It was a nice tribute to Ralph Kiner over the weekend. Being a Met fan for over 30 years, I grew up with him. He used to be my favorite announcer, when I was a child. As I got older, I realized some of his shortcomings as an announcer, yet I still enjoyed listening to Ralph.
I always loved watching Kiner’s Korner. Nowadays it is commonplace to hear players conduct live interviews right after a game, but growing up, it did not occur frequently. Kiner’s Korner was great for this and Ralph actually did a masterful job.
It was also a treat seeing some of the people who were on hand for the ceremonies. It was fun trying to see who I recognized and who I did not. It was fun seeing if I could guess the ‘identity’ of the next guest, as they gave us information about that person, before they announced the name. The following are just some random thoughts about some of those on hand:
Ed Kranepool—I grew up with him but when did he get so old? I never would have guessed his identity just by looking at him. Still, when they talked about an original Met, playing his entire career with the Mets and a first baseman, I knew just who it was.
Joe Pignatano—It was just interesting and even a little fun hearing the name of one of the coaches who was with the Mets when I first started following (The others I remember were Rube Walker as the pitching coach, Roy McMillan at first and Edie Yost at third).
Rusty Staub—I thought he looked excellent.
Tom Seaver—When did he get so fat?
Jerry Koosman—He was my favorite Met growing up. When they talked about winning games two and five of the 1969 World Series, I knew immediately who it was. Koosman, however, was another one I would not have recognized just by sight.
All in all, it was fun to relive some of the Met memories of my childhood.
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