Ralph Kiner: A True Legend

Just in at GaryKeithandRon.com comes their first t-shirt honoring baseball legend--and Mets broadcasting hero--Ralph Kiner.

Pre-order this heather gray tee with its retro-style design declaring yourself in "Kiner's corner" before April 13th and save $5 off the $25 price. All proceeds go to the Mets' broadcasters favorite charities.

Gary, Keith, and Ron couldn't be more excited to have Ralph Kiner join their corner!

Get on the Bandwagon!

The wonderful folks at Gary, Keith and Ron must have sensed something was in the air.

They are offering a beautiful t-shirt with a very familiar motto.

I think it's great, and I truly hope all you Mets fans out there go to the site and help the cause!

The shirt actually reminds me of the time I was thinking about some high cheddar.....what the heck was Whitey saying to me? Ronnie? Kiddies?

An Ashamed Ex-Smoker

As a former smoker, the following video just annoys the ever living heck out of me.

Oh my kiddies...I mean, gosh darn it....please look away if you have any of the following conditions:

Bad Bladder
Gallstones
Premature Balding
Flat Feet
Hoof and Mouth

OK, for the rest of you, here is a video. I don't want you to watch it if you have not slept for at least 8 of the last 24 hours.

You have been warned.

Hey Mets Fans: Let's Talk Shoe Comfort

As all of us get up there in years, there comes a time when we have to make concessions to the reality that is aging.

Look, no one wants to get older, but it happens, even to me, Keith Hernandez.

I've made a few concessions to aging, and I'd like to share them with you, my loving viewers and the absolute best baseball fans in the business:

• Less ice cream, though boy do I love it!
• No more Budweiser, just a few glasses of wine here and there--Kai and I are really enjoying Tom Seaver's new wines
  
• Better haircuts, though for some reason that has been subject to debate--are you guys saying you don't like my short hair? That hurts and Kai won't be pleased
• Sensible shoes

Now that last one may come as a bit of a surprise, especially to those of you that regularly watch me on TV during an SNY Mets broadcast.

You see my smiling face, the mustache, my great looking short hair, the twinkle in my eye, etc.

What you don't see is my heel spring ultra-comfort max sneakers. Love 'em!

Anyway kiddies, next time your dogs are barking remember that there is nothing wrong with going for comfort over style, I do.

Heel spring ultra-comfort max sneakers are your friend.

Kai Hernandez

I get a lot of compliments on my lady, yes, my lady.

Kai Thompson Hernandez--I never get tired of saying that.

She is smart, beautiful, talented, and yes, maybe even a little out of my league.

But you know what? I'm Keith Hernandez!

So here's my advice to all you kiddies out there--keep working hard, never stop being who you are, and someday, yes, someday, you too can have a lovely lady or handsome guy on your right arm......

Just like me--Keith Hernandez.

--Keith

10 Questions with Jay Horwitz, Mets Vice-President of Media Relations

Most Mets fans have dreamed at one time or another about working or playing for the team. One such fan, the well-respected and beloved Jay Horwitz, now a Mets Vice-President, sat down with us for 10 questions.

Jay, thank you so much for taking some time from your busy schedule to join us. You've been with the Mets for, I believe, 29 years. How did you get started in the baseball business?

I was the Sports Information Director at New York University for three years and then at Fairleigh Dickinson in New Jersey for eight years. When ownership changed with the Mets in 1980 someone recommended me for the job, and I have been here ever since.

As Media Director for one of the most popular teams in all of sports, on the world's largest stage, what is a typical day like for you?

I usually get here about seven in the morning, read the papers, make calls, go down to the lockeroom, set up interviews, etc. I then watch the game, let the press know of any records that are set and go to the lockeroom at the end of the game.

How do you and your staff handle adversity? I'm talking specifically about some of the incidents that have happened with the Mets over the years, Vince Coleman, the collapse, Lastings rap album, managerial firings, etc.

Never lie. You can’t lie in New York with all the exposure here. Be up front with people even in the worst of times.

Can you describe the organizational ebb and flow over the roller coaster that is a 162 game season? Is it more even keeled then we'd imagine?

You can’t get up with each win or down with each loss. It’s a marathon, and that’s the way you have to look at things.

We're all such big fans of the guys in the Mets booth—Is this your favorite announcing crew after the Bob Murphy, Lindsey Nelson and Ralph Kiner trio?

They all are great guys. Bob Murphy was the nicest person I ever met. Ralph Kiner is a super guy too.

