Ralph Kiner Night
Scoop wrote in Add Homonym?:
Thanks for taking my correction with such good humor. And for introducing me to Ralph Kiner. I thought there was only one Yogi Berra, but I guess there’s another one out there. His quotes remind me of the time one of my sisters told my mother “These clothes aren’t dirty–they just need cleaning!”
The Mets will be honoring Ralph tomorrow night before the game.
One Saturday last month I listened to a Mets day game on WFAN through MLB audio; the live MLB.TV broadcast was blacked out nationally because the Fox network carries live games on Saturdays and our local Fox affiliate aired a different game. Later that night I decided I wanted to watch part of the Mets game (games are saved to an archive and can be accessed not too long after the live broadcast ends) to see how our starting pitcher did in a couple of key innings. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Ralph had been in the tv broadcast booth for a few innings that day, and it was a real treat to be able to hear his stories.
Below is some recent stuff on Ralph:
- Mets to honor legendary announcer
Wow, I never knew Ralph dated Elizabeth Taylor. The athlete-actress connection has been going on for some time. Barry Zito has been linked to Hilary Duff. Barry’s got to do a serious upgrade if he wants to reach Ralph Kiner’s level. Hilary seems like a nice kid, but compared to Elizabeth Taylor? You cannot be serious. Liz is a slam dunk, nothing but net, en fuego, and you can’t stop her and you can’t contain her, either.
- A Night of Wine and Memories for Kiner
July 12, 2007
By Richard SandomirRalph Kiner, the last surviving original Mets announcer, was reminiscing yesterday during a conference call with members of the news media about an interview with Choo Choo Coleman, an original Mets catcher.
“How did you get your name?” Kiner asked, expecting to learn that Coleman loved toy trains or that his father worked on the railroad.
Instead, Coleman said, “I don’t know.”
“What’s your wife like?” Kiner also asked.
“She likes me, bub,” Coleman said.
Kiner, 84, is no longer a regular Mets voice and when he shows up (five appearances so far this season, with six more to come) he calls only a few innings. For his 45 years in the booth (he alternated between radio and TV with Bob Murphy and Lindsey Nelson for 17 of those years), he will be honored Saturday night when the Mets play the Cincinnati Reds at Shea Stadium. The Hall of Famers Tom Seaver, Yogi Berra and Bob Feller, as well as various former Mets, will pay tribute to him.
“We’ve been thinking of a night for Ralph for some time, since we had the evening for Bob Murphy, but it’s always been a sensitive subject,” said Dave Howard, an executive vice president for the Mets. “This is something to honor him. We’ve not suggested that retirement is associated with this honor.”
The first 25,000 fans will receive a photograph of Kiner.
Kiner can be defined in at least three ways: as a slugger (he hit 369 home runs in a 10-season career), as an executive (general manager of the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League) and as an announcer (he has the second-longest tenure among active announcers in Major League Baseball).
Kiner was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1975, his final year of eligibility on the writers’ ballots, a wait that he believes was caused by a career shortened by a back injury. “I finished second four years in a row but could never get over the hump until the 15th year,” he said.
Seaver, who was also on the conference call and was a Mets broadcaster, said that at his pre-induction dinner at Cooperstown in 1992, “I looked at the back table, at the far left of the hotel, and there were Ralph and Ted Williams talking and paying no attention to what I was talking about. What were they talking about? Hitting.”
Seaver, who owns a vineyard in Calistoga, Calif., will bring a few bottles of zinfandel to this year’s dinner to share with oenophile pitchers like Sandy Koufax (who brings a different cabernet every year), Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton. Kiner sits at a different table, but, Seaver said, “I keep an eye on Ralph’s seat and I make sure his glass is full.”
Kiner is known for malapropisms, like calling Gary Carter “Gary Cooper,” and “All of his saves have come in relief appearances,” and “Solo home runs usually come with no one on base.” They are his versions of Berraisms.
He has a credible excuse for the slips. “I did work with Yogi and Casey Stengel and with that kind of background, you have no chance,” he said.
But Kiner did coin a well-turned classic: “Two thirds of the Earth is covered by water. The other third is covered by Garry Maddox.”
Kiner carries the Mets’ institutional memory. Much of it was discussed on “Kiner’s Korner,” his postgame show that originated on WOR-TV/Channel 9. Seaver showed up after losing his perfect game on July 9, 1969, on a one-out single by the Cubs’ Jimmy Qualls in the ninth inning.
“Your wife, Nancy, was there, she was in tears, but you weren’t bothered at all by losing the no-hitter,” Kiner said.
Seaver said he told his weeping wife: “What’s the matter? I just pitched a one-hit shutout, didn’t walk anybody and struck out 10.”
Seaver said his “Kiner’s Korner” interviews meant that he was talking to someone “who knew the game to the depths of his soul and got me to talk about what I liked to discuss.”
