The New York Mets believe they have the best TV broadcast in baseball, just don’t boast about it on The Michael Kay Show.
The Subway Series kicked off Monday night, with the YES Network featuring the Yankees announcers and SNY featuring the Mets booth. Monday afternoon, SNY ran a promo on ESPN New York radio during The Michael Kay Show, promoting their broadcast of the Subway Series which features Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling. Naturally, as the host of The Michael Kay Show and the TV voice of the Yankees, Kay took issue with SNY promoting their booth on his radio show.
“What I’m going to say right now might get me into some trouble…” pic.twitter.com/YtGlTlzw49
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“Their ad, which ran during the last break, ‘Enjoy the Subway Series with the best booth in baseball.’ I mean, do you expect me to just take that lying down?” Kay asked co-hosts Don La Greca and Peter Rosenberg. “I think our booth is the best booth in baseball. You know who the host of the show is…I’ll take O’Neill, Cone and me over Gar, Ron and Keith. I would. I mean, they’re great, but so is our booth. The way you want people to watch is to say, ‘Join the best booth in baseball?’ I’m sorry, I think we’re the best booth in baseball.”
If Kay has an issue with anyone, it should be with the radio station’s sales department. But SNY is paying for that ad, it’s not like they hacked The Michael Kay Show in hopes of brainwashing his audience. La Greca and Rosenberg called Kay out for his rant, believing it was sort of ridiculous to knock SNY for wanting to declare their booth the “best in baseball” in a paid advertisement. In Kay’s defense, how is he supposed to ignore that commercial running on his show about a game he’s going to be calling?
“I think they should feel that way,” Kay continued. “And I feel that way [about the YES booth]. But you also have to be somewhat out of a mindset of being completely clueless to run that on THE MICHAEL KAY SHOW.”
“Does it make sense for them to have the host of the show retort what they said?” Kay asked. “And I’m a big fan of Gary, Ron and Keith. I think they do a great job. But to say, ‘Best booth in baseball’ when one of the hosts of the show that you’re running it on is in the other booth.”
Full disclosure: I am a Mets fan who adores listening to Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling on SNY every summer since 2006. The New York Yankees have a very good play-by-play voice in Michael Kay, which is why I recently wrote he should be their radio announcer in the playoffs. But YES rotates through too many analysts for their booth to have the type of chemistry the Mets broadcast has developed over the last 18 years.
SNY is right to believe they have the best booth and Kay, who is admittedly petty, should certainly defend the product he creates on YES Network. For what it’s worth, last year’s MLB local broadcaster rankings poll conducted by Awful Announcing saw the Giants finish first, the Mets finish 2nd, and the Yankees finish 24th.
