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I'm Keith Hernandez
Legendary first baseman Keith Hernandez tells all in this gripping literary memoir and New York Times bestseller.
Keith Hernandez revolutionized the role of first baseman. During his illustrious career with the World Series-winning St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets, he was a perennial fan favorite, earning eleven consecutive Gold Gloves, a National League co-MVP Award, and a batting title. But it was his unique blend of intelligence, humor, and talent -- not to mention his unflappable leadership, playful antics, and competitive temperament -- that transcended the sport and propelled him to a level of renown that few other athletes have achieved, including his memorable appearances on the television show Seinfeld .
Now, with a striking mix of candor and self-reflection, Hernandez takes us along on his journey to baseball immortality. There are the hellacious bus rides and south-of-the-border escapades of his minor league years. His major league benchings, unending plate adjustments, and role in one of the most exciting batting races in history against Pete Rose.
Indeed, from the Little League fields of Northern California to the dusty proving grounds of triple-A ball to the grand stages of Busch Stadium and beyond, I'm Keith Hernandez reveals as much about America's favorite pastime as it does about the man himself. What emerges is an honest and compelling assessment of the game's past, present, and a memoir that showcases one of baseball's most unique and experienced minds at his very best.
Keith Hernandez revolutionized the role of first baseman. During his illustrious career with the World Series-winning St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets, he was a perennial fan favorite, earning eleven consecutive Gold Gloves, a National League co-MVP Award, and a batting title. But it was his unique blend of intelligence, humor, and talent -- not to mention his unflappable leadership, playful antics, and competitive temperament -- that transcended the sport and propelled him to a level of renown that few other athletes have achieved, including his memorable appearances on the television show Seinfeld .
Now, with a striking mix of candor and self-reflection, Hernandez takes us along on his journey to baseball immortality. There are the hellacious bus rides and south-of-the-border escapades of his minor league years. His major league benchings, unending plate adjustments, and role in one of the most exciting batting races in history against Pete Rose.
Indeed, from the Little League fields of Northern California to the dusty proving grounds of triple-A ball to the grand stages of Busch Stadium and beyond, I'm Keith Hernandez reveals as much about America's favorite pastime as it does about the man himself. What emerges is an honest and compelling assessment of the game's past, present, and a memoir that showcases one of baseball's most unique and experienced minds at his very best.
352 pages, Hardcover
Published May 15, 2018
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1044 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 184 reviews
June 10, 2018
As the calendar turns toward summer, most of my time is spent on baseball- watching, listening, and reading about America's past time. This year our team of moderators at the baseball book club have decided to alternate the monthly read between baseball history and player autobiographies or memoirs. Last month, the group read an introspective about the 1986 Mets, a team I generally love to hate. While reading it, my co-moderator brought to our attention a new memoir by current Mets broadcaster and former star of the 1986 season, Keith Hernandez. Even though I generally dislike the Mets for personal reasons, I thought that Hernandez stood out on that team of bad boys, as an intellectual minded player who put hours of preparation into each game. When we decided to read his new memoir as the June group read, I could not object, and happily, I was not disappointed.
Keith Hernandez is a ballplayer from what I call the bridge generation, born too late to be a part of baseball's golden age in the 1950s and 1960s yet too soon to play most of his career at a time when I remembered him from his playing days; he retired when I turned ten years old so most of my memories of him playing for the Mets against the Cubs are fuzzy. Yet, his father was once a teammate of Stan Musial during their time at Pearl Harbor during World War I, and he could list veteran teammates of his own who either played with or against the all time greats like DiMaggio and even Bill Dickey who had been on the fabled Yankee teams of yesteryear. He notes that his father told baseball tales to all of the kids in their Pacifica, California neighborhood, and recalls many a childhood memory of his father relishing his time as a teammate of DiMaggio, playing against the great Warren Spahn. As such, Hernandez was raised on baseball mythology and knew from the time he was nine years old that he wanted to be a professional ballplayer.
With his father coming short of his dream of reaching the major leagues, he devoted much of his time and energy in teaching his sons Gary and Keith how to play the game the right way. Working as a firefighter, he had the luxury of having a shift of forty eight hours off in a row and could usually be found pitching batting practice to his sons or hitting them pop ups. By the time Keith was in high school, he had caught the attention of both colleges and professional scouts. Although he had scholarship offers from both California and Stanford, he turned both down in favor of the chance to play in the St Louis Cardinal organization, the team he had cheered for throughout his childhood. Getting a chance to play for the team of the great Stan Musial, his childhood hero, it was a no brain decision for Hernandez to forgo college and live out his, and his father's, dream.
