MLB Network adds extra hour of coverage for Derek Jeter Hall of Fame induction day

Baseball fans in general and Yankees fans in particular have been waiting a long time to honor Derek Jeter at his pandemic-delayed Hall of Fame induction.

So why wait until noon, as is usually the case for the MLB Network’s coverage of the event? Instead, the network will start at 11 a.m. on Wednesday in Cooperstown.

"This is a bigger event, so we wanted to dedicate the proper time for it," said Marc Caiafa, MLB Network’s senior vice president of production.

Caiafa was referring not only to Jeter, but to the other members of this year’s class – Ted Simmons, Larry Walker and the late Marvin Miller.

But Caiafa, who grew up an avid Mets fan – and a Shea Stadium concessions vendor – in Douglaston, is well aware of Jeter’s outsized legacy in the New York area.

He also is aware of how difficult it is to get Jeter to open up. One thing he hopes will help is that Harold Reynolds sat down with the former Yankees captain for an interview tied to the event.

"Derek is very close to the vest, and I kind of respect him for it because I think that's just the way he's always composed himself for all these years," Caiafa said. "But I always felt like Harold and him have connected, more than any other player to journalist, if you will.

"So I think there's just been a friendship there, more than just Interviewer/interviewee."

Brian Kenny, who grew up in Levittown, will be the emcee of the event, and Greg Amsinger will anchor MLB Network’s coverage.

Caiafa said he senses the delay from last summer’s original induction date has increased interest in and anticipation of the event. "I think people are going want to tune in, there's no doubt," he said.

MLB's Piazza 9-11 home run game documentary

On Thursday at 10 p.m., MLBN will premiere a documentary looking back at the Sept. 21, 2001, game at Shea Stadium in the first game back in New York after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

Mike Piazza’s go-ahead home run in the eighth inning won that game for the Mets over Atlanta with a home run off Queens native Steve Karsay, one of six players involved in that game who are from the New York area and are interviewed for the film, along with John Franco, Al Leiter, Dave Martinez, Mark DeRosa and Jason Marquis.

The documentary is called "Remembering the Game for New York."

"For years. I always was intrigued by the fact that there were many New Yorkers in that Mets-Braves game, and I always thought I had never really heard all of their perspectives and all their thoughts on it," Caiafa said.

Karsay, who attended Christ the King High School in Queens at the same time Caiafa was at nearby Archbishop Molloy, gave the filmmakers a tour of his old neighborhood when the Brewers were in town this season. He currently is a bullpen coach for Milwaukee.

"This time of the year, it's heart-wrenching, it really is," Caiafa said. "We just thought this was a unique way to hear perspectives from players that we had not heard from on this topic."

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.