MLB

Mets unveil tribute to Ralph Kiner on Citi Field wall

The Mets honored late broadcaster Ralph Kiner during a pregame ceremony Monday.

They unveiled a permanent Kiner logo on the left-field wall at Citi Field that features a microphone, Kiner’s name and 1922-2014. It is identical to the patch the Mets wear on the right sleeve of their uniforms this season. There is also a temporary Kiner logo painted on the grass behind home plate.

Kiner, a member of the Mets broadcasting team from the franchise’s first season in 1962 through last season, died on Feb. 6 at the age of 91.

Mets radio broadcaster Howie Rose introduced a video tribute to Kiner that was shown on the center-field scoreboard. Kiner’s children — Michael, K.C., Tracee and Kimberlee — were in attendance to watch the ceremony before the Mets fell to the Nationals 9-7 in 10 innings on Opening Day.

Third baseman David Wright called the ceremony “very cool.”

“You think of Ralph Kiner, you think of this great broadcaster, but he was a hell of a player,” Wright said about Kiner, who hit 369 home runs in a big-league career that stretched from 1946-55 before a back injury forced his retirement at the age of 32. “It was incredible the numbers he put up in such an unfortunately short career. He was one of the best players to play the game, one of the best power hitters in history. It was a fitting tribute and I enjoyed looking up in the stands and seeing the pictures and the signs, then the patches.”

Wright recalled when he first met Kiner.

“When I got flown up here when I signed when I was 18 that was kind of the first big-league experience I got when I rode the elevator before the game up with Ralph Kiner,” Wright said. “I introduced myself and talked a little baseball with him. The Shea Stadium elevator took 15 minutes to get up there, so I got a nice, long talk with Mr. Kiner. That was kind of my arrival where you know what, this is pretty cool.”