's in the book. Live From Darryl's House

dgwphotography Sep 27 2017 03:32 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Studying the book cover for clues reveals that there'll be a section on CCR's cover of Marvin Gaye's Grapevine. Or Ike and Tina's cover of CCR's Proud Mary

Edgy MD Sep 27 2017 03:36 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Or Creedence's cover of Dale Hawkins' "Susie Q," or their cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You." But I'm guessing that BML is recognizing some tell-tale snippet of cover art.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Sep 27 2017 03:37 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

One thing I'll say about Oates is, everything's cool as far as he's concerned, it doesn't matter how uncool it is, it's cool. For example, that they "invented" the corporate-sponsored tour in the 1980s was totally cool.

batmagadanleadoff Sep 27 2017 03:52 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Edgy MD wrote: Or Creedence's cover of Dale Hawkins' "Susie Q," or their cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You." But I'm guessing that BML is recognizing some tell-tale snippet of cover art. No cover art recognition. True story: This morning, in that period when I woke up from sleep but was in that semi-coma like zombie state where I was too awake to sleep anymore but still too tired to get out of bed, my thoughts turned to that post and that CCR cover and I thought to myself that the cover could well be I Put a Spell or Suzie Q, too.

cooby Sep 27 2017 05:30 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Edgy MD wrote: cooby wrote: Too late. Darryl Hall already does that. It's in the book. Live From Darryl's House Oh. Haha!

batmagadanleadoff Sep 29 2017 04:32 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Run DMC--Walk this Way

Fman99 Sep 29 2017 12:05 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

The Isleys doing "Summer Breeze."

Benjamin Grimm Oct 02 2017 12:05 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

The Daily News wrote: To close SNY’s broadcast of game 162, Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez signed off for the 12th straight season together, but not before the pair teased some sort of Mets announcement that will take place Monday. “Stay tuned tomorrow. Just keep your ears up,” Cohen said while smirking and pointing to Hernandez. “He’s an important guy.” Some announcement tomorrow about Keith? I have no idea what it might be, but I'm pretty sure that it won't be that he's the next Mets manager.

metirish Oct 02 2017 12:08 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

#Metstwitter is in a tizzy about this, manager ?, hitting coach? Reality show ? The video was interesting, Gary seemed to revel in it

metirish Oct 02 2017 12:40 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

About that "cryptic" moment at the end of today's Mets broadcast: Keith Hernandez has no plans to leave his job at SNY. So settle down. Anthony DiComo MLB

cooby Oct 02 2017 12:41 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Ah hell. I hope it's not 'former employee'. I don't get to see/hear many games but I do appreciate Keith when I do

Ashie62 Oct 02 2017 01:16 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Post season TV guy for another network?

seawolf17 Oct 02 2017 01:22 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Ashie62 wrote: Post season TV guy for another network? That's what it has to be, I'd guess.

metirish Oct 02 2017 01:26 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Bingo SI says he will replace Pete Rose on FOX/FS1 working alongside Burkhardt, A-Rod and Frank Thomas

Benjamin Grimm Oct 02 2017 02:18 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I don't find this news to be the least bit exciting.

Frayed Knot Oct 02 2017 02:56 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Yeah, I can't summon the energy to care who is, or isn't, on pre-game shows. I rarely watch them anyway even when I am watching the series they're attached to. FOX gets the AL playoffs this year (and of course the WS) which means Keith is going to have to do some research - or rather some researcher is going to have to feed him a bunch of facts. In other Keith is famous news, I noticed the drop date on the book has been pushed back to next spring. They seemed to originally have been aiming for this fall sometime.

metirish Oct 02 2017 12:44 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Frayed Knot wrote: Yeah, I can't summon the energy to care who is, or isn't, on pre-game shows. I rarely watch them anyway even when I am watching the series they're attached to. FOX gets the AL playoffs this year (and of course the WS) which means Keith is going to have to do some research - or rather some researcher is going to have to feed him a bunch of facts. In other Keith is famous news, I noticed the drop date on the book has been pushed back to next spring. They seemed to originally have been aiming for this fall sometime. Yeah, I really don't care for the pre-post game, a lot of BS talked. I think Keith and Rodriguez would be better in the actual booths

MFS62 Oct 02 2017 12:54 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

metirish wrote: Yeah, I really don't care for the pre-post game, a lot of BS talked. I think Keith and Rodriguez would be better in the actual booths I'd like to hear them talk about hitting - how the approach has changed from "make contact" when Keith played to today's "I don't care how much he strikes out as long as he hits home runs" approach. Later

Frayed Knot Oct 02 2017 01:04 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Not sure that the networks consider Keith to be disciplined enough for booth work. 30 minutes where he'll be -- what, 1/4 to 1/3 of the talking time? -- is much less risky than having him on for 3-1/2 hours as the main wingman for the p-b-p guy. And of course the most important item for Keith-world: How does this affect his tax bracket? Living in Florida gets him out of paying state income tax but only if he lives there at least 1/2 the year which normally leads him to bolt Sag Harbor as soon as the season ends. Will another (two?) weeks away from home on account of this gig tilt the balance and leave him coming up short on the FLA residency thing?

