Mets announcer Gary Cohen: ‘Keith, Ron, and I have had a really special bond’

Many New York Mets fans were thrilled last month when they learned that analyst Keith Hernandez would return to the SNY booth, joining announcer Gary Cohen and analyst Ron Darling for the 18th year.

Perhaps no one was more thrilled than Cohen.

“I think that Keith, Ron, and I have had a really special bond and I think it started from Day 1 because honestly when they put us together in 2006, none of us really had any idea what we were doing,” said Cohen on the latest episode of the Starkville podcast with Jayson Stark and Doug Glanville. “I was a radio guy moving to TV, Keith had kind of dabbled, but he hadn’t taken it seriously and Ron had done one year in Washington with very little direction and really was not particularly accomplished. I think we all leaned on each other from Day 1.”

The trio has made headlines over the years with their humorous asides and quirky in-game moments that often come out of a desire to support one another, even if it comes while cracking jokes.

“Nobody wants to be the star,” said Cohen “Everybody allows everybody else to shine. We genuinely get along with each other and we have a lot of fun. I think being in a dark room when we started and not really knowing what direction we were going, we kind of had to hold hands to find our way and I think we’ve done that.”

The long-running broadcast booth almost didn’t happen because Cohen came up as such a radio-first broadcaster. However, he eventually relented and seems pretty happy with the choice.

“I was a radio chauvinist and I really had no intention of ever moving over to TV,” said the 64-year-old. “But, when SNY started, they courted me and I reluctantly accepted. I never could have dreamed it would have gone this well.”

[Starkville, Barrett Sports Media]