MLB announcer blasts colleague's critics

Last week saw a little bit of a back-and-forth, more so than a feud between the YES Network broadcast booth and SNY.

While Michael Kay doesn’t have an issue with Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, or Ron Darling, he did take exception to the notion that they would advertise themselves as the “best booth in baseball” and do so during an episode of The Michael Kay Show at that.

SNY traded barbs during a Rain Delay, but it was all in good fun.

And while some may have seen a budding rivalry, Kay wants it to be known, that couldn’t be further from the truth. A caller on TMKS , James in Little Neck, New York, called in to complain about Cohen to Kay and Peter Rosenberg. The latter was particularly curious about James’s throwaway remark about the New York Mets play-by-play voice.

“I’m not a Gary Cohen fan. I like Keith. I like Ron. This guy just talks and talks and gets annoying after a while.”

“If you watch the play-by-play, and I watch every game this year, the guy just spews out useless information. I understand he’s a historian of the organization, and that’s fine. But it gets annoying after a while. The clever quips and some of the other information that he just spews out literally — for me — take away from the game. As opposed to, and I don’t want to blow smoke up Michael, I watch Yankees games too; Michael reports the game. He calls the play-by-play. He doesn’t have to be the center of attention the way this guy does. I don’t even know how Keith Hernandez puts up with him because he’s constantly trying to upstage him.

They let him have his say, but Kay couldn’t help but interrupt, letting James know how wrong he was.

“James, thanks for the phone call,” said Kay. “Gary Cohen’s outstanding. I can’t sit here and have some people criticize Gary Cohen. Gary Cohen is one of the best in baseball. He’s outstanding. He’s part of the Mets’ furniture. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that.”

In defense of Cohen, Kay’s unsure what people want from play-by-play guys.

“We’ve got to give stats. We got to tell stories,” said Kay. “A quick game is 2:30, Peter – a quick game! And it’s not constant action. So, he’s got an unbelievable grip of the history of the Mets. He’s gonna tell those stories. I can’t abide by that…I think most fans of both teams love the fact that the two announcers are immersed in the history because they grew up loving the team.

“That’s a big part of it now. If it was a carpetbagger who came in and became the announcer. It wouldn’t be in his soul. I mean, the Mets are in Gary’s soul. The Yankees are in my soul. They’re in John Sterling’s soul. They’re in Howie Rose’s soul. I don’t know what you’re getting at.”

Neither do we.

[ TMKS ]

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