March 25, 2011

Ralph & Liz

One of the great things about Mets broadcasts is having 89-year-old Ralph Kiner as an occasional announcer. He often visits for a couple of innings, says astute things about the players, and tells great stories about the old days of baseball.

He's been a Mets announcer for as long as the Mets have been around, and played in the late 40s and early 50s. Though his career was short, his bat landed him in the Hall of Fame. He's our very own baseball geezer, the voice of history who can tell us what Babe did at his locker, or what Sandy Koufax really thought about the game. His voice is frail and old, and he's sometimes hard to understand. But I think I speak for all Mets fans when I say we love having him around.

Anyway, during yesterday's game against the Cardinals, I was surprised when Keith Hernandez showed this photo of Ralph Kiner taking Liz Taylor to the Oscars. Ralph! Who knew? And while looking this photo up, I found photos of him with Esther Williams and other "starlets". Our Ralph was apparently Jack the Lad. I'm glad for him. As Keith pointed out, Kiner's had quite the American life. And as a tag-on note to Liz's passing this week, I thought it was very nice that they included it in the broadcast.

2 comments:

Anna Guess Pick said...

They mentioned this as well on that Cubs/Sox game you suggested to me. Nice to see Elizabeth remembered by baseball. Don't you love the fact that she directed her funeral to start fifteen minutes late - late to her own funeral indeed!

writenow said...

I read about her engineering the late arrival. I loved it. Glad you caught the game, though it was a silly Mets blowout. Still, you heard our guys. I was proud of them, talking intelligently about the game, and often cheering the other team. They make the games enjoyable by not acting like 12-year-old brats (like some of the other announcers).