Edgy MD Nov 02 2017 02:14 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Keef's mouf creating a little bit of overnight controversy. [tweet:2c04lqus]https://twitter.com/Love_My_Astros/status/925870173327945729[/tweet:2c04lqus] Still beats Pete Rose, of course.

Benjamin Grimm Nov 02 2017 02:23 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Of course, he is from San Francisco.

d'Kong76 Nov 02 2017 04:03 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Is that Big Papi? At first look I thought it was an ex-football guy but that wouldn't make any sense.

metirish Nov 02 2017 06:04 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I thought it was quite funny.

Ceetar Nov 08 2017 04:18 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Keith has a Twitter but it only has 10 spam tweets from 2012. his Instagram is private though. he's also got an unplayed account on World of Warships

bmfc1 Jan 01 2018 05:54 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

"Nice game, pretty boy": [tweet:336rq85h]https://twitter.com/gbennettpost/status/947642539661721606[/tweet:336rq85h]

Edgy MD Jan 01 2018 12:57 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Man, I guess I'm REALLY not.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 01 2018 02:20 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Me neither. If I were Keith Hernandez, I wouldn't go anywhere near that asshole's New Year's Eve party.

bmfc1 Jan 01 2018 02:22 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Keith has a pink cell phone case?

Benjamin Grimm Jan 01 2018 02:27 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Maybe he just did that to antagonize Mike Pence.

dgwphotography Jan 01 2018 03:03 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

bmfc1 wrote: Keith has a pink cell phone case? Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jan 01 2018 03:18 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Booooo

cooby Jan 01 2018 03:18 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Maybe he just did that to antagonize Mike Pence. lol

Lefty Specialist Jan 01 2018 04:22 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Keith, Keith, Keith......you're really testing my limits here.

MFS62 Jan 01 2018 04:39 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

cooby wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: Maybe he just did that to antagonize Mike Pence. lol That would be pure Keith being Keith. But, like Lefty Specialist, I am disappointed. Later

Centerfield Jan 02 2018 03:49 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I was trying to justify this in my mind. Like it's just a NYE party, and maybe it's close to his house, etc. Then I saw smiling Mnuchin entering the party and gave up.

Edgy MD Jan 02 2018 03:54 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Yeah, Keith is just a wealthy guy with swell tastes who wanted to join a swell club with a great course, and it just happens that ... and I just feel ickier and ickier trying to rationalize this. I mean I get that this club was started when Trump was merely a preposterous TV thing and not an existential global threat, but that's what he is and he should be shunned at all opportunities. And anything with his brand as well. By any and all even remotely decent people.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 02 2018 03:58 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Yeah, it's just awful. I have great memories of Keith on the baseball field, and he's often entertaining in the broadcast booth, but he's always struck me as a pseudo-intellectual with the potential to be a jerk. Remember how he reacted to that woman in the Padres dugout? And I was never, ever, convinced that he was any kind of an expert on the Civil War.

Edgy MD Jan 02 2018 04:04 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

He touches on his Civil War interest in his Sports Illustrated interview. He's probably not what I'd call an expert, but he's certainly dived deeper than I have. Then he gets all gender-y. OE: Then there's this. SI: What did you think of the city before you lived here? KH: We stayed at the old New York Sheraton, right off the park. It was always a rest town for me. I just went to the hotel bar. I went out in New York City twice when I was a Cardinal. I mean, the hotel bar was fine. They had a lot of airlines, European airlines that were staying there, so there was no need to go wandering around. Subtext: There were plenty of stewardesses to hit on right downstairs. And that's the whole point of being a ballplayer. So why leave the hotel?

Centerfield Jan 02 2018 04:19 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

He touches on his Civil War interest in his Sports Illustrated interview. He's probably not what I'd call an expert, but he's certainly dived deeper than I have. Then he gets all gender-y. OE: Then there's this. SI: What did you think of the city before you lived here? KH: We stayed at the old New York Sheraton, right off the park. It was always a rest town for me. I just went to the hotel bar. I went out in New York City twice when I was a Cardinal. I mean, the hotel bar was fine. They had a lot of airlines, European airlines that were staying there, so there was no need to go wandering around. Subtext: There were plenty of stewardesses to hit on right downstairs. And that's the whole point of being a ballplayer. So why leave the hotel? Does that even qualify as subtext? I think that's just, like, text.

cooby Jan 02 2018 04:25 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

That is entirely the reason some gals become stewardesses. And no bull crap defending women please.

cooby Jan 02 2018 04:27 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

He touches on his Civil War interest in his Sports Illustrated interview. He's probably not what I'd call an expert, but he's certainly dived deeper than I have. Then he gets all gender-y. OE: Then there's this. SI: What did you think of the city before you lived here? KH: We stayed at the old New York Sheraton, right off the park. It was always a rest town for me. I just went to the hotel bar. I went out in New York City twice when I was a Cardinal. I mean, the hotel bar was fine. They had a lot of airlines, European airlines that were staying there, so there was no need to go wandering around. Is this audio? Cos I clicked on the link and got a loud lady talking about Pete rose Subtext: There were plenty of stewardesses to hit on right downstairs. And that's the whole point of being a ballplayer. So why leave the hotel?

