If Your Birthday is October 27th...
Two stadiums later, the Pirates honor Ralph's Pittsburgh legacy with this large plaque at PNC Park.
A back injury cut his career short after just a decade -- but his baseball story was just beginning. After a year behind a White Sox microphone, he signed as the ex-player to join play by play voices Lindsey Nelson and Bob Murphy in the Mets booth. The legendary trio spent 17 years together, while Ralph, who concentrated on TV from 1982 on, called Mets games for a total of 53 years.
Less polished than his broadcast partners, Kiner's occasional malaprops, if anything, made him more lovable. Calling the Mets catcher Gary Carter, "Gary Cooper" or “On Father’s Day, we again wish you all Happy Birthday,” added an everyman quality that rivaled Yogi Berra.
Growing up in Southern California, he also had Hollywood connections. During his Pirates days, Bing Crosby was an investor in the ballclub. Their friendship led to Kiner being the eye candy date of such stars as Ava Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor and Janet Leigh at big movie premieres. Ralph apparently dated Janet more than once; when her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis and husband Christopher Guest visited the press box on one occasion, Kiner introduced himself and told the actress that he "used to date your mother." According to several reports, she then threw her arms around his neck and said, ‘Daddy!’”
I met Ralph on a few occasions and can vouch for his warmth, approachability and keen memory. During the 1986 World Series, I took a seat next to him at the press room bar and struck up a conversation after a famous play from the Mets 1973 drive to the pennant. Not only did he recall the ball bouncing off-the-fence that Cleon Jones threw to home plate to nail a runner, but he corrected me as to who hit it; it was Dave Augustine, not Dave Parker. Just a nice man, the kind of guy who loved being around and talking baseball.
Born on this date in 1922, and inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975, Kiner's broadcast career make him worthy of a second Cooperstown honor.
Also in our October 27th birthday circle:
- Pete Vuckovich, the Brewers ace on the team's 1982 American League champs.
- Jon Niese, the middle of the rotation lefthander who pitched nine years for the Mets, including their 2015 pennant winners.
- Pumpsie Green, the first Black player in Red Sox history. Owned by the racist Tom Yawkey, the club dragged its heels until 1959 before becoming the final franchise to break the race barrier. Never a star, and a regular for just one season, he finished his major league career in the Polo Grounds with the 1963 Mets. Later, a high school baseball coach and teacher in California, it took the Sox 50 years to remember his place in history. Green was finally invited back to Fenway in 2009 to throw out the first pitch before a game. He passed away a decade later.
- Martin Prado, who spent 14 years in the majors, including his first seven with the Braves. He came to the Yankees in a 2014 deadline trade, and played well -- but was sidelined after 37 games by an appendectomy.
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