REShow: Keith Hernandez - Hour 2

It's Rich Eisen. Yes, welcome to Hour Number Two of The Rich Eisen Show, live on the air on the Roku Channel, which is free on all Roku devices.

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We appreciate you taking that in and hitting a subscribe button on our podcast. We're thrilled to kick off Hour Number Two with an in-studio guest, thrilled to have here from the New York Mets booth here in Los Angeles, California, where the Mets just won their fifth consecutive game, beating the Dodgers last night, 8-6, a two-time World Series champion, five-time All-Star, and 11-time Gold Glove winner, Keith Hernandez here in the flesh. Good to see you, Keith.

How are you? Good to see you, Rich. It's been a long time. Yeah. Oh, you're giving a round of applause. Well, I mean, TJ's dressed like Mr. Met right behind you on your right shoulder right there. Look at him right there. Thanks for being here.

Greatly appreciate that. So we were just going down memory lane about Shea Stadium. I was listening. When you first walked into Shea, I imagine you remember the St. Louis Cardinals, right, back in the day?

Yeah, I remember the visiting clubhouse. And? And it was tiny.

Yes. And you guys were talking about cobwebs and all this stuff. You should have seen the carpet. The carpet was probably laid in 1962. It was stains, and it was just... Just to welcome you, there was no red carpet. No, it was gross. It was. And Kyners Corner, I was a guest. And the first time I was a guest...

Yes. Back in... I forget the year.

It might have been 76, so I had a good second half, a real good second half. So a visiting player on Kyners Corner. Yes, it was the only ballpark that had a studio. And the studio, Ralph had a little tiny studio, and it was next to the Mets clubhouse. So we were on the third base dugout. Yeah. You had to walk all the way around the stadium around to the first base side to go on a show. Then Ralph would slip you a $100 bill.

Back in 1976, it was a $100 bill. Yeah. And I remember I had never been interviewed in a studio before, and he had the TV monitors up. He was at his desk.

Interesting. He was at his desk. And I kept on looking at the monitor like an idiot doing the interview. But that was my first real...

When I got to know Ralph for the first time. So Ralph Kyner slipped you a C note, Keith Hernandez. Is that what you're saying?

Yes. That was what... When you went on his show, every player got a $100 bill. That'd be significant.

Which was good to go back to your hotel and you can buy a couple of rounds. Back in 1976. Was this in the old Jets locker room? Could that have been it? No, it was in between.

In between. It was literally next door. If you walked out the clubhouse at Shea, the Mets clubhouse, and made a right-hand turn down to the right field line, it was the first door, right next door. So it was on the other side of the manager's office, right there. So you played baseball in Shea Stadium when there was the 30-yard line still imprinted in it, right? Or something like that back in the day. You know what, I don't re... I'm not sure.

First, my rookie year was 74. I don't know when the Jets... Oh, the Jets didn't move until the mid-'80s, yeah? So they were there. Then I guess so. No doubt. So I wasn't paying attention.

How about them Apples? No doubt about it, man. Keith Hernandez here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk a little bit about the here and now. This Mets team has just won its fifth in a row. We had Francisco Lindor on yesterday. I asked him, I'm like, hey, you've been on a World Series team before.

What do you think about this one? Obviously baseball players are very confident they'll speak stuff into existence. He didn't stutter. That he believes this is a World Series team.

What about you from your point of view, Keith? Well, his team is made to win right now. It's the oldest team in MLB. You've got two future Hall of Fame first ballot pitchers in your starting rotation in Scherzer and Verlander, and they've got two years on their contracts. And when they go, they're both 40 and 30 respectively. You're talking 42 and 41. How are you going to replace two guys?

I mean, are they going to be at the end of the line at that age? If they continue, I mean, it would just be incredible. But we are an old team made to win now, but they've got a core in that Beatty they just called up who I love.

We've got a beautiful swing. He made his, he did not his debut, his seasonal debut. He was killing it in AAA. Pete Alonso now has just literally, it's been fun for me to watch the progress of these players.

Because I remember when I came up and I made a lot of mistakes, I got sent down. It took me three years to feel that I finally was a major league player, maybe four years. And to watch their progress, Pete now is, I mean, he's a beast.

I mean, he is like, to me is the closest thing to Harmon Killebrew. I mean, a real power hitter. And he's a, he's hitting 287. He walks, he's so disciplined. Brandon Nemo in center field, watch his progress.

He's a major league player now. And his defense was always suspect. He's playing a great center field. McNeil is just, you can put him in right field, you can put him in left field. He doesn't hurt you defensively. He's a very, very good defensive second baseman. He's great in the outfield too. So he's versatile, but he plays primarily second base and he can hit. He's struggling right now, but he got, I think he got three hits last night. He did.