As we near the end of the Shea Stadium era, can you think back over your long tenure with the Mets and tell us what your favorite memory is of the Stadium?

Mookie’s ground ball that got through Bill Buckner’s legs in 1986.

A little birdie told me you are also a huge Giants fan, as are most of my readers. I thought the Giants handled the post-Super Bowl parades, interviews, etc extremely well. Is that a PR Director's dream?

I have had season’s tickets for the Giants since 1958. I thought Eli handled all the adversity well as did the entire team. Good players make it very easy for a PR Director.

What advice would you give to someone interested in sports and public relations as a career? I'm sure the competition for positions is fierce.

You can’t be a clockwatcher. You have to be ready to work long hours and give up a lot of your social life.

One of the highlights of the season was seeing you in that orange sportcoat. Can you tell us how that came about? Are you the original owner?

Johann Santana asked me to wear it for good luck. We were 3-1 with the coat. The coat originally belonged to Jeremy Burnitz.

Last question, so I'll put you on the spot—give us your fearless prediction for the rest of 2008:

I have a good feeling for this year. I think we are going to play very deep into October

Thanks Jay! We really appreciate your time, and the great job you and your staff do for the writers, fans, and everyone associated with the New York Mets.

Three Things Keith Hernandez Taught Me About Pitching

by John Walsh
Hardball Times

If you are interested in pitching—really interested, I mean—you simply have to read Pure Baseball by Keith Hernandez (with help from Mike Bryan on grammar and spelling and stuff). And when I say interested in pitching, I don't mean you know who won the last five Cy Young Awards or even who had the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the American League last year. Rather, I mean you want to know not only what that last pitch was and how it moved, you want to understand why it was thrown, why it worked or why it didn't.

The subtitle of Hernandez's book is "A pitch-by-pitch guide for the advanced fan," and that is a good description. Hernandez goes through two games from the 1993 season, almost (but not quite) at the pitch level. That's not to say that the book is only about pitching—Hernandez holds forth on many questions of baseball tactics here, including base stealing, bunting, hit-and-running, productive outs, defensive alignments and many others.

But what really fascinates about this book is getting an insider's perspective on pitching and the batter-pitcher confrontation. Hernandez was clearly a "cerebral" ballplayer, a guy who was always thinking, thinking trying to get an edge. There was nothing "see ball, hit ball" about Keith Hernandez.

So, what did Keith Hernandez teach me about pitching? Well, as some of you may know, I've been working with the PITCHf/x data, which has allowed us to study pitching at a level of detail that was almost unimaginable not very long ago. So, what I'm most interested in is pitches—what are the different pitch types, what distinguishes one from the other, and how are they used differently?

I've written quite a bit about pitch types already, so I thought I knew quite a bit, but ol' Keith showed me a thing or two (which is so unsurprising, it's not even funny).

The tailing fastball

One of the first things I learned from studying the PITCHf/x data is that fastballs typically move quite a bit to the side. Nobody much talks about this. Actually, that's not true, the other day I happened to catch Brandon Webb's start against the Mets and one of the broadcasters mentioned Webb's sinker that "moves in on a right-handed hitter."

That's true, Webb's sinker (which is a kind of fastball) moves sideways, towards a right-handed hitter, about nine inches. And Dan Haren's fastball moves in the same direction by six inches. John Maine? Eight inches in on a right-handed batter. Just about all right-handed fastballs move in an a right-handed hitter (and likewise, lefty fastballs move the other way—away from a right-handed batter).

Hernandez, in his book, tells us something important about the typical tailing action of a fastball: It makes it difficult to come inside to the opposite-hand hitter. Actually, Hernandez is discussing Phillies left-hander Danny Jackson, who had quite a bit of tail on his fastball. When Jackson throws to a right-handed batter, the fastball tends to tail away from the hitter.

That's great for pitching outside, but it makes it hard to pitch on the inside corner, as the ball tends to drift out over the heart of the plate. Here's Keith:

After thirteen pitches tonight in Philadelphia, Danny Jackson hasn't come inside one time. One reason is that his fastball tends to run away from these right-handed Braves hitters. If that pitch does not start out three or four inches inside, if instead it starts out over the inside corner, it will run toward the middle of the plate and right onto the barrel of the bat.

For the rest of this outstanding piece by John Walsh, please visit the Hardball Times.

Is High Cheddar a Steroid?

During one of my recent walks in the Hamptons out on Long Island, a young lad in a Yankee cap came up to me and asked me about steroids. He told me he wasn't sure what they were or what the word even meant.

