To say Major League Baseball has changed would be putting it mildly.
But one constant since the game has evolved has been SNY’s broadcast being among the best in the sport. And even if Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling (and Gary Cohen) are a bunch of old-timers who will tell you how the game once was when they played, there’s still value in that perspective.
And sometimes that perspective can lead to some interesting stories, particularly from the oft-unfiltered Hernandez. The New York Mets analyst and former first baseman for the team (1983-89) and St. Louis Cardinals (1974-83) shared an anecdote about how umpires used to get hit during his playing days, and there were instances when it was done intentionally.
Hernandez shared as much after the first pitch from Luis Severino to Brandon Marsh in the third inning of Saturday’s Mets-Philadelphia Phillies game went right off the home plate umpire’s kneecap. Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez failed to secure the pitch and it immediately hit Todd Tichenor square on the knee.
It was by no means intentional, perhaps Alvarez got crossed up or just didn’t squeeze the outside pitch tight enough. In any event, it was a miss and you move onto the next one. That was after Tichenor got checked out by the Phillies’ training staff.
“There was a time, folks, when an umpire in the minor leagues had a bad day, that the catcher would call a breaking ball, and the pitcher would throw a fastball, and he’d drop his glove on purpose and hit the umpire,” said Hernandez. “I saw it twice in my minor league career. That didn’t happen this time, certainly.”
“There was a time, folks, when an umpire in the minor leagues had a bad day, that the catcher would call a breaking ball, and the pitcher would throw a fastball, and he would drop his glove on purpose and hit the umpire. I saw it twice.” – Keith Hernandez pic.twitter.com/yASZDJRzgC
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 16, 2024
But Hernandez did witness it on multiple occasions in his minor league career, both times in Triple-A with a handful of ex-Major Leaguers, who were trying to make their way back to the bigs.
Cohen asked Hernandez if there was any repercussions for such instances.
“Oh, one umpire got very, very hot,” he said. “Hit him right in the mask both times it happened.
Those days of “sending messages” to umpires may be long gone, but Hernandez’s recollections of his minor league playing days remind us just how much the game has changed. From unwritten rules to advanced analytics and everything in between, Major League Baseball today is a far cry from where it once was.
