Keith Hernandez talks 'ultimate' Mets honor, legendary career, next potential captain
on Saturday at Citi Field, the former first baseman takes a swing at some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.A: Nothing really different. My life’s normal, like anybody else. I just have, I guess you would call, a high-profile job. I’m recognizable here at Citi Field.A: Well, that is kind of faded a little bit, but in the baseball world I’m definitely recognizable. But I think my life’s fairly normal. I feel pretty blessed that I’m still doing what I’m doing.
Q: That’s why you were named Captain to bring the younger guys under your wing. But on the field, the way you played the game, what are you most proud of? A: I always hit lefties good. Whitey Ford, I’d love to face Whitey. … You want to face … Warren Spahn, there’s so many, guys that I grew up, that are great pitchers.A: He was the linchpin of that ’69 team, that first one, they were the laughable Mets. When Gil [Hodges] came in and took over, they turned it around pretty much in two years, and Tom was the greatest pitcher. I remember a game, Tom was with Cincinnati after the trade, he was ahead 3-2 and I had three really good at-bats off him.
A: I remember I rented at the Dag Hammarskjold building. Rusty told me you gotta stay on the East Side ’cause you don’t want to go crosstown through traffic for a night game in Manhattan, and just rent the first year. So I rented at Dag Hammarskjold on 47th and Second. I gotta say it was probably made the transition easier. He took me to restaurants … Ed Lynch was staying in town then, and he was single. Ron Darling and Danny Heep, we were the only ones staying in the city.
A: That’s a good question. … They shoulda had him when he was at Columbia and he had the long hair … that’s gone .A: No, but I was on an airplane with him. He was sitting one row on the opposite aisle. We look alike. … And we had a big laugh about it.A: I started trying to grow it when I was out of high school. In A-ball, it was chocolate milk, and I would just grow it and shave it, grow it and shave it, grow it and shave it, so it would come faster. Eventually it matured.
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