Keith Hernandez’s level of authenticity in the broadcast booth is unmatched in Major League Baseball and all sports.
While he may get himself into trouble , Hernandez has a knack for speaking his mind. Who else would talk about popping an inflatable Grimace with an ice pick during a 4-2 game in the seventh inning? You never know what Hernandez might say, and that’s certainly the beauty of his presence in the booth.
Sure, it has its downfalls, but there’s a reason why he’s Keith Hernandez. According to the SNY New York Mets analyst, one of his biggest influences in the booth was his late director, Bill Webb, who passed away in 2017 at the age of 70.
During a “flip-the-script” segment at Citi Field, Hernandez shared these insights in a conversation with Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo, where they interviewed each other.
“Our late director, Bill Webb, who won 45 Emmys, he kind of recognized my personality in the booth as I was starting,” Hernandez explained. “He said, ‘You never want to be the class clown, but your personality’s great. Keep it up, you’re funny.’ It’s just like when you talk to players you play against when you talk about hitting. You pick up little things here, so it’s the same principle.”
Nimmo wanted to know what it’s like for Hernandez to have someone in his ear at all times, but that’s not what wrecks Hernandez’s nerves.
“The tough part was looking at the camera in the open,” he says. “Everybody’s going, ‘Just pretend it’s your girlfriend or your mom and dad.’ It’s not my mom and dad. It’s not my girlfriend. It’s a camera. It took me a long time to get comfortable. When you’re doing an open, you can’t be looking over here; you have to talk to the guy sitting on the sofa. And that was the hardest part. It took me a long time to get comfortable.”
“I still don’t feel comfortable.”
Hernandez is still uncomfortable, but you could never tell how he commands such a unique presence in the booth. Obviously, a cold open is only part of three hours or more on whatever number of broadcasts Hernandez does during a 162-game season, but it’s still important nonetheless.
You’d never guess that Hernandez would ever be uncomfortable in the booth, but staring into a camera isn’t easy for anyone; ask Nimmo. And that resonated with Hernandez, who admitted that he struggled as an interviewee in the early portion of his playing career.
“I was a terrible interviewer when I was a young kid coming up in the big leagues,” Hernandez added. “I was self-conscious. It took me a while. I was insecure, and then all of a sudden, you were getting interviewed on the local news.”
Based on his media acumen, Hernandez seems like a player who would’ve conducted himself well with the media. That didn’t happen until he became a vested veteran, though, having entered the center of the media market in his later 20s with the New York Mets. He’s since carried that into a successful broadcasting career in one of baseball’s most entertaining booths.
As for Nimmo, he certainly has the charisma to seek a career in Hernandez’s path down the line. His inquiry questions seemed like guinea curiosity rather than planning his post-baseball playing career. But, hey, he has tried his hand at play-by-play before, so you never know.
[ SNY ]
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