Recently, my colleague Gregg (Gregga) posted a fine piece on Ralph Kiner. In it, he mentioned how Mr. Kiner still provides excellent insight and colorful stories about players past and present, despite being a young man of 86 years of age. Seeing Mr. Kiner on SNY this past Thursday brought back memories of my youth. I remember arguing with my parents after watching a Mets telecast because they wanted to change the channel while I wanted to watch Kiner’s Korner. It’s been quite some time since Kiner’s Korner was a regular feature after Mets broadcasts. Mr. Kiner’s age and SNY’s postgame coverage have all but eliminated the need for the show.
Last night, as I was about to watch the first game of the Subway Series, I was thinking about Mr. Kiner’s appearance in the broadcast booth during Thursday afternoon’s game. The tarp was on the field and an ark-like object was barely visible in Flushing Bay. SNY was going to its rain delay programming, which in this case was a Mets Classics episode featuring a 1999 matchup between the Mets and the Yankees. It’s not the first time SNY has chosen to show a Mets Classics episode while waiting for a game to be resumed. I have something I’d like to add to the SNY suggestion box. How about showing classic episodes of Kiner’s Korner during rain delays instead of a Mets Classics episode?
Mets Classics is a fine program. I’ve found myself watching entire episodes at times, smiling at the moments that I cherished as a young Mets fan and remembering what I was doing when the events on the field were taking place. However, some of these games have their “classic” moment in the late innings. By showing these games during rain delays, viewers could miss the moment they wanted to see the most. After all, SNY isn’t going to keep the Mets Classics episode on when they have a live game about to resume. Since I know this is a possibility during rain delays, I usually switch to another channel or sit at the computer planning out my next blog, occasionally checking to see if the game has resumed.
If SNY wanted to keep my attention while raindrops kept falling on their heads, wouldn’t it be wise of them to show a program from start to finish, perhaps a shorter program that has a better chance of being aired in its entirety before the rain delay comes to an end? Mets Weekly sometimes fits the bill, but that can be seen numerous times a week. Wouldn’t a classic episode of Kiner’s Korner, one that hasn’t been seen on any network in quite some time, keep the viewers from wandering away from the TV, especially the ones who grew up on the show like I did? Are you listening, SNY? It’s all about the ratings, and I believe Kiner’s Korner Klassics (if they can intentionally misspell “Korner” to get the alliteration, then I can misspell “Klassics” to get the same effect) would produce higher ratings than an episode of Mets Weekly or a sure-to-be abbreviated episode of Mets Classics.
Ralph Kiner is a beloved figure in Mets history. He is loved and respected by fans, players and fellow broadcasters. He has been a Mets broadcaster since their inaugural season (1962) and has one of the few areas of Citi Field named after a Mets personality, the Ralph Kiner Television Booth. With this much admiration, a man like this deserves our attention. He had my attention in the 80’s when I was watching Kiner’s Korner. He certainly had former Cardinals pitcher Ricky Horton’s attention. (For those of you who don’t know, Ricky Horton grew up watching Kiner’s Korner as a child. When he reached the big leagues, he made it well-known that one of his lifelong dreams was to appear on an episode of Kiner’s Korner. Despite pitching for three pennant-winning teams and one World Championship team (1988 Dodgers), he never made it onto the show during his short major league career (1984-1990). To this day, despite the fact that he owns a World Series ring, he probably still laments never being a guest on Kiner’s Korner.)
SNY should realize that Ralph Kiner still has a fanbase. His brief guest appearances in the broadcast booth that bears his name are among the most entertaining moments of a Mets telecast. His recollection of players from a bygone generation is still excellent and his firsthand knowledge and discussion of events that took place on or off the field during his playing years makes for excellent television. If the fans love him to this day, wouldn’t it make sense to think they’d love to see those episodes of Kiner’s Korner aired during rain delays? We know the footage still exists because SNY shows clips of those episodes during Mr. Kiner’s appearances in the booth. If entire episodes are still intact, I know I’d keep the channel on during rain delays. What do you think, my fellow Mets maniacs? Would you watch classic episodes of Kiner’s Korner if they were aired during rain delays? If so, say it loudly so that SNY can hear you!
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Hell yeah they should! It’s long overdue in my opinion. Ralph Kiner is an institution where the Mets are concerned.
I also have to say that last night Gary Cohen who I normally love, shocked and angered me when he referred to the homer hit to rightfield by A-Rod as Utley’s Corner.