And probably kind of broke out. He's a quality player. And they've got some two guys in the minor leagues, this Maurizio Shortstop, who's wearing it out. And he had a great spring and really impressed me. And it's Matt Vientos who's been playing first base. So they've, it's the first time the Mets had, they called up Francisco Alvarez. He's up now because of Novayez got hurt.

He would still be down there probably getting seasoned. It was the first time I've been with the meta organization since I was traded and I've been in the booth for almost 20 years. There was players that I would actually go online and look at AAA and see what they're doing because there's four quality prospects. Well, let's linger on Alonso a little bit here. Where does he rank? I mean, you mentioned Harmon Killebrew moments ago, but where does he rank for you in terms of hitters you've seen, Keith?

I'm serious. Like, cause he's just, he's killing it right now and he's hitting for average as you point out, which is kind of where, you know, to use another New York ball star. I mean, judge kind of flipped a turn to page when he stopped biting on those sliders that right on the outside corner, he starts getting a better eye, walking, not striking out as much. Well, he does strike out a lot, but it seems like Alonso might be in that heading in that direction right now.

No question. It comes with experience and success and you face the pitchers. I remember my mentor Lou Brock said, you're going to be facing, it's a little more difficult today because now you're playing every team in both leagues. So before it used to get, you know, remember how the pitchers pitch you and you're going to face them.

And as the years go by, you'll get a feel for them. And I think that's what's happening now. And Pete always has good discipline. He's playing sort of in the shadow of judge. I think he's underrated because of it. And I think that he is starting to make a big statement.

This could be a very, very big year. He lost 10 pounds and he was always a little soft, strong, but now he's cut. And if he keeps himself in shape like this, he can avoid injury. He's going to hit a ton of home runs. I mean, he's a great clutch hitter too.

He can, he can get a base hit when a base hits needed. And it's just great to watch him. We're really blessed up there to be able to watch these kinds of quality players. And how is Buck Showalter? Oh, he's the best.

I think it was the best. You can talk about all the signings that Steve Cohen did over the last two years, three years, and all the money he spent. His best hire was Buck Showalter. And I know I was praying that they'd hire Showalter, that we needed players like to be led.

And this was basically the core of this team is young, not so much young like 20, 21, 24, and they're in their mid twenties, but they were just ready for someone to carry the flag and show them where to lead them. And Buck, and I've been around a lot of managers and played for more than a few and he's the best manager I've ever run across. I mean, he is, we have meetings with him every first game of a series, radio and TV guys. And we used to, I would miss some of them in the past, but I don't miss them now because I learned something from him every meeting.

He is so on the spot and he knows each personality and how to get the most out of them. And I just think he's been the difference. Plus he told me he learned a lot from Billy Martin and that's a lot from him. And as he was coming up in the minor leagues with the Yankees and you're not going to outmanage him.

He's solid. Well he also knows New York too, obviously, which is a whole different ball of wax in so many different ways. And we had Lindor on yesterday and I said, tell me your first meeting with Buck Showalter. By the way, I have Keith Hernandez here in the studio. And he's like, cause I thought, obviously Buck would have to sit him down and suss him out a little bit with all that thumbs up, thumbs down stuff with Javi Baez the year before. It really didn't go very well at all in Lindor's first year in New York. And you know how that can go. It doesn't matter what you did in Cleveland.

It doesn't matter what you did anywhere else. If you don't do it here and you start flipping off the fans with your thumb, that's a problem. And I thought he would have to have this heart to heart with him. Lindor said the first thing that Buck said to him as he sat him down, Buck said to him, that's what he got. And he's like, what do you mean?

What do I have? And he goes, what do you got? And he goes, well, I just want to play shortstop and just, you know, be a ball player. He goes, great.

And that was essentially the end of the meeting. He's like, that's great. That's what I want you to do. Just be yourself.

Just go out and do it. Well, Buck told me, uh, Buck called me, uh, two weeks after, three weeks after he was hired, Winter. And he wanted to know, cause you've been around, he was the first manager ever called me. He said, tell me about the organization.

I want to know what the organization, I want to know about the players. I had a two, two and a half hour conversation with him on every player. I felt about that player. And it was the first time he wanted my, my advice and, uh, respected my opinion. And he told me with Lindor, it was funny when spring training or it was in the season this first year is alls I tell Lindor was having a difficult time that first, you know, when you have a new contract and you get a big contract and you come to a new, you know, you go to a new fan base and then on top of it, it's a New York fan base and it's a met fan base.

Yeah. Um, that's a lot of pressure. I felt at my first year when I, when I was 84 and after 83 when I was traded, I had to have season in New York, decided to stay. I started that 84 season. I was, I felt a little pressure.