Hernandez intersperses stories of life in the minor leagues and with the Cardinals with his current job as a broadcaster. I found his anecdotes about broadcasting to be intriguing as it had been a pipe dream of mine, and I often wonder about the merits of former ball players turned color commentators. Yet, Hernandez had always been labeled an intellectual ballplayer, doing crossword puzzles before games, collecting art and offbeat music, and has dedicated himself to his second career. He has used this book as a platform to note his dislike of the current state of baseball as it has turned toward a number crunching game from computer readouts. Noting that the average ballplayer is not a rocket scientist from NASA, he believes that the game should move away from sabermetrics and back toward players relying on their previous experiences at the plate or from advice from their peers. As statistics do not measure leadership or heads up decisions on the fly, parts of baseball that were prevalent when Hernandez played are almost non existent today. While he did not set out to make this book a platform against sabermetrics, as a former player with credentials as MVP and batting champion, Hernandez views should not be taken lightly, so it is my hope that prevalent people around the baseball community take note of the opinions he offers.
Once Hernandez' playing days were over, he stepped away from the game for nearly ten years until the Mets offered him the job of color commentator. Baseball needs more people like Keith Hernandez who put hours of preparation into each game as a player. A former teammate of Lou Brock and opponent of Pete Rose, this memoir is full of old time baseball stories. It also pays homage to Hernandez' father who saw his own dream of playing in the majors fall short, but was able to see one of his sons excel in the big leagues. For those looking for stories about the 1986 Mets or 1982 Cardinals, those are not in this book as much has already been written about those two teams; however, this book is full of reminisces about baseball life in the 1970s, most of them captivating to the average baseball fan. Despite disliking both the Mets and the Cardinals, I enjoyed reading about a ballplayer with an above average baseball IQ.
4 stars
Keith Hernandez is a ballplayer from what I call the bridge generation, born too late to be a part of baseball's golden age in the 1950s and 1960s yet too soon to play most of his career at a time when I remembered him from his playing days; he retired when I turned ten years old so most of my memories of him playing for the Mets against the Cubs are fuzzy. Yet, his father was once a teammate of Stan Musial during their time at Pearl Harbor during World War I, and he could list veteran teammates of his own who either played with or against the all time greats like DiMaggio and even Bill Dickey who had been on the fabled Yankee teams of yesteryear. He notes that his father told baseball tales to all of the kids in their Pacifica, California neighborhood, and recalls many a childhood memory of his father relishing his time as a teammate of DiMaggio, playing against the great Warren Spahn. As such, Hernandez was raised on baseball mythology and knew from the time he was nine years old that he wanted to be a professional ballplayer.
With his father coming short of his dream of reaching the major leagues, he devoted much of his time and energy in teaching his sons Gary and Keith how to play the game the right way. Working as a firefighter, he had the luxury of having a shift of forty eight hours off in a row and could usually be found pitching batting practice to his sons or hitting them pop ups. By the time Keith was in high school, he had caught the attention of both colleges and professional scouts. Although he had scholarship offers from both California and Stanford, he turned both down in favor of the chance to play in the St Louis Cardinal organization, the team he had cheered for throughout his childhood. Getting a chance to play for the team of the great Stan Musial, his childhood hero, it was a no brain decision for Hernandez to forgo college and live out his, and his father's, dream.
Hernandez intersperses stories of life in the minor leagues and with the Cardinals with his current job as a broadcaster. I found his anecdotes about broadcasting to be intriguing as it had been a pipe dream of mine, and I often wonder about the merits of former ball players turned color commentators. Yet, Hernandez had always been labeled an intellectual ballplayer, doing crossword puzzles before games, collecting art and offbeat music, and has dedicated himself to his second career. He has used this book as a platform to note his dislike of the current state of baseball as it has turned toward a number crunching game from computer readouts. Noting that the average ballplayer is not a rocket scientist from NASA, he believes that the game should move away from sabermetrics and back toward players relying on their previous experiences at the plate or from advice from their peers. As statistics do not measure leadership or heads up decisions on the fly, parts of baseball that were prevalent when Hernandez played are almost non existent today. While he did not set out to make this book a platform against sabermetrics, as a former player with credentials as MVP and batting champion, Hernandez views should not be taken lightly, so it is my hope that prevalent people around the baseball community take note of the opinions he offers.
Once Hernandez' playing days were over, he stepped away from the game for nearly ten years until the Mets offered him the job of color commentator. Baseball needs more people like Keith Hernandez who put hours of preparation into each game as a player. A former teammate of Lou Brock and opponent of Pete Rose, this memoir is full of old time baseball stories. It also pays homage to Hernandez' father who saw his own dream of playing in the majors fall short, but was able to see one of his sons excel in the big leagues. For those looking for stories about the 1986 Mets or 1982 Cardinals, those are not in this book as much has already been written about those two teams; however, this book is full of reminisces about baseball life in the 1970s, most of them captivating to the average baseball fan. Despite disliking both the Mets and the Cardinals, I enjoyed reading about a ballplayer with an above average baseball IQ.