He was concerned about some of his favorite players, namely Roger Clemens and Jason Giambi, and what impact steroids would have on their chances for the Hall of Fame.

He noticed I was snacking on a wheel of cheese and asked me innocently, "Mr Hernandez, is cheese a steroid?"

I thought to myself, "what a great question!" I tore off a hunk of the cheese, autographed it for him, and sent the kid on his way.

Let me clear up any misconceptions kiddies and tell you right now that High Cheddar is not a steroid, but it is a drug....a fascinating drug.

You stand in the box, absolutely mesmerized, and you just see this pill, or 'fastball' coming at you at 98 mph....let me tell you it's a rush like no other.

So no Mets fans, High Cheddar is not a steroid, but it does act like a drug.

Did you see that moon Gary? That's something else that has been compared to cheese.

--Keith

Keith Hernandez Mania Continues

This morning there was a great article in the NY Post about the impact Keith continues to have on Mets fans all over.

We here at What Would Keith Do and NY Sports Dog see this every day.

So what is it really about Keith that draws fans to him?

Charm, wit, humor, ego combined with the ability to laugh at himself....it's all that and more.

Look, we all love Tom Seaver, revere Cleon Jones and Tommy Agee, have Mookie Wilson, Mike Piazza and Doc Gooden in our hearts, but at the end of the day it's Keith.

Mike Piazza was an incredible Met, but he was very low key, and we didn't win a World Series while he was here.

Tom Seaver is the original Mr Met....a Hall of Famer, one of the greatest pitchers of all-time...personally Seaver is my favorite Met.

But still, there is something about Keith....the wit, the ability to connect with the fans, the World Series he brought us, and the love he has for the Mets to this day.

While Seaver was broadcasting Yankee games and building a vineyard, Keith was in our hearts. When Seaver comes into the booth and talks you just don't feel the same connection that you do with Keith.

Keith Hernandez is a Mets icon--maybe THE Mets icon.

We salute you Keith....just keep being you.

An Open Letter to Gary Carter from Keith Hernandez

Dear Gary,

Let me preface this letter by saying I have great respect for you as a player, you're a Hall of Famer and all that, but that being said, and I've kept quiet for such a long time, you are unconscious.

I just looked up the word in the dictionary and I found this:

You, my friend, are walking around unconscious. You broke the code. You put yourself first. You damaged your already shaky reputation with some comments that will tar your legacy even more than that god awful perm you sported while you were chasing around reporters and mugging for the TV cameras.

This is not like the old days where you could turn on a piece of high cheddar and go soak your arm in a Coors. No Gary, this was you coming out publicly lobbying for a job you have no chance in hell of getting.

Even my broadcast partner play-by-play man Gary Cohen said: "Regardless of what happens, you can't be any more indelicate or graceless than Gary Carter was in saying the things he said about being available to take over the job. I just cannot believe that Carter said what he said."

And you remember Ronnie don't you? The smart good looking guy who could pitch a little? Yeah, that's him, Ron Darling. Ronnie said that you are a disgrace to the '86 team.

So now what Kid? Your backtracking was a half-assed attempt at saving yourself and it didn't fool anyone.

Oh well. You are what you are. Call me.

- Keith

New Controversy for Carlos Delgado

Enraged Mets fan Richard "Stumpy" Abromowitz from Bensonhurst is leading a new charge against the Mets beleaguered slugger.

He's calling it: "Curtain Call Two".

During last night's game Abromowitz became enraged when he thought Delgado actually took a curtain call after teammate Ryan Church's two run home run.

"Delgado was clearly basking in the applause for Church when he came out of the dugout," said Stumpy, "I couldn't believe my eyes."

When told Delgado was actually standing in the on-deck circle at the time, Abramowitz became glassy eyed.

"Was he or was he not out of the dugout? So he could do it then, but not after we all cheered his butt on Sunday? That's all I have to say."

Keith is the Man

May we draw your attention to 1:48 of this video.

Welcome to "What Would Keith Do?"

As all diehard Mets fans know, Keith Hernandez is one of the most candid, funny, intriguing, and intelligent baseball players to grace the confines of Shea stadium. The iconic former all-star and current broadcaster is one of the most beloved Mets of all-time, and dispenses on-air gems on a nightly basis.

This site allows you, the reader, to get in Keith's head and ask him questions on all manner of topics. His answers, we're sure, will allow you to lead a fuller, richer life, safe in the knowledge that in any situation you can have the insight into "What Would Keith Do?"