Gary Cohen praises the Devils for giving him his shot with the Mets

If you’re a New York Mets fan who loves listening to Gary Cohen call games, send the New Jersey Devils a thank-you note.

Cohen joined the latest episode of the First Time Listener Long Time Caller podcast hosted by Cole Critchell, and Mets beat writer for Newsday, Laura Albanese. During the interview, Cohen was asked about his first Mets broadcast on May 4, 1988. The Mets beat the Houston Astros 8-0 and Sid Fernandez was the winning pitcher. But according to Cohen, he had to turn down an earlier offer to call a Mets game, not knowing if the opportunity would ever arise again.

At the time, Cohen was calling games for the Pawtucket Red Sox, while Gary Thorne was calling Mets games on the radio alongside legendary play-by-play voice Bob Murphy. Thorne had also taken a job as the Devils’ play-by-play voice that season. And after a string of bad years, the Devils advanced to the playoffs.

“Gary (Thorne) was gonna miss a Mets game to do a Devils playoff game. Mike Ryan, the Mets director of broadcasting, called me and said, ‘We’d like to have you fill in.’ I was all excited and went to my boss in Pawtucket,” Cohen explained. “And he said, ‘We have a game that night.’ And I was devastated. I figured this was my only chance, and I was never gonna get to do a game.”

The Devils were in the first round of the playoffs, and if they advanced, Thorne would be forced to miss another Mets broadcast. It just so happened that the Pawtucket Red Sox were also off that night, freeing Cohen up to potentially step in for Thorne.

“I’ve never been more nervous than I was listening to that game,” Cohen recalled as he listened to the Devils’ playoff game on the radio from Massachusetts. Ultimately, the Devils won, advanced to the second round, and Cohen’s first Mets broadcast was scheduled.

Naturally, the nerves followed Cohen right into his first broadcast, where he was working with one of his idols, Bob Murphy. When Murphy threw the broadcast to Cohen, he made it through the lineups, but then he froze. Cohen was live on air during his first broadcast with the New York Mets and could not speak.

“I have no idea what I’m supposed to do next, I have no idea what I’m supposed to say next, and I am frozen,” Cohen said. “Bob, in his avuncular way, reached over, patted my hand, and just started talking. And from there I was fine.”

Cohen called three innings of play-by-play alongside Murphy. And that winter, when Thorne left the Mets to focus on his responsibilities with the Devils, Cohen was named his replacement. 17 years later, Cohen went from radio to TV, where he had little experience, but quickly formed what is now regularly considered by some the best booth in baseball alongside Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling.

Praise the Devils.