Edgy MD Jan 02 2018 04:37 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

The interview is in text, but there's probably going to be a video window in the margin reporting on something or another.

cooby Jan 02 2018 04:49 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Yeah I couldn't get it to stop. I'll have to look at it on laptop

G-Fafif Jan 02 2018 07:24 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Keith's been Keith forever. I long ago opted to take the Keith with the Keith and ignore the Keith of the Keith that wasn't the Keith I relished. If events had gone (much) differently two years ago, his new year's plans might have taken him elsewhere. His politics lean conservative. He likes Carly Fiorina. “She is smart,” he says. “I think she can play with the boys. Margaret Thatcheresque.”

A Boy Named Seo Apr 18 2018 03:48 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I'm just here to say that Keith Hernandez is making Twitter "a thing to look at" for me. [tweet:2uxszeyx]https://twitter.com/keithhernandez/status/986625944520708096[/tweet:2uxszeyx] [tweet:2uxszeyx]https://twitter.com/keithhernandez/status/986631219055071237[/tweet:2uxszeyx]

Edgy MD Apr 18 2018 03:52 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Don't call it a comeback! I been here for years! Rocking my peers and putting suckas in fear!

A Boy Named Seo Apr 18 2018 04:00 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

what a great photo. I mean I know he'd be worse than Adrian Gonzalez, but, like, how much? And we all know he's better than Jay Bruce, cause everyone is. [tweet:222yif9a]https://twitter.com/keithhernandez/status/986634731600207877[/tweet:222yif9a]

41Forever Apr 18 2018 04:06 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: what a great photo. I mean I know he'd be worse than Adrian Gonzalez, but, like, how much? And we all know he's better than Jay Bruce, cause everyone is. [tweet]https://twitter.com/keithhernandez/status/986634731600207877[/tweet] I miss Old-Timers Day!

d'Kong76 Apr 28 2018 03:04 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

[fimg=650:2ubtdkho]http://www.kcmets.com/CPF/keithbird.png[/fimg:2ubtdkho]

d'Kong76 May 11 2018 01:00 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Keith and His Kitty got a big write-up in today's New York Times.

bmfc1 May 11 2018 01:18 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Last Sunday: Gary: "If you're just tuning in, Yoenis Cespedes left the game with a sore hip" Keith (a second later): "If you're just tuning in Cespedes left the game with a sore hip" Gary: "Well somebody just tuned in".

Edgy MD May 11 2018 01:24 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Gary busting Keith's chops for wavering levels of engagement is great theater.

cooby May 17 2018 06:34 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: I'm just here to say that Keith Hernandez is making Twitter "a thing to look at" for me. [tweet]https://twitter.com/keithhernandez/status/986625944520708096[/tweet] [tweet]https://twitter.com/keithhernandez/status/986631219055071237[/tweet] Okay I did something I never thought I would do...I just signed up for a Twitter account, but for the sole purpose of following Keith and hadji. Keith is tweeting away right now but I’m getting no notifications. Am I doing something wrong? Also is there some sort of ‘home page’ where you can see everyone you’re following?

d'Kong76 May 17 2018 06:43 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I have two twitter accounts, one I just made in case I need it one day. I just looked at @kcmets account and my last post is... [tweet:3u54v6z9]https://twitter.com/kcmets/status/779125498408529920[/tweet:3u54v6z9] ...and now I'm posting lineups here from twitter all the time.

cooby May 17 2018 06:47 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Well eventually I might follow the Mets but wow that looks busy! I guess my main concern is not getting uh ‘tweet’ notifications? Also following CPF and CPF new topic

