Title/Author:
“I’m Keith Hernandez” by Keith Hernandez
Tags:
Baseball,
professional, memoir, Cardinals, Mets
Publish date:
May 15, 2018
Length:
352 pages
Rating:
5 of 5 stars (outstanding)
Review:
Current fans of the
New York Mets know that Keith Hernandez is not your typical baseball
broadcaster. He will speak his mind and
won’t care if it is the popular opinion of the day or will be favorable to the
team for which he announces. This memoir which covers his days as a minor
league player up to the early 1980’s when he was a member of the St. Louis
Cardinals is written in this same manner.
Just the book format
itself has Hernandez traits – he states in the beginning that this will not be
the typical memoir, that he won’t be talking about his childhood or his time
playing for the Mets (he was part of the popular Mets team that won the World
Series in 1986) nor does it follow any other tried and true format. With some reminiscing about teaching sessions
from his father and baseball games with his brother Gary, Hernandez talks about
his time in the minor leagues and the initial struggles inside his head when he
was a young player with the Cardinals in the mid and late 1970’s. I found his
inner struggles with his confidence and his mechanics very intriguing. Watching him play and hearing him in the
broadcast booth, confidence is something that I never believed he lacked.
In between chapters
covering his playing days in the minors and with the Cardinals, Hernandez
writes about his broadcasting career with the Mets, praising his partner Gary
Cohen and the crew members who make the telecasts happen. It is in these chapters that
the reader will really get to know Hernandez as he talks about the current
state of the game and the expanded use of sabermetrics. Those readers who favor
the continuing advancement of the use of these advanced statistics will be
disappointed as Hernandez, in his outspoken style, criticizes this “growing
obsession with sabermetrics.” He talks about the current importance of an
uppercut swing to avoid ground balls, how some believe that stolen bases are to
be “avoided” and the increasing dependency of offenses on the home run. Those
are just a few of the current trends in baseball in which Hernandez expresses
his disdain.
Lastly, while he doesn’t
talk about his personal life outside of the game very much in this book, he
does touch on sensitive topics such as the strained relationship with his
father, his two failed marriages and his drug use. He doesn’t go too far into
the last topic, mainly talking about using marijuana and amphetamines. He was known to use cocaine as well, and he
shares the time he started using, but doesn’t dwell too much on that topic
aside from this. That is mainly because
the timeline of his playing days in the book ends in 1980 (one year after he
was named co-MVP of the National League with Willie Stargell) and his heavier
use of the drug came later.
While this won’t cover
all aspects of Hernandez’s career that many would like to read about, such as
his playing days with the Mets, it is nonetheless an outstanding look at his
playing days in St. Louis and his thoughts on the current state of
baseball. Since I hear him broadcasting
Mets games often, I was “listening” to him while reading this and could see him
sitting down and telling these stories. This memoir felt truly genuine and was a
reflection of the subject. I would recommend this for any baseball fan
interested in Hernandez and his take on the sport.
I wish to thank Little,
Brown and Company for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange
for an honest review.
Book Format Read:
E-book (Kindle)
Buying Links:
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