I better not get off to a bad start here. And, um, I had a bad first series and we went on to Houston, Atlanta, Chicago. It was a long road trip and I broke out in, uh, in Houston. I came back to Shea opening day hitting two 34, but I knew I was on the road, but I was feeling it.

I was kind of glad we opened up with a 15 day road trip, you know? So, uh, he felt he had to feel he's more comfortable now. Uh, he wants to win. This whole team is very together and wants to win.

Uh, it's really a good bunch to cover and the past has been a lot of animosity with SNY and uh, that's our network. And um, this is a group here and I think Buck had a lot to do with it. It's just like, Hey, so what did he tell you about Lindor? He said, Oh, I'm sorry.

I guess I'm going off on the tangent. All I want you to do is play every day and play shortstop. Don't worry about everything else. Don't don't you come to me with this.

I don't want, don't let me handle that. You just play shortstop. It's as simple sometimes, right?

Yes. And that's why I, when he told that story yesterday, I'm like, what the hell? You know, the manager just says, so what do you got?

He was totally confused. I just want to play shortstop. Good. Yep. That's a good meeting.

Sold. By the way, I just cause there's no shifts. Everybody's playing baseball like on the infield like they used to see like indoors. Just he said he and McNeil would have communications problems cause they're on the same side of the field.

Who's going to cover on a double. It's just screwed everything up. You grow up, you play shortstop, you play second base, first base, you know, but the shift changed everything. Third baseman going out in the right field. I hated it.

And now it's gone. And Lindor knows what he has to do. He is playing a fabulous shortstop. Do you like the pitch clock?

Yes, you do very much so. I think it should be 20 seconds every pitch, not down to, was it 15? Yeah. You went to the game in San Diego last night and you thought it was right.

You think, uh, I mean they're Keith, I'm sure you've felt it too. It's very noticeable how quick the pace is. I mean, you turn your head for one second, you'll miss two pitches, three pitches. Suddenly guys on first base, what just happened?

It goes fast. Yeah. Well in the booth you're God, we've had always had time to talk. Right. And I found myself in the middle of a story and all of a sudden, boom, here comes a pitch and I, and if they don't, if it gets, if it makes contact and it's me, I have to stop and then pick it up after. And sometimes it's the third out and you're, you're out to go into commercial. Yeah. So you think 20 seconds a little, just extended 20 seconds is, uh, I think it should be 20 seconds.

They're going to tinker with it. I think, uh, 15, what is it? 15 with nobody on base. Uh, they give them 20 seconds or with a runner on base.

I've, I'm pretty sure a little more time. Um, maybe seventh, eighth and ninth inning. Get rid of the clock.

I'm with you. We get rid of the clock. I said that to Rob Manfred right before opening day because it was just two days after the Otani trout matchup in the world baseball classic that was, you would lose that moment. Every pitch would have been a violation.

Yep. Every pitch would have been a violation. And I do like the drama building. And when you're looking in for the sign and you know, just let it build. Like we're not like you got it. Like if you cut off the amount of time that you're looking to cut off between innings one and seven, you know, we're, we're, we're cool. Like you already, you're already ahead of the game, but they don't want the games to last three, 15, three 30. And I understand that. And it's the only sport where it's unlimited timeouts or used to be.

Um, but I, I I'm with you. I turn, turn the damn thing off at the end of the game. Let, let it, let it play out late and close. And then, and then have the umpires use their discretion. The other day, I'm sure you saw Cody Bellinger got a, a violation because he stepped out to take in the applause in his first game.

I missed that, but I heard about it. As I was saying, like, obviously like you don't want to be replaced by robots. Don't act like one, you know, like let's, let's, let's, let's go. There's a lot on the home plate, umpire, a lot on his plate when he could do in a game. He's got to watch the clock. I've always got the buzzer and the reds and no, but there's a lot. The umpires have, uh, there's 10 new umpires. There were 10 umpires that didn't want to bother with the veterans that retired. You said I'd rather retire the 10 new umpires that were in the minor leagues that have been under that system and they're more familiar and they're kind of helping out the veteran umpires because it's new to them. And I don't like the three pickoffs limit for pitcher. I think it's an unfair advantage for the base runner.

They want, it's very funny. They want more steals before it was the analytics people. There's a lot of good things in analytics and there's a lot of stuff that superfluous get go away. Um, but, uh, it was, if the guy didn't steal 75% success rate, then he wasn't helping the team. That's baloney. That's baloney. You steal a one to one run game in the eighth inning and you steal that base and you get on base. That's an important stolen base. So is the threat of it too. You just can't put it all into a lump. Sure.

And uh, okay, this is he had a big broad brush. Um, so I think that's an unfair advantage. They want more stolen bases and I think that stolen bases were done. I think agents probably would want their players not to get hurt. You got a chance to make a lot of money in this game. You know, just home runs or getting away from home runs and strikeouts.

