'Ralph Kiner: 50 Amazin' Years'
By Michael Malone
Ralph Kiner: 50 Amazin’ Years, 7 p.m., July 21, SNY
There may not be a whole lot of joy in Metsville this season, but Ralph Kiner’s 50th anniversary of broadcasting Mets games certainly qualifies for a reason to celebrate. Mets network SNY offers a fun retrospective on the iconic broadcaster, Ralph Kiner: 50 Amazin’ Years, at 7 p.m. ET July 21, with broadcast colleagues Vin Scully, Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling and Tim McCarver, among others, saluting this king of Queens.
50 Amazin’ Years looks briefly at Kiner’s Hall of Fame playing career, and his time as an A-list American hero, including dating Elizabeth Taylor after the two were set up by Bing Crosby. The special then moves on to an Emmy winning broadcast career that started when the Mets first took the field in 1962. Kiner, Lindsey Nelson and Bob Murphy ended up covering the Metsies together for a whopping 17 years.
The special is as much about how sports broadcasting has changed in the past half century as it’s about Kiner. At one point, Kiner-who at 88 still works some Mets home day games, with an endless supply of entertaining baseball stories that are appropriate to what’s going on on the field-speaks about recreating games based on ticker tape feeds.
50 Amazin’ Years also looks at Kiner’s Korner, the delightfully cheesy post-game show helmed by Kiner for decades from a set that looks like it was built in your parents’ wood-paneled basement. Numerous players, including Hernandez, Rusty Staub and Ron Darling, commented on how much the appearance fees meant to players. “I’ll always remember the $100 bill you got,” says Hernandez, who’s currently part of the Mets’ broadcast crew. “It went a long way.”
We would’ve liked to see footage of Kiner’s infamous interview with former Mets catcher Choo Choo Coleman. (Kiner: “What’s your wife’s name and what’s she like?” Coleman: “My wife’s name is Mrs. Coleman and she likes me, Bub.”) But we did get a few chuckles out of hearing some of Kiner’s more notorious malapropisms (former Mets catcher was frequently referred to as Gary Cooper, and booth partner Tim McCarver was Tim McArthur).
The final segment, in which a number of baseball notables address the camera directly with gushy praise for Kiner, feels a tad overwrought. But Kiner’s titanic presence in the broadcast booth-in the ‘60s and today-is evident in the baseball lifers’ testimonials.
“I will defer to Ralph,” Hernandez says. “I wanna hear what Ralph has to say.”
Basir commented:
1961- March 6, 1961 The New York Metropolitan Baseball Club Inc., formally rvceiees a certificate of membership from National League President Warren Giles. The Mets' name was judged by club owner Joan Payson as the one that best met five basic criteria:1) It met public and press acceptance;2) It was closely related to the team's corporate name (Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc);3) It was descriptive of the metropolitan area;4) It had a brevity that delighted copy readers everywhere;5) It had historical background referring to the Metropolitans of the 19th century American Association. Other names considered included Rebels, Skyliners, NYBs, Burros (for the five boroughs), Continentals, Avengers as well as Jets and Islanders, names that would eventually find their way onto the New York sports scene.May 8, 1961 New York's National League club announces that the team nickname will be Mets, a natural shortening of the corporate name ( New York Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc. ) October 10, 1961 In the first expansion draft in National League history, the Mets spend $ 1.8 million to draft 22 players at the Netherland-Hilton Hotel in Cincinnati. October 28, 1961 Ground is broken for Flushing Meadows Park. November 16, 1961 The circular Mets logo, designed by sports cartoonist Ray Gatto, was unveiled. It has gone virtually unchanged throughout the history of the club. The shape of the insignia, with its orange stitching, represents a baseball, and the bridge in the foreground symbolizes that the Mets, in bringing back the National League to New York, represent all five boroughs. It's not just a skyline in the background, but has a special meaning. At the left is a church spire, symbolic of Brooklyn, the borough of churches. The second building from the left is the Williamsburg Savings Bank, the tallest building in Brooklyn. Next is the Woolworth Building. After a general skyline view of midtown comes the Empire State Building. At the far right is the United Nations Building. The Mets' colors are Dodger blue and Giant orange, symbolic of the return of National League baseball to New York after the Dodgers and Giants moved to California. Blue and Orange are also the official colors of New York State. 1962 April 11, 1962 The Mets play the first official game in franchise history, an 11-4 loss to the Cardinals in St. Louis.April 13, 1962 The Mets play the first home game in franchise history, a 4-3 Pirate victory at the Polo Grounds. April 23, 1962 The Mets secure the first victory in franchise history with a 9-1 victory in Pittsburgh. Bob
spencer koch commented:
michael
you might recall i worked for ralph from 67-71..as you know,emory university is in atlanta..when i went off to atlanta in 69 to go to emory,ralph was kind enough to make note of it.."we want to say good bye to our production assistant spencer koch who is leaving to enter his freshman year at emory university in alabama"