MLB

Diamond greats recall Koch’s pitches for NYC

Former Mayor Ed Koch, who died early Friday at age 88, wasn’t a huge sports fan. He admitted as much. Nevertheless, he holds a special distinction in the baseball world: He stands as the only New York City mayor to oversee championship parades for both the Yankees and the Mets.

If he didn’t scrutinize box scores of the 1978 Yankees and 1986 Mets, he appreciated the value of the World Series titles to the city he tried to improve. The faces of those franchises, in turn, appreciated Koch’s support.

“Mayor Koch was very much for the people, very much for the city,” Reggie Jackson told The Post yesterday. “He was about the city.”

“He started the process that made us the greatest city in the world,” Keith Hernandez said.

Jackson and Hernandez came to town — Jackson joining the Yankees in 1976, Hernandez added to the Mets in 1983 — as established stars, each having earned an MVP award (Jackson with Oakland in 1973, Hernandez with St. Louis in 1979, sharing it with Pittsburgh’s Willie Stargell).

Their commitments to the Big Apple, at a time when the city was anything but glamorous, reflected New York’s lure and challenge for those who wanted to reach the pinnacle.

Koch took office on Jan. 1, 1978, succeeding Abe Beame and inheriting baseball’s defending champs in the Yankees. Jackson, Billy Martin and George Steinbrenner were such an integral part of the city’s tapestry at the time they played a focal point in Jonathan Mahler’s 2005 book “Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning,” and the ESPN’s subsequent miniseries “The Bronx is Burning.”

The ’78 Yankees’ remarkable comeback over the Red Sox gave them two titles — under two different mayors — in Reggie’s first two years aboard after signing a five-year deal with Steinbrenner.

“I met him several times in office and out of office,” Jackson said of Koch. “I was a hotshot there for a while when he was in office. When he was out of office, I was a memory.

“I don’t know that he was much of a sports fan. He was more of a literary type. He was more into what was going on with the city than what was going on in the world of sports. … But he went to the games when he was supposed to: the postseason, Opening Day.”

After a seven-year drought of titles by any of New York’s professional teams, Koch kicked off his final term by enjoying the ’86 Mets’ dominance and drama. The team leader was Hernandez, who was dismayed by his trade to the lowly Mets in 1983 then decided to stick around with a long-term extension.

When Hernandez’s time with the Mets came to an end in 1989, Koch — having lost that year’s Democratic primary to David Dinkins — invited the first baseman to City Hall for a meeting of “two lame ducks,” as Koch told reporters. The mayor presented Hernandez with a crystal apple with a New York City skyline as a token of appreciation for Hernandez’s contributions. The gift now rests in Hernandez’s Hamptons home.

“I was so taken aback,” Hernandez recalled. “I have the photo [taken] in his office, shaking my hand, presenting me the apple. It was a nice thing to do. It showed that he was listening and paying attention.”

Jackson and Hernandez still spend a fair amount of time in New York. Jackson is a Yankees special adviser and often spends time with the team at Yankee Stadium. Hernandez has become an immensely popular broadcaster for SNY, the Mets’ regional sports network. They are New York City icons.

The passing of a fellow area icon found them grateful for how kindly they had been treated when they were still establishing their legacies.

“My memory of him is as a grassroots guy that spoke very plainly in a way that we all could understand,” Jackson said. “His sophistication wasn’t beyond our comprehension. He was more of a plain guy, a community guy.That’s how I remember him.”

“When I was with him, he was a regular guy,” Hernandez said. “It wasn’t like you were talking to the mayor.”

Koch benefited from the triumphs of the ’78 Yankees and ’86 Mets. To hear these two baseball greats speak Friday, they were happy to help a man who shared their love for New York.