batmagadanleadoff May 23 2018 04:31 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Keith Hernandez on his Cardinals career, the modern game and a Mets trade that never was As someone who has co-authored a recent baseball memoir, I can tell you that for a book of this kind to resonate with the audience, the author needs to accomplish four things: — Provide enough pre-fame moments for the reader to identify with the subject; — Provide enough nostalgia so the reader enjoys the ride; — Drop in a “Holy Cow” moment once every few chapters; — Admit to on-the-field faults, mistakes, errors in their life. Bonus points for owning up to off-the-field issues. Does “I’m Keith Hernandez” meet these criteria? It sure does. The former All-Star first baseman, who starred on World Series-winning teams for both the Cardinals and Mets, paints a portrait of a 1960s kid under the extreme direction of what may be the first sports helicopter parent on record. Hernandez endured much pain, strife and pressure from his father, a former minor league player, who shared the outfield with Stan Musial on a Navy team during World War II. Many of us have dealt with parents who pushed us to succeed, sometimes to exhaustion. Turned out that John Hernandez’s assessments of his son’s ability were well-founded. The ballplayer went through many growing pains in his early life, issues with unfair coaches, experimentations of youth, dalliances with women along the way, scared-straight moments occurring in strange towns on the road, all fueled by a strong affection for Rock & Roll. It’s an easily relatable story. Hernandez chooses to focus on his upbringing, his minor league seasons and his initial years with the Cardinals. There’s no talk about his reluctance to come to the Mets in 1983, hardly much mention of his time in a Mets uniform at all for that matter, no mention of the drug trials which interrupted his 1985 season for a short time. What does exist is a behind-the-scenes look at Hernandez’s day-to-day in the Mets’ broadcast booth as a starting point to express his current views on the game. Cardinals fans seeking nostalgia will also find a lot here, with ample stories and anecdotes on players like Bob Gibson, Reggie Smith, Ted Simmons and manager Ken Boyer, whose influence on Hernandez’s career cannot be measured. Hernandez talked with Sporting News about the book, his Cardinals career, and thoughts regarding baseball today, both on the major league diamond as well as 2018’s version of the “prep” game. Sporting News: I did a little research while reading the book and found some fascinating nuggets. The Oct. 14, 1974, St. Louis Post-Dispatch story on the Joe Torre trade had a great opening line: “Okay, Keith Hernandez. First base is yours.” Did you have a sense that Torre, who won the NL Most Valuable Player award as well as the batting title for the Cards three years earlier, was going to be traded during the 1974 off-season? Keith Hernandez: I was pretty certain that he would be, yes. I hit .351 that year at AAA Tulsa. They called me up and gave me a long look in September. SN: Would you say going into 1975 spring training that the first base position was yours to lose? KH: Even after the Torre trade I didn’t feel it was mine to lose so much as it was mine to hold onto. I really wasn’t ready emotionally at 20, I was still a little kid, you know, over-awed by playing in the big leagues, facing guys like (Tom) Seaver. SN: Was that because of Ron Fairly’s presence? The former bonus baby’s final statistics for ’75 came out very similar to the type of numbers you would normally produce during your career (.301 batting average/.421 on-base percentage.) When the Cardinals acquired Fairly from the Expos in December of 1974, did you think he was going to eat into your playing time? KH: I felt that, yeah, they got him as an insurance policy, but also a veteran bat off the bench. But at that age, I didn’t have the brain to consider how St. Louis was molding the club. I learned a lot from Ron. He showed me how to break in my first basemen’s mitt, even better than I knew how to break in a glove. He also taught me how to cheat around first base on defense. But at the same time, he was a no-nonsense guy, kind of a Marine, a rough and gruff guy. Look, he wanted the job too, and I sensed his hunger to still want to play regularly — and why not? So when I started struggling, I felt his presence. It didn’t help, but that’s the name of the game — the game’s full of competition. SN: Let’s skip a few years forward and talk about one of the great managers you ever played for, Whitey Herzog. Do you think his experience managing a “turf team” played into the decision to hire him in St. Louis? Was it proximity to the Royals, the other Missouri-based ballclub? KH: Whitey had success in Kansas City and when you read Whitey’s book, he says it quite blatantly. He wanted full power. And to do that, he had to befriend and become close with Auggie Busch. Whitey didn’t want a general manager over his head — he just took over. He was general manager and the manager. I could just imagine Whitey with Auggie Busch, cigars, whiskey, playing poker and tossing the bull around. Whitey brought great years to St. Louis. He was a great manager, best I ever played for. SN: Did you have any expectations as to what he his managerial style would be like? KH: No. I never followed the American League at all back then. Whitey set the tone when he joined the team (in the middle of the 1980 season); things were in flux at the time. He managed for like three weeks and then had Red Schoendienst handle the team in the dugout for the last 35-40 games. He went into the front office for the rest of 1980 to observe from above and make his evaluations of the ballclub. When it came to first base, Whitey had to make one choice: Leon Durham was coming up, and he was wildly talented, or keep me. I was gonna be 27, just about to enter my prime. I had a big contract at the time, and Whitey chose to stay with me and I think it was the right choice. Wound up trading Bull Durham to Chicago and getting Bruce Sutter. Here’s where the conversation got interesting. One of the most prominent moments in Cardinals history was the 1980 offseason, when Herzog traded away nearly 40 percent of the big-league roster (nine players total, including six starters and Rollie Fingers, who was a Cardinal for less than a week.) Rumors were published every day. One article, buried deep in the Daily News archives, was revealing. SN: Did you know that Whitey offered you to the Mets and asked for Tim Leary, Doug Flynn and Neil Allen? KH: I didn’t know that. Who did he ask for? History and sabermetrics haven’t been kind to Flynn, the Mets’ 1980 starting second baseman and only the most diehard Mets fans of the day remember what great hopes the franchise held for Leary. Neil Allen was a valuable trade chip but not crucial to the team’s success, with rookie Jeff Reardon who could’ve easily slid into the fireman role in the Mets’ bullpen (Reardon would go on to pitch 16 seasons and is currently 10th on the all-time saves list.) SN: Neil Allen, Tim