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Keith Hernandez

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Template:Mlbretired Keith Hernandez (born October 20, 1953 in San Francisco, California) is a former Major League Baseball first baseman of Spanish and part Scots-Irish descent, who played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1974-1983), New York Mets (1983-1989), and Cleveland Indians (1990). He batted and threw left-handed, and through most of his career was listed as being 6 feet tall and 195 pounds.

Hernandez attended Capuchino High School and the College of San Mateo (also known as San Mateo Junior College).

Professional career

Hernandez was drafted by the Cardinals in the 42nd round of the 1971 draft, as the 776th overall player. He was perceived to be a character risk because he sat out his entire senior year of high school due to a dispute with a coach. [1] He quickly rose to the upper echelon in the League. In 1979, he led the league with a .344 batting average, 48 doubles, and 116 runs scored, and went on to share the National League's Most Valuable Player Award with Willie Stargell.

In 1982, the Cardinals won the World Series, defeating the Milwaukee Brewers in seven games. In Game 6, Hernandez and Cardinal catcher Darrell Porter hit home runs in a 13-1 St. Louis victory.

After multiple disagreements with Cardinal management, most notably including manager Whitey Herzog, Hernandez was traded to the Mets on June 15, 1983. The Cardinals received pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey in return. The trade was arguably the best in Mets history (or, at least, before the acquisition of future Hall of Fame catcher Mike Piazza). From a strictly talent standpoint, it was a terrible one for the Cardinals, but Manager Whitey Herzog felt that Hernandez had become a cancer on his team [2]and never regretted the trade. He soon replaced Hernandez with fellow All-Star Jack Clark and won two more pennants in the next four years. With the Mets, Hernandez was determined to prove Herzog wrong, helping to fuel a rivalry between the two teams in the mid-1980s.

In 1985, Hernandez's cocaine use, which had been the subject of persistent rumors and the chief source of friction between Hernandez and Herzog, became a matter of public record as a result of the Pittsburgh trial of drug dealer Curtis Strong. Hernandez made a successful recovery.

Further information: Pittsburgh drug trials

Hernandez wore uniform number 18 for the first two years of his career. In 1976, he switched to number 37, insisting that his uniform number end with a "7" in honor of Mickey Mantle. The Mets had retired number 37 for former manager Casey Stengel, so Hernandez switched to number 17, which he wore for the remainder of his career. His arrival and veteran leadership seemed to give the Mets confidence and credibility. In 1984, his first full season with the team, the Mets improved from a record of 68-94 to 90-72. The Mets finished second behind the Chicago Cubs in 1984 and the Cardinals in 1985, but won the World Series in 1986. The following season, Hernandez was named the first team captain in franchise history.

Hernandez was often compared to New York Yankees first baseman Don Mattingly. Both had won several Gold Gloves, a batting title and a Most Valuable Player award. Unfortunately, both players also had their careers curtailed by back injuries. Hernandez also suffered from knee and hamstring problems. By 1988, at the age of just 34, Hernandez began a sharp decline, and the Mets chose not to re-sign him after his contract ran out at the close of the 1989 season.

On December 7, 1989, the Cleveland Indians signed Hernandez to a contract, but back injuries led to his appearance in only 43 games in the 1990 season. Hernandez retired after the season.

Hernandez never received enough support from the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 2004, after nine years on the ballot, he received votes from fewer than 5% of the writers, thus ending his eligibility. Hernandez may still be considered for induction by the Veterans Committee in 2011, twenty years after his retirement.

Defensive skills

According to Marty Noble of MLB.com, Keith Hernandez may have been the best defensive first baseman in MLB history. For instance, Hernandez had such a strong, accurate throwing arm that, as a result, the Mets re-routed their relays through him.

Also, due to his quick instincts, Hernandez was able to play farther off first base than other first basemen, allowing the other infielders to play farther to their right.

He was the most aggressive first baseman, occasionally discouraging opponents to bunt merely by reputation. Pete Rose, when he managed the Cincinnati Reds, compared bunting against Hernandez to "driving the lane against Bill Russell," and Jim Frey, the Chicago Cubs manager, said he wouldn't ask most pitchers to bunt against the Mets. "You're just asking for a forceout at second, and now you've got your pitcher running the bases," he said.

Astros manager Hal Lanier said the combination of Hernandez at first and any one of three Mets pitchers -- Ron Darling, Roger McDowell or Jesse Orosco -- made bunting against the Mets "near impossible."

Hernandez also revolutionized the position -- until umpires disallowed what he did -- by taking pickoff throws while essentially squatting in foul territory so that he could make tags to his right more readily. (Positioning oneself in foul territory is now illegal, according to official baseball rules, which state that all defensive players except the catcher must be positioned in fair territory while the ball is pitched.)

Furthermore, Marty Noble of MLB.com estimated that the difference between Hernandez’s defensive abilities and any other first baseman is greater than the differences separating the top two defenders at any other position. For example, whether one believes that Ozzie Smith, Omar Vizquel or Mark Belanger was the best defensive shortstop, one would also recognize the other two as comparable. The same with Willie Mays, Andruw Jones, Paul Blair and Ken Berry in center field or Jim Kaat, Greg Maddux or Bobby Shantz among pitchers.

Therefore, although Don Mattingly, John Olerud, Mike Squiers, Vic Power, Ferris Fain, George Scott and Gil Hodges were comparable to Hernandez, none was so aggressive or active as Hernandez. Jack Lang covered Hodges at his best and, later, Hernandez. At some point in the summer of 1984, he acknowledged Hernandez was a superior first baseman.

Achievements

Retirement

Hernandez has enjoyed success in his post-baseball career. He has become an author, writing two books, "If at First: A Season With the Mets" (his diary of the Mets' 1985 season) and "Pure Baseball: Pitch by Pitch for the Advanced Fan". "Pure Baseball" gives fans a detailed pitch-by-pitch player's look into baseball strategy.

