Long before there was ESPN and its glitzy interview shows, New Yorkers had “Kiner’s Korner,” the Mets’ televised post-game program on WOR/Channel 9.
There, broadcaster Ralph Kiner would hold court with the stars of the game (rarely a Met in the early years) and rehash the just-concluded contest in a civilized chat far removed from today’s trash talk and hyperbole.
Kiner, who died Thursday at 91, spent 53 years with the Mets, starting with the first season for the Amazins. He quickly became a fan favorite, as much for his frequent malapropisms as for the plain-spoken way in which he called the balls and strikes.
As Kiner himself would say: “I’ve never been confused with Walter Cronkite.”
Kiner’s years in the broadcasting booth have overshadowed his achievements as a slugger. This was primarily with the Pittsburgh Pirates, though he started with New York’s minor-league Albany Senators and finished with the Cleveland Indians.
In those pre-steroid days, Kiner hit 369 home runs over a 10-year career — leading the National League in homers a record seven consecutive seasons and earning him a place in baseball’s Hall of Fame. His New York show was actually named for the section at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field where so many of his home runs landed.
As The Post’s Phil Mushnick notes, Kiner’s strength was that he called ballgames — he didn’t “take them apart, dissect them, perform autopsies on them.”
Ralph Kiner was a credit to baseball and one of the few remaining links to the original Mets. As he steps into eternity, he takes a piece of New York with him. RIP.