That was wrong of him to say, and I was not the least bit amused by it.
I was also angered at the Utley’s Corner comment! This is our ballpark. No Philthies allowed. Therefore, to refer to a movie I once saw about dirt and bodies gyrating, “Nobody puts Utley in a corner!”
I agree with you 100% because that right field corner should be named Kiner’s Korner. We should start a petition to SNY and the Mets to dedicate to Ralph Kiner.
Actually, the porch in left field at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field was named Kiner’s Korner. During Mr. Kiner’s playing days, he would routinely hit home runs into that short porch. I wish it had been right field. Then it would give the Mets a better reason to use your excellent idea!
This may be something more easily said than done, unfortunately. For one, while the Mets own the b of their own games, it wouldn’t surprise me if WWOR still owned the rights to the Kiner’s Korner archival footage. SNY would likely have to buy it, and who knows if Channel 9 even bothered to keep it around? The station’s former ownership (Chris-Craft, who owned the station after MCA and before Fox) was pretty cheap, which is how WPIX was able to snap up the Mets in the first place — Channel 9 took a pass, basically abandoning their heritage as home of the Mets and WPIX, which had been outbid by Channel 5 for the Yankees, paid big bucks to stay in baseball. (Fox tried to get the rights back after it bought the station, but WPIX matched the offer and WWOR wound up with the Yankees when Channel 2 lost interest.) And who knows if they didn’t erase the tapes? A lot of classic TV, including most early episodes of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show and Super Bowl I, was erased so the tapes could be reused. Wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of old Kiner’s Korner episodes suffered the same sad fate.
It would be sad indeed if the tapes were erased. I’m hoping that because SNY has shown snippets of certain episodes, perhaps a few full episodes have been archived somewhere. Of course, getting Mr. Kiner to do a new show or two would eliminate the need to search for old episodes to broadcast. Still can’t believe he’s 86 and still working in the capacity that he is! Bless you, Mr. Kiner!
I think it would be a great idea to have classic episodes of Kiner’s Korner but unfortunately according to Ralph himself the tapes were destroyed. It was a couple of years back, he was in the booth with Gary, Keith and Ron, they were talking about appearing on the show when Ralph mentioned that in those days like a lot of media tapes weren’t archived, they were destroyed because back in the day there were no cable networks, etc…
It’s a shame, a part of baseball history that seems to be lost forever according Kiner.
That is a tremendous shame. Ralph had many great segments with outstanding guests. Just imagine seeing a replay with Tug McGraw, for example! My autographed photo of Tug with “Ya Gotta Believe” and his “Happy Face” next to his signature is priceless to me.
Silly idea here, but why not bring Kiner’s Korner back to SNY for the games Mr. Kiner works? Have Mr. Kiner do the show with Kevin Burkhardt and who ever that day’s star is? Mr. Kiner is 86, but man he still has a lot to offer.
Also I agree with the other posters here who to offense with Gary Cohen calling the right field coner Utley’s coner. Lately Cohen is getting more and more like John Sterling, trying to make himself bigger than the game.
If Mr. Kiner would want to do it, I’d love that idea. Times have changed, so I think some players might want more than $100 to be on the show. You would think the honor of being interviewed by the legendary Mr. Kiner would cause players to jump at the opportunity, but I wouldn’t be surprised if many of today’s players (not Mets players, of course) would be clueless as to who Ralph Kiner is.
I am a life long Mets fan now living in las Vegas. I would love to see NEW Kiners Korner’s on Pix after the games I get to see, as I have satelite T.V and get to watch the Mets about once a week.
Does anyone here have a copy of or at least know the name of the Kiner’s Korner theme song which was a march tune(possibly a Sousa march),I’d love to hear it again,preferably the specific version that they played on ch.9 but if not some other version.
You’re right about the Kiner’s Korner song being a march tune. I believe it was the “Flag of Victory March” by Franz von Blon.
Hey,thanks a lot Ed,I just did a search and found an mp3,it’s not the same recording they used for Kiner’s Korner but it was great to hear the tune again anyway(other than in my head)…it’ll do for now until someone posts a complete Kiner’s Korner episode.Here’s the link by the way for anyone who wants to download it for themselves…
http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=4866312&song=Flag+of+Victory+March
[...] Ralph Kiner was quite the player. Oh, and bring back Kiner’s Korner in reruns. [...]