I don't have a problem with that at all though. You know what I mean? Like the balls put in play. Our team puts the ball in play. I mean we, we have struck out I think the least in the national league. We put the ball in play.

We hustle. It's fun. And another thing, I know I'm wrapping on here, but without that softball right fielder, like in, you know, slow pitch out in shallow right now you got a ground ball in the hole and a runner on first and it's a first and third and you've got a right fielder that makes a throw and it's a close play.

It's adding excitement. I agree. I totally agree. Yep. And I'm sure you were left handed hitters. So I hit that hole all the time. I bet. You know, I'm sure, you know, you were, I would have had to make an adjustment if I was playing with a guy out there taking that hole away from shallow right.

I hated it. I'm so glad the shift is gone. Keith Hernandez is here in studio. I'd like to take a break and go down memory lane with you. The whole 86 Mets, the whole bit.

And then of course, um, the second spitter, you know, it's going to go in that direction. Keith Hernandez is here on the Rich Eisen show. Do not move an inch right here in studio. Nobel is a training brand for people who work hard and don't believe in excuses. Nobel's performance footwear, apparel, and accessories are worn by some of the fittest athletes on earth and is now the official combine training partner of the NFL and the official on-field supplier of apparel and headwear for the NFL scouting combine head to www dot Nobel project dot com slash NFL to see how Nobel forever changed the NFL combine and to shop football training essentials and more gear for your day to day workouts. Stay tuned to the rich eyes and show and keep your eyes on our Twitter feed and YouTube channel as I'm hosting a new segment sponsored by Nobel called from the combine to the draft.

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Buy new and improved dove men plus care antiperspirant wherever personal care products are sold. Keith Hernandez here on the rich eyes and show. Do you ever Steinburner story? Did he ever try to get you to the Yankees? Did that ever happen? No, no.

Okay. But when they won the world series when they came back a great world series when layer it's hit the home run against the Braves in the Braves, they came back on that one. And that was a turning point in the series. I was up at Elaine's after the seventh game.

Yes. And the Steinbrenner came in with his with his posse. And he came up to me I said, and I went to George and I said, George, this has been such a great thing for the city. And congratulations. And he goes, Hey, you weren't you weren't such a bad player.

You might have been you might have been able to look me in pinstripes. I'll never forget. I laugh. And so when you say Elaine's, you're talking about the bar, not been the restaurant. Okay. Yes. George. Yes.

Okay, we have to make sure certainly with you here. How did how did you wind up on Seinfeld? I wasn't two years retired. Scott Boris was my last agent, and I didn't need an eight.

I was retired. And for some reason, Jerry conceived this show. I was his favorite player. Jerry grew up in Brooklyn and was a Met fan. And I don't know why they didn't call the Mets to get a hold of me. They called Scott Boris. And Scott Boris called me from, you know, down in Newport Beach, and I'm in New York. And he said, and I didn't watch any primetime TV.

We played night games. And I didn't know what the Seinfeld show was. You had no idea.

I had no idea. It was the second season. And I believe it was the second or third season.

The show hadn't taken off. And Scott said, when you want to go do this show. And I said, in L.A., it's a set. And I go, what is it? He goes, it's a sitcom. And I go, well, how much are they going to pay me? And he said, they'll give you 15 grand and they'll fly your first class to L.A. and you're there for the whole week.

It's probably minimal lines. I said, OK, I'll do it. I was doing nothing. They this was Wednesday. They FedExed me the script and I got it on Friday.

I was getting on the airplane Saturday to go to L.A. minimal. I don't know the script now. Oh, I've never acted. I didn't want to act.

I never took I never took a class and there's nothing I aspired to be. Yeah. So I have known Marsha Mason, the great actress.

Oh, yeah. She was in Taos or in New Mexico. And I called her and I said, Marsha, I got this. And she told me how to memorize lines, which was line one, then say line one, line two, then one, two, three. She said, go to bed and do your lines, wake up in the morning and do them. And I memorized my lines. But I was petrified that whole week.

Well, I only wish if Marsha Mason's advice to you was if you're nervous, just say I'm Keith Hernandez. Right. And that's how that wound up in the script. Well, the funny thing about that one, when I had that do that line, which was as a voiceover, we were in the car doing the good night kiss scene.

Yes. And so Larry, after eight takes of that, which was wonderful. Larry is well, we got the we got the boom over your head. Let's just do the quick I'm Keith Hernandez. And I just said, well, how do you want me to say it?

And Larry was he was in the background. And I and I said, I'll tell you, just just tell me, how would you want me to say it? Then I'll do it right away.

Just have the tape rolling. So Larry said, I'm Keith Hernandez. And I just did it right then. And that was one take we were done. That's it.

