SNY’s 10th anniversary is a month away (March 16) and the three names most synonymous with the network — Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling — talked about how their Mets booth came together and how long they intend to stay there.
As with most things Mets these days, it can be traced back to the 1980s, when Darling and Hernandez were teammates on the Mets’ last World Series-winning team in 1986.
Hernandez: “Ron marched to his own drummer, could be a bit aloof, but we got along great.”
Darling: “I got to know Keith more than a lot of Mets players because we were two of the rare Mets players [who] lived in the city. After day games, we’d all go to dinner with Rusty Staub. I wouldn’t say Keith and I were blood brothers, but I was certainly closer to Keith than most players on the team.”
In the summer of 2005, Hernandez was doing part-time work as a Mets analyst, Darling was a rookie analyst in the Nationals booth and Cohen was the radio voice of the Mets.
And the Mets were months away from launching SNY.
Darling: “I remember seeing Keith in Washington and he said, ‘The Mets are starting their own channel. Wouldn’t it be great if you and I could work together?’ I thought it was kind of a throwaway line because it seemed like a thousand things that had to happen right for that to come to pass. I didn’t think twice about it. Then in January ’06, I got called in — and I know Jon Litner (former SNY president) and Curt Gowdy Jr. (executive producer) had the choice of many more experienced names and I am very grateful they took a chance on me. It seemed too much like a fairy tale and it still is.”
It was soon announced that Cohen, Darling and Hernandez would be the Mets booth on the new network. They are now entering their 11th season together.
Cohen: “There was a memorable moment from five minutes before we went on the air for the first time together in a spring-training game. It sounds so simple now, but in retrospect it was a moment of brilliance. Keith turned to Ronnie and said: ‘You do the pitching and I’ll take care of the hitting.’ … I think we benefited from the fact that none of us really knew what we were doing. So, we really had to lean on each other and that really helped us in creating a bond and really establishing a feeling of everyone was dependent on everybody else and evolved from there.”
Darling: “I have worked in a lot of booths where not everyone wants to share the spotlight of a broadcast and these guys always do and it’s a credit to them. Whoever is on a roll is allowed to stay on that roll.”
Hernandez: “I’ve always said Gary is the backbone of the broadcast. During the blowouts is when he is at his best. He keeps us engaged. Sometimes there’s a bad game, and I can drift a little bit, but Gary doesn’t let that happen.”
Hernandez signed a contract extension this offseason and all three said they have no plans on leaving the booth anytime soon.
Darling: “I can’t ever envision not doing Mets games.”
Cohen: “I’ll be here as long as they’ll have me. Keith is enjoying this more and more as he gets older and I don’t think Ronnie has any intention of going anywhere, either. We all get it that we are stronger than the sum of our parts. It’s obviously dependent on some factors that have nothing to do with us, but if we had our druthers, we’d be together as long as we are able to sit up and take nourishment.”