Leary, and Doug Flynn. KH: He offered to trade me in 1980? Wow. If he wanted that deal, Whitey was out of his mind. Interesting. What makes this a truly compelling “what-If” scenario is that three days after the Winter Meetings ended, the Mets signed Rusty Staub to play first base. The ironic aspect is that, considering Hernandez’s well-known friendship with Staub, had the trade been completed, “Le Grand Orange” probably does not return to Flushing and his former team. At least, not for the 1981 season. SN: Not only that, but according to an AP article from a week earlier, Herzog had this to say about the state of the Cardinals in December 1980 in relation to his trading plans. KH: Oh my God. Are you serious? Do you think he was BSing? Most baseball fans can understand this reaction — not to mention Cardinals fans of the past 38 years. The following season, Herzog traded Templeton to the Padres in exchange for Ozzie Smith, who would become a beloved Hall of Fame player in St. Louis. KH: Garry was a great player, but Whitey liked to toss the BS around sometimes. I can’t imagine when he was getting Sutter and Rollie Fingers that he was pursuing Neil Allen, too. SN: He must have been mightily impressed, as Herzog pursued Allen in 1980, 1982 and then finally sending you to the Mets in June 1983 for the reliever and pitching prospect Rick Ownbey. KH: Neil Allen had good stuff and some good years, but … wow. SN: Here’s another question: The 1982 Cardinals led the National League in on-base percentage and stolen bases, were fifth in runs scored and last in home runs. Only Porter and Hendrick hit more than 10 dingers. Can you even build that team today? KH: The teams don’t want to. I’d like to go up against them. The artificial turf aspect is irrelevant. Today’s grass is just like turf. We’d run circles around them. They don’t know how to hold runners on anymore. It’s not their fault. SN: Funny you bring up holding runners on. I remember you often positioned yourself in front of the runner at first. I recall John Olerud playing the same way. I don’t understand why infield coaches in 2018 don’t emulate the fielding strategies of arguably two of the top three statistically finest first basemen who ever played the game. KH: I only did that with slow runners. I never did it with someone like Vince Coleman, guys like that. Only slow runners that I knew weren’t gonna steal. It gets tiring coming on and off the bag and covering the hole. It was taking away a step. SN: Do you see players doing this much in today’s game? KH: Ken Boyer always told me that you’re gonna get hurt more in the hole than down the line, so get out and cover as much as you can. Take away the hole. That requires extra effort, and I see a lot of first basemen today — and I keep my mouth shut — but they don’t even move and it’s just lazy. SN: You talk a lot about your father’s efforts to relentlessly push you in sports after witnessing your native ability at age 11. You must have some thoughts on the travel baseball craze happening in this country right now. You reference how teams are fed all this data about high pitch counts ruining arms. I’ve always thought it was the year-round throwing of high school pitchers in their teens at max effort that’s the problem. KH: I don’t believe in playing just one sport. I believe it results in burnout and each sport trains your body in a different way. I played football in the fall when I was in high school. Then basketball, a different conditioning — you’re running up and down the courts. Then you come into baseball, you’re doing a sprint to hit a triple. We had enough kids to have town leagues back then — the baby boomers — it was very competitive. I think now with these travel leagues, it’s greed. People are making money and they’ve got their little niche in there now. The great thing about Little League was that anyone could play it. With travel, it literally costs a fortune, the parents are paying for it, and for kids and families without those resources, they’re getting shafted. I don’t like it, I don’t like it one bit. SN: According to my own research, wild pitches are at an all-time high and have been for the past three years. What do you think is the explanation there? KH: I only have a theory, but I talk to scouts and they have these “combines” like the NFL and all they’re looking for is the kid who can hit the ball the farthest and the kid who could throw the ball the hardest. There are no pitchers anymore, just throwers. I see so many 0-2 counts turn into 3-2 counts and it just drives me crazy — they don’t know how to put a hitter away and they miss badly. Whitey will confirm this, we had a long conversation over the winter about the amount of pitches. It’s outrageous, but with all the 3-2 counts, the way the game is today, you’re not going to be able to go seven innings. There’s not the guy out there today who’s not a hard thrower who knows how to pitch. It’s all raw power now. It just is what it is. SN: I loved how in the book you discussed the Ron Darling/Davey Johnson AAA story about how he left Ronny out there to “take care of his own mess.” I specifically remember Tim McCarver referencing this during a game in Philly in 1984 where Ron stayed out there and took a beating — gave up six runs in five innings. Do you see managers allowing their starters to “learn through pain” anymore? KH: No, they’re babied and it’s wrong. I absolutely despise when the pitcher gets to his prescribed pitch count, and not someone coming off injury, but someone over the course of another start. Whatever the limit is, even if he’s throwing well, he’ll have runners on base with two outs and they’ll pull him. Let him get out of the inning. Then they’ll say, “We want him to feel good about himself.” He’ll feel better about himself if he gets out of the jam. Drives me nuts. It’s such a paradox. “I wasn’t gonna give into the hitter 2-0,” so he throws a breaking ball or a secondary pitch. In our day, that was giving into a hitter. When he fell behind 2-0, he threw the fastball, he went after him. It’s completely upside down, a whole new philosophy. SN: Let’s end on this note. You retired from the game in 1990 and basically took a complete break from baseball for many years. Once you returned in 2002-2003 and entered the broadcast booth, what had changed in your mind from when you walked away? KH: Coming back to the game, it was the height of the steroid era. The difference was that Tony La Russa and Bobby Cox brought in the one-inning pitchers era. I didn’t like that, and because they were successful, which says something, people started doing the same thing and all of a sudden the middle reliever was becoming lost. It’s starting to come back a bit. The Mets have two guys that can pitch three or four innings. Over the course of a season you’re gonna need that. But I miss the complete game. I don’t think pitchers should throw 300 innings anymore, but from 200 to 250 should be fine. But those days are gone. It’s all about protecting the investments. It’s a different game. http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/news/ke ... k28fzlccsd