Yep. Now, are you the one who roped Roger McDowall in or that was in the script? You were. They asked me who they wanted, who would be best for a second splitter. And I said, well, our practical joker was Roger McDowall.

I go, he's in Mississippi. And then Larry said, that's OK. So they got his number and they called him.

They flew him out. And he and he got to do that. That scene. Amazing.

Yeah, that is amazing. I mean, you know, it is one of the greatest episodes of Seinfeld, the two part. I didn't watch it. I watch it in bits with so many reruns.

Right. And I've only seen my show around my episode around maybe a handful of times. I get embarrassed, but I was just basically playing myself.

And the key was memorize your lines. And I did. And do you stay in touch with Jerry? I mean, he comes to the ballpark. We have him in the booth once a year.

I bet. And we have him in for like an inning. And he's terrific. And but no, he's got his own life. He's got a family. He's raising a family. Yes, he does.

And I'm sure he's very happy with the with the current state of the New York Metropolitan. Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah. Keith Hernandez here on the Rich Eisen show. What was it like playing first base when Dwight Gooden was on the mound? What was that like? Well, what was it like coming out every day with 50,000 people?

And on Monday night, maybe 35. And back in those days, you went to Shea Stadium to watch a ballgame. There was no restaurants and all this other stuff like like a county fair. When the game started, we would go out, you know, 20 minutes for the game, do our warm up. People were in their seats, and you could feel the energy.

But when Doc was out there, there was a certain higher level of it. Playing behind him, my angle would be here. Here's home plate. I'm looking home plate.

Doc's over here. So I'm seeing him pitching like this. And I couldn't really tell the fastball velocity. I knew when he threw up, it took off. But I could see his breaking ball. He had a big curve.

Everybody talks about his fastball. Didn't they call it Lord Charles instead of Uncle Charlie? It was Lord Charles. We called it a yellow hammer.

It just came straight down because boom. I saw him. I mean, then we got Cone and he had the Cone strikeout 200 and Sid struck out 200. So it was three pitchers in our rotation that were 200 plus strikeout guys. And it was just great to play behind him.

And Strawberry was as great as they come right from the get go. Darrell was to me the second coming of Willie McCovey. Because when McCovey came up with the Giants, I'm from San Francisco, and McCovey played left field because Cepeda was still playing first base.

They wound up trading Cepeda to the Cardinals. And after the 66 season, McCovey came in to play first base. But McCovey was a big stream being like Darrell. And Darrell, all of a sudden, when he came and grew into a man's body, he was a tank. And so was McCovey, the same way. And Darrell would have hit 500 home runs if he would have been able to stay on the field. And he was that great, obviously, from the beginning, him and Gooden together. You and Gary Carter being the last piece, missing piece?

He was the last. We got him in 85. That's one year we won 98 games and went home. Cardinals won 102. We had that great series the last week of the season in St. Louis. We won the first two games, we had to sweep. Darrell hit a home run off the right field scoreboard clock at Busch Stadium.

None, never seen anybody do that. And that won the game off Ken Daley hanging curve. And it was an extra innings. And we won that game by a run. And it was a full house. And you could hear it was a hush. The stadium just was like, they couldn't believe what they saw.

I couldn't. I played there for eight and a half years. No one came close to that, that scoreboard. And he did.

He has just some amazing power. Well then in 86, you made sure that you weren't going to lose by a small amount. You just won by 21 and a half games in 1986, the National League East. Won 108 games. And something I'm very proud of is that the Dodgers won 111 last year. So they became the 13th team, I think the 13th or 14th team in the history of baseball to win 108 games or more in a season. So we're in the with the 27 Yankees, the 31 Athletics.

It was kind of a nice little group. We're in the Orioles in 71, 72. 86 was insane. I mean, I will, that is one of the greatest post seasons in the history of baseball. Your series with the Astros was off the charts. And at the same time, the Red Sox were taking on the A's, right? Or the Angels? No, the Angels. We thought we were going to go, we thought we were going to California. Right. And then the Red Sox, Dave Henderson had one of the greatest home runs in the history of the post season as well. I'm just going to come out and ask you a straight up question.

I'm going to put you on the spot. Was Mike Scott messing with the baseballs? He was scuffing it.

It may not have been him. You know, Yogi had the razor blade and supposedly in a shin guard, right? For Whitey Ford. So Yogi would throw the ball back and he'd have a little device here and he would go down and it would just, it would scuff the ball for Whitey. Whitey would always brag about how, what he can do with a baseball if it was scuffed. The pitchers today, they get a ball on the ground or like Ron would say, I want that ball. It's given me another thing to grab the air. Pitchers today see it and they throw it out.

You're like, what are you doing? But Scott was scuffing. It was on the fat part of the ball.

