Keith Hernandez: (Part Three) After His Playing Days
Mets Honors- Team Hall of Fame: In 1997 Hernandez was elected to the New York Mets Hall of Fame. He was voted the Mets All Time First Baseman & one of the franchise's top ten All Time players.
#17 Retired: On July 9th, 2022, Keith Hernandez's Mets uniform #17 was retired by the Mets in an emotional ceremony at Citi Field.
On hand were his daughters, his brother Gary & his grandson.
In 1991 teammate David Cone switched to uniform number 17 in Keith's honor. Other 1986 Mets teammates Ron Darling, Bobby Ojeda & Roger McDowell all wore uniform #17 after leaving the Mets, in Keith's honor.
Hall of Fame?: Although Keith Hernandez was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame, he has yet to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown.At first base he was the best player of his era & arguably one of the best first baseman of all time. He won a record eleven straight Gold Glove Awards at first base with only six other Players ever winning more Gold Gloves at any position & they are all in the HOF. He was also one of the most clutch players of his era & a two-time World Champion.
Some say he did not have enough magic hitting numbers Some say it was his history of drug use or Manager Whitey Herzog's accusations of lack of hustle during his Cardinal days. But Mets fans saw nothing, but hustle & 100% effort given by him.
Some say he did not have enough magic hitting numbers Some say it was his history of drug use or Manager Whitey Herzog's accusations of lack of hustle during his Cardinal days. But Mets fans saw nothing, but hustle & 100% effort given by him.
In recent years, the quality of players who are enshrined in Cooperstown has certainly diminished. Hernandez can certainly matchup to most recent Hall inductees. Maybe one day soon he will get his call to the Hall.
Other Mets Honors: Hernandez has been on hand for the 20th Anniversary celebration of the 1986 Championship team at Shea Stadium in 2006 & the 30th Anniversary at Citi Field in 2016. In 2008, he was on hand for the final closing ceremonies of Shea Stadium. Keith was there for events honoring Ralph Kiner, Bob Murphy, Mike Piazza, David Wright & other Mets Hall of Fame inductees.
Hernandez has thrown out the ceremonial first pitches at many important games, including Game #1 of the 2015 NLCS.
After his playing career ended, Keith stayed away from the game for five years. During the 1990's he was bitter toward the game from the Players Strike, into the "steroid era". He lost respect for the game with all the HRs & the inflated stats. Keith blamed everyone from the MLB commissioner to the league, the players union, the players themselves & the owners.
Quotes- Keith Hernandez: "It was like going into a monastery for five years & then coming back"
Broadcasting Career:
In the late 1990's his close friend & former Mets teammate Rusty Staub was responsible for getting Keith back into baseball & in the broadcast booth. In 1999, Hernandez began to work as a Mets broadcaster alongside Staub, Ralph Kiner, Howie Rose & Fran Healy on WOR TV, Sports Channel & MSG Networks.
SNY: In 2006 he joined up with former Mets teammate Ron Darling & play by play man, Gary Cohen on the Newly launched SNY sports network.
SNY: In 2006 he joined up with former Mets teammate Ron Darling & play by play man, Gary Cohen on the Newly launched SNY sports network.
Since then, Keith has done Mets games on the network as well as WPIX Channel 11 broadcast.
The Mets broadcast team is considered one of the best in baseball by their peers & audiences alike.In 2010 Keith won a personal Emmy Award as well as an Emmy with the broadcasting trio at SNY.
As an analyst, Keith is known for his wry humor, his bluntness & his honesty. Fans love his outspoken criticism to players, managers, umpires as well as plays & anything else that goes on or off the field. At times his comments have been controversial & offending to the sensitive younger fan base. The older mature fans love the way he can avoid political correctness & call like it is. The banter between the three Mets broadcasters has become legendary in this latest generation of Mets coverage.
His style of honesty always brings a laugh, whether admitting to not watching a game when he is not Brodcasting it, or when he admits he has no clue what the others are talking about.
As a statistician, he is famous for his meticulous score keeping & multicolored score cards in the booth.
He also likes to beat traffic before & after the ball game. He hates long drawn-out meaningless games that mean nothing. He openly admits he likes his time off & does not like to travel so often.
The three broadcasters do a lot of charity work through their website for Juvenile Diabetes & Alzheimer's. In the 1980's Hernandez mother had battled Alzheimer's for nine years.
Dramas: In 2002 Hernandez got the Mets team angry at him when he commented they had given up on their manager Bobby Valentine. But he still stood behind his words.
During Jose Reyes career, Keith once criticized him for lack of hustle. Then on a team flight, the two got into a shouting match, that almost led to blows before teammates broke it up.
The Famous Keith Moustache: Hernandez has also been recognized for his thick moustache, which was once voted the "best sports moustache" of all time by the American Moustache Institute.In September of 2012 he shaved the famous whiskers for charity, giving him an entirely new look that was short lived.
As a player, he said he did not use the eye black under his eyes to reflect the sun, feeling the moustache itself deflected the sun rays.
As a player, he said he did not use the eye black under his eyes to reflect the sun, feeling the moustache itself deflected the sun rays.
where he dates, Elaine (Julia Louise Dreyfus).
In 1998, he also appeared in the show's final episode.
In 1994, Hernandez appeared in an episode of Law & Order. He also had parts in the movie The Scout, The Yards & a cameo as a Policeman riding the elevator in the Fugitive.
TV Commercials: Keith was a long-time spokesperson for Just For Men hair products, doing commercials with NBA star; Walt Frazier.
He also did Coin Gallery commercials for a Long Island based company.
His overall new worth has been said to be $15 million.
Author: Keith has also been an author of five books: If At First: A Season with the Mets (1985). -Pure Baseball (1994). -Shea Goodbye: The Untold Story of the Historic 2008 Season (2009)- A young adult murder mystery titled: Murder at Shea & the national best seller- I'm Keith Hernandez (2018).
Keith has been a longtime supporter of the Republican Party & a supporter of Donal Trump during his presidency pointing out how unemployment was down, with all races & creeds benefiting. In 2021 he supported Robert F. Kennedy's book on exposing Anthony Fauci's vaccine lies.
Homes: During his playing days Keith lived in a Manhattan high rise, at 49th St. & 2nd Ave.
Since then, Keith has been a long-time resident of Sag Harbor, in the Hamptons on Long Island. He leaves early to avoid the traffic stress of the 86-mile drive.
He also has an off-season residence in Juno Beach Florida.
Keith has been linked to relationships with Cheryl Tiegs, Sally Kirkland, Carl Simon, Joan Severance, Marsha Mason, Shari Montgomery & Luann de Lesseps.
In 2004, he married his second wife Kai down in Jupiter Florida. Kai was married before & was a 911 widow. His former Mets teammate Rusty Staub gave her away walking down the aisle. Keith & Kai divorced in 2011.
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