4 stars
April 16, 2018
One of my beefs with baseball memoirs is that they're often not comprehensive, or specific enough. I mean, YOU try to pack a decades-long career into 200 or 300 pages. Keith Hernandez has been involved in professional baseball for almost fifty years now, give or take. So what's refreshing about his book is that it largely focuses on the period from 1972 through 1979, covering his development from Class A minor leaguer to National League (co-)MVP. Which allows him to tell good, specific stories about the people he met, the adjustments he made, the doubts and fears he felt, along the way. And there's a measure of self-awareness and introspection that's refreshing (if perhaps a bit more common these days, when even he-men like Hernandez are expected to bare at least a bit of their souls).
Interspersed are snapshots from Hernandez's childhood - including a supportive mother and a highly demanding, semi-abusive, ex-ballplayer father - and his current life as a Mets broadcaster who regularly commutes 90 minutes (one way!) from his Hamptons home to the Mets' ballpark. And these latter bits are pretty good, too. When it comes to modern baseball, analytics and the like, Hernandez is sort of a dinosaur but he never fails to admit this.
I will say I'd like to read a story about his post-1979 playing career. Maybe that's next? He does say those stories have been told often enough, but I suspect he could put a different spin on those years, granted it might be a bit rough going.
Interspersed are snapshots from Hernandez's childhood - including a supportive mother and a highly demanding, semi-abusive, ex-ballplayer father - and his current life as a Mets broadcaster who regularly commutes 90 minutes (one way!) from his Hamptons home to the Mets' ballpark. And these latter bits are pretty good, too. When it comes to modern baseball, analytics and the like, Hernandez is sort of a dinosaur but he never fails to admit this.
I will say I'd like to read a story about his post-1979 playing career. Maybe that's next? He does say those stories have been told often enough, but I suspect he could put a different spin on those years, granted it might be a bit rough going.
June 7, 2018
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.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
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.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
March 11, 2018
Had the privilege of reading an advance copy. Entertaining read. He gets candid about some of his leisure activities from his minor league career, but notably does not expound too much about his cocaine use. Focused mostly on his early Cardinals days then his time with the Mets, since the point of the book was to focus on his formative years. Admitted he sounded like a dinosaur when complaining about the current game today, but it was still a little disappointing. Found his explanation for his infamous 2006 "woman in the dugout" comment a little lacking. Some of the parallels he (and his ghostwriter) tried to make were weird and distracting.
I found it funny he wrote about the time he supposedly fell asleep during a Mets game, claiming it was footage from the previous commercial break. I'm willing to believe it; it's just funny to me he took up space in his memoir to defend himself over that particular incident.
TL;DR if you're a Mets/Keith fan you were definitely going to read it anyway, and the good news is it's good.
I found it funny he wrote about the time he supposedly fell asleep during a Mets game, claiming it was footage from the previous commercial break. I'm willing to believe it; it's just funny to me he took up space in his memoir to defend himself over that particular incident.
TL;DR if you're a Mets/Keith fan you were definitely going to read it anyway, and the good news is it's good.
November 17, 2018
Having read his earlier book Pure Baseball and knowing his tone as a broadcaster, I knew I'd enjoy Hernandez's writing style in I'm Keith Hernandez. But I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the content of this memoir. Rather than rehashing details from throughout his career, KH instead focuses on his early struggles, and it's a strategy that pays off with interesting stories and plenty of opportunity for self-reflection and honest assessment. The result is a book that reveals how Keith Hernandez became a self-assured all-star and gives the reader glimpses of the evolution of his mental approach to improving as a ballplayer. Recommended for baseball fans.
July 15, 2018
Brilliant marketing on this book by putting Keith in his Mets uniform on the cover. Because this book isn't at all about the Mets, it's about Keith Hernandez's journey in the Cardinals minor league system and follows him to the Spring of 1980 (following his 1979 NL co-MVP season).
Let's face it, not even diehard Cardinal fans are going to buy a book about the Ken Reitz/Ted Simmons/Garry Templeton years. Even with some Lou Brock content, which will make you appreciate him even more, and a very quick Bob Gibson aside. Otherwise, these are some low years for that storied franchise.
In any case, I am not disappointed at all. Keith is an on-air analyst for the Mets and without a doubt, a great baseball mind. One of the reasons the Mets are still enjoyable to watch even during a blowout.
In the intro, Keith says this is not going to be an ordinary memoir, but as the Kirkus Review rebutted, it really is. It's pretty straight, though Keith effectively gets to throw in some anecdotes and flashes back and forth to his day job. That part is maybe a quarter of the book, if you are a Mets fan, though the there isn't much; a few allusions to Matt Harvey's struggles, and the like.