It was, it was like someone had a file. Yeah. And he would only use it on his fastball. His fastball ran. He threw upstairs a two pitch pitcher, the foot finger, he threw hard. Yeah.

It dropped. And then he threw the fastball up here, could throw it down the middle and it would run left or right. And he knew what to do.

Run it away from left-handers, run it away from, and right-handers. Right. And he was throwing today's gun.

He would be in a 97. That was an incredible series. Then obviously Yankees, I mean the Red Sox Mets, 1986 World Series, Keith Hernandez here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's get to the 10th inning of game six. If I'm not mistaken, you were the second out, right? I made the second out. I hit a ball, fly ball to center, left center. I didn't hit it well. What'd you think as you went back to the dugout? Oh, I think we're done. It's the greatest comeback in, what did we score, three runs to win?

Right. Three runs, two outs, nobody on, facing elimination. It's the greatest single, I think, with your back to the wall comeback in World Series history. So when you got back to the dugout, it was just dead quiet? Is that what it was?

I did. I went down, I went back up to the locker room because I didn't want to see Boston in our field. So I go up into the, my locker and I could, my locker was the first locker and the manager's office was a hallway down there. And then Jay Horowitz was in there with Darryl Johnson, ironically, who was the manager of the Red Sox when they lost the World Series, I forget which year. It wasn't Zimmer the manager.

It was, but he, he was a former mentor. He was our head scout. So he called me into the room and I sat down and all of a sudden Carter gets a hit.

Kevin Mitchell gets a hit. Well, before you continue on, is it true Kevin Mitchell was with you in the locker room? He was in the locker room, but he was completely dressed and, and completely dressed in civilian.

Someone came up and said, you're going to pinch it. And he ran down. Is it true he was commando? Like he had nothing on underneath? No, he was completely clothed. No, but like he had, he just, the word is, am I telling you something new? No, he was not, that's, that's all.

That's urban, that's urban legend. Yeah. I thought, you know, use some of the Seinfeld reference. It was just only, what's the Seinfeld, the thin layer of gabardine, thin layer of gabardine between him and, uh, and the rest of the world.

No, he was completely clothed and he ran down, got his bat, got up and got a base hit, got a base hit. So now what do you think? So you know, I'm sitting in my chair in Davey's office with, and then Ron walks in darling.

Yeah. And I just said to everybody, no one move. They were your, uh, after our third hit, I go, these, we got hits here and all Shay, you've been to a concert at Madison square garden when it's like the seats are shaken.

That's how Shay was. Um, cause we were underneath the box seats and um, it was like, it was like being at a concert at a Bruce Springsteen concert at, uh, at, uh, Madison square garden. So I watched the whole thing on television, on television with Vin Scully on the call and the club. I should have been in the dugout, something I'm not proud of, but I wasn't going to leave. And so I didn't win it when we scored the winning run.

I didn't run out there. I greeted everybody at the clubhouse door, you know, it was amazing. It was amazing what happened.

Wow. You know, and ironically, Buckner, and I know when Matt, John McNamara was thinking Buckner drove in 117 runs that year. He's been there. Mookie was the right guy up and build a plate in the Dodgers and the Cubs knew Mookie ran everything out hard, the first base and could run like a Jack rabbit. And don't think that wasn't in the back of Buckner's mind when he sidled over down the line and the, cause it was, if it had been anybody else, he would have made the play. McNamara just wanted him on the field. Like he deserved to be on the field for, for celebrating.

Right. And just, and it's amazing how baseball's find people in this thing and it is, you know, yep. And so Mookie goes up the line and, and, and you know, when you tell these stories to people like, Oh, so the Mets won the world series like, nah, there was a game seven and there was a rain out, if I'm not mistaken as well.

And he gave Hearst another day's rest. He would have pitched on two days rest like Lomborg in 67 against Gibson in game seven, but he got an extra day's rest and he tuckered out and I got the base hit off him. You had three hits in that game, didn't you? I forget.

I drove in three runs. Yeah. So anyway, it was, those weren't fun at bats. I mean, ironically at 82 I had a same situation. Gene tennis pinched hit and Bob McClure was on the mound left-hander and he pitched around tennis to get to me open base and I got a base hit that tied the game.

Yeah. The seventh innings, the game seven, same situation. I couldn't believe it. I'm in the hole on deck circle, Tim tuffles up and Hearst pitches around him and walks them and I'm going, it's on me. I got nowhere to go.

Right. And, uh, we're losing by two runs, I believe. And, uh, I remember I looked up at my brother was in box seats behind home plate and he's always been my, my talisman. And he got up and gave me that big fist bump and it just kind of calmed me down. And then he leads me off with a curve ball that buckled me. And then I knew he was going to come inside. I choked up with all I needed was a single and I delivered, but those two at bats, they were very clutched at bats, but they, they weren't fun. It was when, when I succeeded, it was like the weight of the world. I took a deep breath.