cooby May 23 2018 12:23 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Terrific article Thanks batmags!

Edgy MD Jun 07 2018 04:09 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Keith's positions on women in the game are ... complex.

A Boy Named Seo Jun 07 2018 05:48 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Anybody else read or is reading Keith's book? It's exactly Keith, for the record. I've appreciated the candor about drug use and prostitutes, things that could be embarrassing or even damaging to him. But the part about the trainer in San Diego seemed kinda bullshitty. He tied his feelings to women in baseball back to when female journos were allowed in the clubhouses he played in the 70s which he said made him uncomfortable (OK, fine). But then told a story how he dealt with feeling uncomfortable by dropping all his clothes and streaking through the clubhouse naked in front of the female reporters. That'll show them! Keith seems like a guy I wouldn't take to IRL, but I still love him for some reason. 3/4's of the way through the book. If you enjoy Keith even when you know maybe you shouldn't, read the book. If you don't, don't.

seawolf17 Jun 07 2018 05:50 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Keith seems like a guy I wouldn't take to IRL, but I still love him for some reason. This. He *unquestionably* fails the "would I hang out with this person?" test. And yet...

Benjamin Grimm Jun 07 2018 05:56 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

That article says the book only covers the St. Louis portion of his playing career? Is this true? If so, it makes the book considerably less interesting to me.

A Boy Named Seo Jun 07 2018 06:05 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: That article says the book only covers the St. Louis portion of his playing career? Is this true? If so, it makes the book considerably less interesting to me. Maybe. At the 3/4 mark, he's still a young Cardinal trying to get established. I still enjoy it, but I get what you mean. The chapters go back and forth from young Keith (growing up, minors, early MLB days) to present-day Keith (working at Citi, playing with his cat). The present-day Keith is plenty Met-centric.

Edgy MD Jun 07 2018 06:38 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Maybe he got a two-book deal, and his saving the bulk of his Mets life for the sequel.

seawolf17 Jun 07 2018 06:40 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

He also already wrote "If At First," so maybe he felt he didn't need to cover that again.

A Boy Named Seo Jun 07 2018 06:55 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

seawolf17 wrote: He also already wrote "If At First," so maybe he felt he didn't need to cover that again. Was If at First the one where he broke down 2 baseball games? how many damn books does Keith have?

seawolf17 Jun 07 2018 07:41 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: seawolf17 wrote: He also already wrote "If At First," so maybe he felt he didn't need to cover that again. Was If at First the one where he broke down 2 baseball games? how many damn books does Keith have? No, that was "Pure Baseball," which is also excellent. He's got those three addressed here, plus his children's book. That's it, I think.

A Boy Named Seo Jun 07 2018 07:45 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I don't know if you were joking about the childrens book. I hope not. I mean I hope so?

seawolf17 Jun 07 2018 07:49 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

https://www.amazon.com/First-Base-Hero- ... 0307106268

d'Kong76 Jun 07 2018 07:52 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I won a signed copy of that at a charity raffle years ago. I sold it on eBay lol.

A Boy Named Seo Jun 07 2018 08:54 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

https://www.amazon.com/First-Base-Hero-Pop-Up-Golden-Books/dp/0307106268 1.5 star rating on Amazon! "Do I hold the bat like this, Mr. Keith?" "If you want people to think you hit like a girl, that you're some Punch and Judy, then sure, go right ahead." "Oh. Then maybe can you show me how to catch the ball instead, Mr. Keith? Is this where I should stand?" "It doesn't matter where you stand. They'll move you anyway because nowadays everybody loves to over-shift. In the 80s, we positioned ourselves based on how our pitcher would pitch to the hitter, and where that hitter would hit it in response. No StatCast. No algorithms. On the balls of your feet, then pick it, Wilson!" "Mr. Keith, remember I'm Timmy? Not Wilson." "Take John Candelaria. Toughest sonofabitch I ever faced. Would turn his back to you and would laredo this frontdoor slider towards home plate. Felt like the ball was coming from behind you! So you'd need to let the pitch get deep and go the other way. Forget launch angles and stop stepping in the bucket trying to pull everything for cryin' out loud. You think the great Stan Musial worried about exit velocity?" "Baseball has a bucket? Say, Mr. Keith, can I try to pitch?" "Sure, throw it to me then. But don't aim it, throw it. Good fundies are key. You don't want to pull an oblique, whatever that is." "Jeez, you're gonna get your tits lit lobbing it in like that. Hadji throws harder." "Timmy! It's time for dinner!" "WOW, is that your mom?!?" The End.