Hernandez guest starred as himself in "The Boyfriend," a two-part 1992 episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. In the episode, Hernandez dated Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Jerry Seinfeld (himself) developed the male-bonding equivalent of a crush on him. A subplot of the episode spoofed the "Magic Bullet Theory" from the JFK assassination. On June 14, 1987, the Mets were playing the Philadelphia Phillies at Shea Stadium. Hernandez committed an error in the ninth inning, allowing the Philies to score five runs, costing the Mets the game. Hernandez exited the player's gate, where Kramer (Michael Richards) and Newman (Wayne Knight) were waiting. Newman told him, "Nice game, pretty boy!" Kramer and Newman then spent the next five years claiming that Hernandez had spit on them, when in fact they learned that it was really Mets pitcher Roger McDowell (a "second spitter", as Jerry had postulated). Coincidentally, Wayne Knight, who plays Newman, appeared in JFK. (In reality, the Mets were on the road that day, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-3 at Three Rivers Stadium. There is no record of Hernandez making such a rally-aiding ninth-inning error in real life.) Hernandez also appeared in the final episode of Seinfeld, which aired in 1998.

Hernandez is also a baseball commentator, currently serving as the Mets game analyst on SportsNet New York and WPIX television broadcasts.

Criticism

In the February 27, 1995 issue of Sports Illustrated, writer Tom Verducci criticized Hernandez for his negative influence on young Mets stars Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, whose careers were shortened by substance abuse problems:

The most influential player on those Met teams of the mid- to late-1980s was Hernandez, the smarmy first baseman who, during 1985 drug trials in Pittsburgh involving 23 baseball players, admitted using cocaine while he was with St. Louis in the early '80s. Hernandez advised Strawberry on how to break out of a batting slump: Go out and get totally smashed. Strawberry remembers the time Hernandez told him he'd found the perfect drink, of which he needed only five or six in a night: "Dry martini," Strawberry says, laughing.[2]

On April 22, 2006, Hernandez created a controversy during the broadcast of a game against the San Diego Padres. After witnessing Padres team massage therapist Kelly Calabrese giving San Diego catcher Mike Piazza a high five in the dugout after he hit a home run, Hernandez said, "Who is the girl in the dugout, with the long hair? What's going on here? You have got to be kidding me. Only player personnel in the dugout." After Hernandez was informed later in the broadcast that Calabrese was a club employee, he maintained his position, stating, "I won't say that women belong in the kitchen, but they don't belong in the dugout." After the game, San Diego manager Bruce Bochy expressed displeasure with Hernandez's comments.[3] Keith apologized and alluded to his words being nothing more than tomfoolery by saying, "You know I am only teasing. I love you gals out there — always have."

New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick added his take on the controversy:

He tried to represent that Kelly Calabrese didn't belong in the dugout, in uniform, because she had no immediate on-field official business. But his original gripe was with a woman being in the dugout. Such is Keith Hernandez. He's arrogant, vain, condescending, impolitic, opinionated, judgmental, profane, sarcastic, obnoxious and scornful. And because of it, rather than in spite of it, he's among the best pure baseball analysts we've ever heard or ever hoped to hear. I suppose that our advice to Hernandez would be to better choose his spots, better pick his fights. But if that means pulling his punches or ignoring something that bothers him, we don't want that, either. [3]

Trivia

  • Eleven different Met players have worn his number 17 in the 16 seasons since Hernandez left, most notably, pitcher David Cone. In 1991, Cone switched from 44 to 17 in tribute to Hernandez. Former teammates Ron Darling, Bob Ojeda and Roger McDowell all wore number 17 in tribute to Hernandez for teams they played for after leaving the Mets.
  • Is a strong supporter of the Alzheimer's Association, New York City Chapter. His mother, Jacqueline Hernandez lost a nine-year battle with Alzheimer's in 1989.
  • Along with fellow New York sports legend-turned-broadcaster Walt Frazier of the New York Knicks, has been a spokesperson for the Just for Men hair-care line.
  • Is nicknamed "Mex", although his heritage is part Spaniard and part Scots-Irish, not Mexican.
  • Is an American Civil War buff.
  • Claims Victor Hugo is his favorite author.
  • Known to frequent Elaine's, New York City's famed Upper East Side night spot.
  • Married to Kai Whitman Thomson. Rusty Staub, the former Met star and teammate of Hernandez, gave Kai away at the Jupiter, Florida wedding. Hernandez and Thomson were both previously married.
  • Represented by agent Don Buchwald, who also represents Howard Stern.
  • Was used as an archetype in independent filmmaker Rob Perri's film "I'm Keith Hernandez" [4]. The film played at the 2007 New York Underground Film Festival.
  • Inspiration for a blog aimed at getting Keith in the Hall of Fame entitled Quest for Keith
  • Credits his father for helping him out of a batting slump in 1985. His father would observe his at-bats on TV and note than when Keith was hitting well, he could see both the "1" and the "7" on his uniform on his back as he began to stride into the pitch. Not seeing both numbers meant Keith was bailing out on inside pitches, trying too hard to pull the ball, and vulnerable to outside fastballs or outside breaking pitches.
  • His father played ball with Stan Musial when they were both in the Navy during World War II.
  • Won the "Mustache Madness" contest on newsday.com in 2007.

See also

See also


References

  1. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=2894316
  2. ^ Whitey Herzog w/Jonathan Pitts, You're Missin' a Great Game, 1999, p.188-89.
  3. ^ "Bochy takes shot at Hernandez's remarks", Associated Press, published April 23, 2006, accessed April 23, 2006.
  4. ^ [1] Film Website
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