Friday, February 07, 2014

But He Was Our Bumbling Idiot

If you grew up a Mets fan, you grew up listening to Ralph Kiner. He had been broadcasting Mets games since the very beginning. I'd like to say he was a great announcer who expertly imparted his knowledge of the game to the fans. But I don't want to lie about a guy just because he died.
Kiner will be best remembered for the funny things he said, even if he didn't actually say all of them.
The most famous of his malaprops is "It's Father's Day today, so to all you fathers out there, happy birthday."
Before he became a bumbling announcer Kiner was actually a great player posting a WAR of 7.5 or higher in 1947, 49 and 51. His career was cut short by a bad back though, he only played 10 seasons, averaging nearly 37 homers per.
Even more surprising was the fact that he was somewhat of a Playboy, rumored to have dated Janet Leigh and Elizabeth Taylor.



Rest in Peace Ralph, we'll miss you.

2 comments:

Jleary said...

He called Gary Carter, Gary Cooper more often than not

Paul said...

And Todd Hundley was Randy every single time.