Thank you Lord. And then you, you won the world series. Uh, what if there was Twitter for the 86 Mets? Oh, it would have been a disaster. I wouldn't have wanted Twitter and I didn't do any commercials when I played. Right.

I wanted to focus on the field, but do you like, you know, act at, uh, at the S you know, strawberry at Darryl. Can you imagine, right? Do you really think the players are doing it? They got people doing it for him. I don't know.

I think a player who sits home and, and, and goes on Twitter on a daily basis in season. Absolutely. It's crazy.

Absolutely. Because I, no question about it in my mind, how, and you know, a few more minutes left here with Keith Hernandez. So, um, your, your manager, um, Davey Johnson, how did he, how did he do that job with the personalities in that room? Because he was like one of us, he was an ex player, uh, or of obviously the world champion Orioles. Right. And he, then he played with the Braves and the Phillies. So he got it.

He was just a player's manager. He just always said, you know, uh, don't embarrass the organization. You come to the ballpark, come on time. You play hard.

I don't care what you do, but just don't embarrass the organization and come out every day ready to play. And it worked. Yep. I mean, there was a few times I was out late, you know, New York would go to five in the morning if you want, right?

Maybe six. Yeah. It was a couple of times I was out late on a Saturday night with a day game. When I go into Davey's office, I go, David, I'm not going to take BP today. I need to go back to the doctor's office and take a nap. And he said, go ahead. And I have the trainer wake me up.

This wasn't all the time. You know, it was just a couple of times I burnt the candle at both ends and I basically took care of myself, but there was times I didn't and the trainers would come wake me up at 12 noon and then have a cup of coffee and get, you know, I would sleep in my uniform and then one o'clock in, boom, go and get them. Amazing. Then we hear Van Gundy, Jeff Van Gundy was on the show yesterday talking about how I'm like, he talked about playoff games and basketball playoff games, Madison Square Garden, Knicks games and things of that nature. And I'm like, and you know, opponents would come in and give their best performance. And he goes, that's overrated.

He goes, this is New York City. Sometimes the visiting players would come in and they would be partying hard the night before essentially. And they, they weren't ready to play. He said, the thing that would concern him is that a team comes in on the back end of a back to back where they actually played the night before. They weren't in New York City to go out and hit it. Oh, that's a good point.

That was his concern is what he said. I love the, I love these stories. Can I get you for a few more minutes or do you have anywhere to go? Keith Hernandez is here on the Rich Eisen show. Couple more minutes left with him.

Let's talk a little bit more baseball 8 4 4 2 0 4. Rich is the number to dial as well. We're live here on the Roku channel here in Los Angeles where the Mets and Keith are in town. This episode is brought to you by YouTube. Now the new home of the NFL Sunday ticket YouTube TV is the easiest way to watch your favorite out of market NFL teams and gives you the option of watching at home on the big screen on your phone or on a laptop as you're recording your podcast. No satellite dish install required. Catch the lowest full season price of YouTube and YouTube TV when you sign up today and get $100 off of NFL Sunday ticket.

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You seen him in person now? Just one ganged up their bullpens banged up. They've got four of their guys that are out and they're not going to be back. And you know Lux was a horrific injury for them. They got I think Trey Turner is a heck of a player.

I would never let him go. I don't know why they did. I think he wanted to be on the East Coast.

I think it might have been a Trey Turner thing. That's why he wound up in Philly maybe. He was a free agent too, so it was his choice. But I think the Dodgers let him go. They wanted to move Lux to shortstop. Then Lux gets hurt. He sees an ending injury. And you got Rojas who's a nice backup player and he's not performing. I don't know.

You haven't got a Walker Bueller. Gonsolin is down. They're banged up right now. We're kind of catching them at the right moment.

But I do think they've taken a step back. There's no question. Which team do you think is the biggest challenge then? In the West? Just in National League. The Braves are off to a great start.

They're tough. Philly's a bit surprising. They're not pitching, particularly with those top three. They lost Suarez. I'd love to have left-hander Ranger Suarez. But they got Wheeler and the other guy. I can't think of him right now. Oh, Nola. Nola. And their team ERA is way over five.

I think it's way up there. They're not pitching at all. They're having a rough run. They lost their first baseman. They got hot last year, the second half of the season, and made a great run to the World Series.

I don't know if they can replicate that. But the Braves right now got to be an us. And the Padres, they're going to get the Tatis back soon.

The Padres, if they can pitch, they're going to be formidable. I don't know if the Mets have... Have you seen Otani yet in person? I have not. Okay. Actually, I have. We played the Angels last year down in Anaheim.

