Keith Hernandez's dad played a prominent role in his career

Keith Hernandez has done this before — stood at a microphone and accepted an honor from one of the teams he starred for in his five-time All-Star, 11-time Gold Glove, two-time World Series champion career. 

So when the former Mets first baseman and current broadcaster begins his speech on July 9 as the team retires his No. 17 at Citi Field, who will be the first person he mentions? 

If recent history is any guide, once he thanks the assembled dignitaries, Hernandez will immediately pivot to his late father, John. That’s what he did last Aug. 21, when he was inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame along with John Tudor, Tommy Herr and Bill White. 

This time, Hernandez will have the podium to himself as he becomes just the fourth Mets player to have his number retired in the organization’s 60-year history. 

“I’ve bounced it around,” Hernandez said in a recent telephone interview. “I’m a great procrastinator. I’ve got time. I’m just kind of gathering ideas. I’m supposed to get five minutes, so I'm going to have to really condense, pretty much leave it up to the people that are really important to me, outside of my family. Obviously, I'm going to mention my family.” 

Five minutes? Hernandez’s Cardinals Hall of Fame induction speech was nearly 10 minutes long, but he said even that was shorter than he had planned. 

“They gave us as long as we wanted,” he said. “It was so damn hot. Tudor talked for about 40 minutes. And then Tommy Herr went out and talked for almost 30 and everybody's out there dying. 

“Lou Brock's wife was there and they’re in the sun. So I cut mine short just to get everybody out of the sun. But it’s just going to be me. It’ll be five minutes. I'll have to work on condensing for the people that are really, really, really important to me outside of family.”

A family devoted to sports

It all starts with family for Hernandez, 68, who grew up in Pacifica, California, with what he has called “a John Wayne-type, very tough” father. 

John Hernandez, who died in 1992 at age 69, played in the Cardinals organization in the 1940s before a beaning affected his eyesight and cut short his baseball career — but not before he married Keith’s mother, Jackie, on a Texas League baseball field “beneath crossed bats at home plate before a game, Dad in full baseball regalia, Mom looking stunningly beautiful in a classic 1940s dress and an elegant hat,” Keith wrote in a 2020 essay for SNY.TV. 

John joined the Navy, where he played on a Navy team with Cardinals legend Stan Musial. After that, John spent 30 years as a firefighter while also being coach, mentor and role model to Keith and his brother, Gary. 

Long before Keith had “Gare” — as in his SNY broadcast partner Gary Cohen — he had “Gary,” his 2½-year-older brother. 

“It was a patriarchal family, but my dad was a great influence, to this day,” Gary said in a recent telephone interview. “If I have a decision to make in my life, I feel like my dad is right on my shoulder, overlooking me. He still has an effect on my life. He was a very good man. And our family was very close.” 

Keith and John had some friction during Keith’s playing career. But Keith knows he wouldn’t be where he is today, and where he will be on July 9, without the encouragement of both of his parents. Hernandez’s mother died in 1989 of Alzheimer’s disease. 

“This — I don’t know — accolade or honor that has been bestowed upon me is a product of what my parents, mom and dad, put in for Gary and I as kids,” Hernandez said. “Just total devotion. A sports family — three sports year-round —  paycheck-to-paycheck when we were young, and we always had the best glove, the best spikes, the best basketball, the best football, the best cleats. Everything was put into the kids. Everything revolved around sports.” 

Gary, 71, was a minor-league ballplayer himself, reaching as high as Double-A in the Cardinals' system in 1974, the same year Keith made his big-league debut at age 20 with St. Louis. 

Gary — who is a much faster talker than Keith — still lives in the San Francisco area. He said “I would walk to New York” if he had to for Keith’s number retirement ceremony. 

“I almost get tears in my eyes now,” he said. “First of all, going in the Cardinals’ Hall of Fame was incredible. My dad played in the minor leagues for the Cardinals. I did. It would be awesome if they would retire [Keith’s] number, but they probably wouldn’t have enough numbers if they retired his, too.” 

The Cardinals have retired 12 numbers for players and managers. Keith wore No. 37 in St. Louis, but that was already retired for Casey Stengel when he was traded to the Mets in 1983. So Keith, whose favorite player growing up was Mickey Mantle, chose 17 with the Mets so he could have a number with a 7 in it. 

Among their own players, the Mets have retired 31 (Mike Piazza), 36 (Jerry Koosman) and 41 (Tom Seaver). 

"To me, the greatest honor any team could ever give you is to retire your number," Gary said. "When I look at that and there's only four players that have had their number retired and he’s one of the four, that’s incredible. I mean, all these great players, and now my brother’s number’s going to be in the Mets’ stadium forever.” 

The Mets are playing catchup with honoring their past under owner Steve Cohen. They retired Koosman’s number in 2021, in April unveiled the Seaver statue (which was commissioned under the previous owners and delayed because of the pandemic), and will hold their first Old-Timers’ Day since 1994 on Aug. 27. 

“I thank the new owner — Cohen,” Gary said. “I say, ‘God bless him.’ He has really embraced the Mets. He’s a big Mets fan. He's doing things to promote the Mets. One of the things you do is you promote your great players. That wasn't happening before . . . for whatever reason. Now, it is.” 

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.