Benjamin Grimm Jun 07 2018 08:56 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 07 2018 09:02 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

that's great lollool

Edgy MD Jun 07 2018 09:12 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Bring on the dancing bears. That's got to go in the lobby at CPF headquarters. Actually, fuck, that should be guest-read tonight at Two Boots.

cooby Jun 07 2018 10:41 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Anybody else read or is reading Keith's book? It's exactly Keith, for the record. I've appreciated the candor about drug use and prostitutes, things that could be embarrassing or even damaging to him. But the part about the trainer in San Diego seemed kinda bullshitty. He tied his feelings to women in baseball back to when female journos were allowed in the clubhouses he played in the 70s which he said made him uncomfortable (OK, fine). But then told a story how he dealt with feeling uncomfortable by dropping all his clothes and streaking through the clubhouse naked in front of the female reporters. That'll show them! Keith seems like a guy I wouldn't take to IRL, but I still love him for some reason. 3/4's of the way through the book. If you enjoy Keith even when you know maybe you shouldn't, read the book. If you don't, don't. I am currently also reading it. Yes it’s only about his early years but I am feasting on it because I remember every single player he talks about. Including what they looked like. Including opposing teams. Geez I miss that There are times he starts discussing hitting and I zone out but if you’re a Mets fan you will love this book if only because it is written by a totally honest Keith (and whatever other kind of keith is there? lol)

seawolf17 Jun 08 2018 12:08 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Interestingly, Book Revue called me tonight and said they *do*, in fact, have an autographed copy waiting for me. Good thing I didn't buy it yet. Also, holy crap, ABNS. That's hilarious.

Fman99 Jun 08 2018 01:05 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

https://www.amazon.com/First-Base-Hero-Pop-Up-Golden-Books/dp/0307106268 1.5 star rating on Amazon! "Do I hold the bat like this, Mr. Keith?" "If you want people to think you hit like a girl, that you're some Punch and Judy, then sure, go right ahead." "Oh. Then maybe can you show me how to catch the ball instead, Mr. Keith? Is this where I should stand?" "It doesn't matter where you stand. They'll move you anyway because nowadays everybody loves to over-shift. In the 80s, we positioned ourselves based on how our pitcher would pitch to the hitter, and where that hitter would hit it in response. No StatCast. No algorithms. On the balls of your feet, then pick it, Wilson!" "Mr. Keith, remember I'm Timmy? Not Wilson." "Take John Candelaria. Toughest sonofabitch I ever faced. Would turn his back to you and would laredo this frontdoor slider towards home plate. Felt like the ball was coming from behind you! So you'd need to let the pitch get deep and go the other way. Forget launch angles and stop stepping in the bucket trying to pull everything for cryin' out loud. You think the great Stan Musial worried about exit velocity?" "Baseball has a bucket? Say, Mr. Keith, can I try to pitch?" "Sure, throw it to me then. But don't aim it, throw it. Good fundies are key. You don't want to pull an oblique, whatever that is." "Jeez, you're gonna get your tits lit lobbing it in like that. Hadji throws harder." "Timmy! It's time for dinner!" "WOW, is that your mom?!?" The End. Brilliant. And, not to take away from this, anyone who's spent years listening to GKR do games should be able to channel this kind of energy and use it as it's used here, for the greater good.

bmfc1 Jun 08 2018 10:55 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I read "I'm Keith Hernandez". I enjoyed the first half, which switched between his growing up, his days in the minor leagues and his time on Long Island. The second half, which talks about the Cardinals, his father not letting go, and his opinions about today's game, is not as good. It ends with 1980 and a reference to cocaine so I would be interested in a sequel.

G-Fafif Jun 08 2018 01:17 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

The Hernandez Oeuvre also includes Shea Good-Bye, co-authored by the prolific (and very good guy) Matt Silverman.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 08 2018 03:41 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

I know Matt was getting killed on that project, doing a series of phone conversations a couple times a week then transcribing all summer. Then this tiny book comes out like it's some kind of joke. Like physically its just too small. Paperback sized hardcover but twice as thick as a paperback. It was just such a terrible packaging job. It sure didn't help that the Mets crapped themselves so badly too

bmfc1 Jun 09 2018 01:22 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

JCL: it's not doing well?

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 09 2018 01:40 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

no I'm talking about Shea Goodbye. they made it look like a children's book and it came and went pretty quickly. plus I dunno if a Chronicle of 2008 is something fans can stand to relive

bmfc1 Jun 09 2018 01:43 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: no I'm talking about Shea Goodbye. they made it look like a children's book and it came and went pretty quickly. plus I dunno if a Chronicle of 2008 is something fans can stand to relive I got confused about which year the Mets crapped themselves you were referring to. It happens so often!