Okay. And just one game, but he didn't pitch. He didn't pitch.

I mean, he's been incredible. I don't know how many times you've looked out of the booth there in Citi Field and seen an Otani Mets jersey on somebody. That's what the guy in the corner behind you and all the Mets fans are thinking right now. Well, we've got our own Japanese pitcher in Senga right now, who I love. You've got the ghost pitch, which is never let anybody... That kind of gives it kind of an aura. It's a split finger.

Keep it simple. Don't give him too much credit, but I like his stuff. He's going to win. If he stays healthy, he's going to win. He's a good pitcher.

Well, I mean, Otani on tops too. I don't know how he can manage pitching every fifth day and playing every day. He seems to be doing it. I know. I mean, Babe Ruth did it, right?

Not too long though, right? Wouldn't we determine like just two years is all he did that for? We need to know that number off the top of our head, but he's unbelievable. I mean, he is truly a unicorn. I mean, I'm sure you could tell me about great hitting pitchers in your day and great hitters who might have been a pitcher, but he's doing it. I mean...

It's incredible. It's a lot on your plate. It's tough enough to play one position and... I don't know if you saw the video too that he keeps... He's the one... Because of the pitch clock and he has so many variables of pitches, he's calling the game himself and has the device, the pitch comm on his... Underneath his sleeve?

There's no shaking off now. Verlander in spring training loved it and said, I can call my own game. So he's going to do that. Yeah, but we haven't had him back. When are we going to see him? What do you think?

He should be, I think probably the first week of May, unless he has a setback. Okay. All right. You got any question, Mr. Men over there?

I'm sure you want to get something. You pretty much hit all the 86 stuff, so I'm just kind of just sitting back and enjoying this. 37 years, about time someone takes the crown off. The crown's heavy on all us guys.

Come on, let's get a winner. Do you and Darling ever have those conversations? Not really, but when the season's over, we're just, gosh, 30 years. Can you believe it? 32 years, can you believe it? Now it's 37, going on 38. Speaking on that, do you guys ever just sit back though and just kind of look at each other like, wow, we did that.

Because that team was exceptional. When we're together, when we have our 20th anniversary now, the next one's going to be the 40th. Yes. Wow. And so we'll see each other. And there's a certain sense of pride that season.

108 wins, you're right there with the Orioles and the Yankees and the Philadelphia Athletics, all the teams that won, and we're in that select group, 14 of us, that's something to be proud of. Who was the craziest one in that locker room? Seriously? Oh, McDowell was the, Lenny was nuts too.

You don't have to use the past tense sometimes for him as well. But I mean, so Roger, like what you got the greatest? Roger was a practical joke. What, you got the best practical joke from McDowell that you can tell?

We were on the West Coast playing at Dodger Stadium and there was a national anthem. And it had to be in late June because there was fire, he had firecrackers. He had tied together around five packs of firecrackers. We were struggling, scoring runs. And he lit them in where the bat rack was. And we're all up on the step. Top step. Well, not that we didn't do the top step, but we were just standing up, we were in the dugout. And all of a sudden, around five packs of firecrackers and smoke's coming up on our bats.

That's one of them. And he came out in Dodger Stadium too with a uniform on upside down. He put the pants over his head and the one leg on his face and he looked like James Darnass and the Thing. And he had one arm on the other pant leg. And he was like, like a monster. And he was like walking in front of the fans and playing before the game.

I remember going, Oh my God, I laughed my fanny off. Well, I mean, that just loosens you up. I mean, it's fun.

It's 162 games in 191 days. You've got to have fun. Would you say he was like the glue guy on the team that kind of kept you guys together? Was he the what? The glue guy. The glue guy that kept you together.

It wasn't the glue guy. He was a very important part, but he was the character on the team. And Hojo would do the hot foot. Howard Johnson.

Howard would do the hot foot. And so we had a bunch of characters. Yeah, I noticed. I definitely noticed. Keith, thanks for coming here, man.

I greatly appreciate it. So the Mets, are they in Anaheim coming back? Are you coming back? Anaheim comes to us.

Anaheim comes to you. Yeah, I'm hoping Otani pitches. If he pitches in Citi Field, I mean, I think he's coming to Yankee Stadium this week. Wouldn't it be great if it matched up him and Senda? That would be great. Oh my gosh, that would be great.

That would be fantastic. Him versus the polar bear, him versus everyone else on that team. And then again, he's just got to see, does he like that sort of vibe or does he like it out here in California? He's an athlete. The guys that are here are here because they accept the challenges. That's the great ones.

They accept the challenge. Well, say hi to Ron Darling for us and send our best to Gary Cohn, everyone else on SNY. Keith Hernandez here on the Rich Eisen Show.

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