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Jun 09 2018 01:44 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

https://www.amazon.com/First-Base-Hero-Pop-Up-Golden-Books/dp/0307106268 1.5 star rating on Amazon! "Do I hold the bat like this, Mr. Keith?" "If you want people to think you hit like a girl, that you're some Punch and Judy, then sure, go right ahead." "Oh. Then maybe can you show me how to catch the ball instead, Mr. Keith? Is this where I should stand?" "It doesn't matter where you stand. They'll move you anyway because nowadays everybody loves to over-shift. In the 80s, we positioned ourselves based on how our pitcher would pitch to the hitter, and where that hitter would hit it in response. No StatCast. No algorithms. On the balls of your feet, then pick it, Wilson!" "Mr. Keith, remember I'm Timmy? Not Wilson." "Take John Candelaria. Toughest sonofabitch I ever faced. Would turn his back to you and would laredo this frontdoor slider towards home plate. Felt like the ball was coming from behind you! So you'd need to let the pitch get deep and go the other way. Forget launch angles and stop stepping in the bucket trying to pull everything for cryin' out loud. You think the great Stan Musial worried about exit velocity?" "Baseball has a bucket? Say, Mr. Keith, can I try to pitch?" "Sure, throw it to me then. But don't aim it, throw it. Good fundies are key. You don't want to pull an oblique, whatever that is." "Jeez, you're gonna get your tits lit lobbing it in like that. Hadji throws harder." "Timmy! It's time for dinner!" "WOW, is that your mom?!?" The End. THIS guy is a professional hitter.

cooby Jun 10 2018 03:29 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Just bought a Hadji shirt!

Zvon Jun 24 2018 02:42 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

[tweet:3fylfiok]https://twitter.com/keithhernandez/status/1010709527371636736[/tweet:3fylfiok]

Zvon Jun 24 2018 04:01 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

^ This is incredible! Keith's been live since the game, playing his favorite music. And he's still on at midnight! Totally awesome!

Zvon Jun 24 2018 04:13 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

He stayed on until 12:10. Played all kinds of music. Responded to us commenting. A total blast! Oh, and Hadji is in it too! A lot.

Frayed Knot Jun 25 2018 11:07 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Keith will NOT be back with FOX this fall in their post-season round-table crew.

bmfc1 Jun 25 2018 11:55 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Frayed Knot wrote: Keith will NOT be back with FOX this fall in their post-season round-table crew. Because he'll be too busy with SNY's Mets playoff coverage!

cooby Jun 26 2018 11:55 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Zvon wrote: [tweet]https://twitter.com/keithhernandez/status/1010709527371636736[/tweet] Thanks for posting this! Somehow I missed it

Zvon Aug 24 2018 01:27 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

This is making the rounds on twitter. [tweet:20t04bex]https://twitter.com/Mets/status/1032759387293605888[/tweet:20t04bex]

Edgy MD Aug 24 2018 02:32 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

The sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll parts of the memoir are pretty embarrassing.

A Boy Named Seo Aug 24 2018 03:22 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Hard to believe Keith used to just chill and smoke grass and listen to psychedelic rock. His description of the late-70s version of himself is basically any character in "Dazed and Confused".

Edgy MD Aug 24 2018 03:41 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

It's like there really are two Keiths. Intense Keith and Chill Keith. The cocaine Keith and the grass Keith. The one that's like his father and the one that's like Haji. There's the guy that's really well read on a subject, and the guy that says, fuck it, I'm too lazy to get any background to support this, but here's my opinion and I'm not that interested in considering alternative views. And there's the guy who's aloof from baseball culture and doing his crosswords and second-guessing his own manager and teammates, who's smarter than them all and above them all, and there's the guy who adores baseball culture, big-egoed sluggers, having crazy drunken adventures, talking shit, and lighting up pitchers' tits. In fact, he and Davey must've been a perfect match.

Lefty Specialist Sep 07 2018 11:41 AM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Well, this is just all-around weird. Wonder what Hadji thinks. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/06/nyre ... collection

cooby Sep 11 2018 10:17 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

No wonder he hasn’t twitted lately

Edgy MD Sep 20 2018 12:10 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Damn, Keith. Scabies?

cooby Sep 20 2018 01:03 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Lol

Ceetar Sep 20 2018 01:22 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

cooby wrote: No wonder he hasn’t twitted lately he only set up the twitter to promote his book and now we're somewhat post that.

cooby Sep 21 2018 08:41 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Sadly I think you’re right. I thought hadji was him too but I think not now

batmagadanleadoff Sep 25 2018 08:17 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Tremendous writing about the great Gary, Keith' & Ron from the NYT. Some truly great lines, including a subtle dig at the cheapass Wilpons for cheaping up the broadcast booth, a dig at the Jacke Robinson rotunda because it honors Jackie Robinson and (I can really really really relate to this one) a nod to those crappy pizzerias that you nevertheless eat at all the time because they're so conveniently close to you. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/25/maga ... h-ron.html

G-Fafif Sep 25 2018 10:36 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

Great article. They deserve all the plus coverage they get. Loved the portrayal of the YES booth as well.

bmfc1 Sep 29 2018 12:34 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

If you haven't read Keith's latest book, the Kindle version is on sale today (Saturday) for $3.99: https://www.amazon.com/Im-Keith-Hernand ... 304&sr=1-6

John Cougar Lunchbucket Sep 29 2018 04:47 PM Re: Keith Hernandez is Keith Hernandez and we're not.

thanks for that tip!