That said, if you are a Mets fan and know Keith, you might appreciate if you are going to hear any baseball player tell his story, it might as well be someone with a keen instinct and humor as Keith.
The book mainly talks about his journey through the minors, so you get some of the father-son-brother relationship, some pre-minor league childhood memories, some fundamentals and then some keen observation on the stars of the 70s like Brock, Pete Rose, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, and many others whose names you may not have heard in years.
That to me, is fascinating, and with Keith, it's insight, not name dropping. He also gives modern commentary on the game invoking Rose and Ted Williams. Keith doesn't sound like "old cranky guy", he has some valid points.
This being Keith, there's some Boutonesque moments, and a light amount of sex, drugs and rock n roll. Just enough, that you probably wouldn't give this to a child of an impressionable age, though the baseball fundamentals are sound. Also, it's fairly tame, from what we know of Keith's reputation.
Still, that means we get things like Keith meeting Roger Waters. All of this told with Keith's keen eye, means it's a pretty fun book and quick read. When the list of great baseball books is compiled, this might not be on it, but I have to say it was well into my expectations of a Summer Read, and like watching a SNY broadcast, it's one of the better things you can do on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Let's face it, not even diehard Cardinal fans are going to buy a book about the Ken Reitz/Ted Simmons/Garry Templeton years. Even with some Lou Brock content, which will make you appreciate him even more, and a very quick Bob Gibson aside. Otherwise, these are some low years for that storied franchise.
In any case, I am not disappointed at all. Keith is an on-air analyst for the Mets and without a doubt, a great baseball mind. One of the reasons the Mets are still enjoyable to watch even during a blowout.
In the intro, Keith says this is not going to be an ordinary memoir, but as the Kirkus Review rebutted, it really is. It's pretty straight, though Keith effectively gets to throw in some anecdotes and flashes back and forth to his day job. That part is maybe a quarter of the book, if you are a Mets fan, though the there isn't much; a few allusions to Matt Harvey's struggles, and the like.
That said, if you are a Mets fan and know Keith, you might appreciate if you are going to hear any baseball player tell his story, it might as well be someone with a keen instinct and humor as Keith.
The book mainly talks about his journey through the minors, so you get some of the father-son-brother relationship, some pre-minor league childhood memories, some fundamentals and then some keen observation on the stars of the 70s like Brock, Pete Rose, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, and many others whose names you may not have heard in years.
That to me, is fascinating, and with Keith, it's insight, not name dropping. He also gives modern commentary on the game invoking Rose and Ted Williams. Keith doesn't sound like "old cranky guy", he has some valid points.
This being Keith, there's some Boutonesque moments, and a light amount of sex, drugs and rock n roll. Just enough, that you probably wouldn't give this to a child of an impressionable age, though the baseball fundamentals are sound. Also, it's fairly tame, from what we know of Keith's reputation.
Still, that means we get things like Keith meeting Roger Waters. All of this told with Keith's keen eye, means it's a pretty fun book and quick read. When the list of great baseball books is compiled, this might not be on it, but I have to say it was well into my expectations of a Summer Read, and like watching a SNY broadcast, it's one of the better things you can do on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
January 10, 2022
this book exceeded expectations. instead of the usual "first this, then this, and finally that" approach to athlete autobios, hernandez flashes from his childhood to his early years in the minors to his present-day work in the mets commentary booth. he explains why he's doing this - this is how it seems like the story went, in his mind - and his decision to end the book with his mvp win in '79 makes sense as well, given that his story thereafter is fairly well-known. hernandez's early life, with an obsessive ex-minor league ballplayer father who called to mind (to hernandez!) karl malden as jimmy piersall's dad in "fear strikes out," is reminiscent of andre agassi's (another autobio worth reading), and it's clear that hernandez's love/hate of his father remains unresolved (his dad comes up numerous times in the recent 30 for 30 doc, and hernandez is all but gritting his teeth as he talks about him).
my early impression of hernandez, from watching the tail end of his career as a kid, was that he was a fiery player, a "banjo hitter," and an expert fielder. but the actual story behind his obsessive focus on line drive hitting + "judy hitting" on 0-2 counts is far, far more interesting. he's an extremely detail-oriented guy, and despite making periodic arguments against statistics (most of them fairly reasonable, especially about downplaying uppercut hitting if the parks were much bigger, as some of the multipurpose turf stadiums were), he's certainly obsessed with his, with every anecdote meticulously checked via baseball-reference.com and his 1974-1980 progress as a hitter tracked like holy writ.
at this point, with a long career in broadcasting, the surprisingly good seinfeld appearance (which gives us the title), the subsequent amusing interviews with seinfeld (several are on youtube), the eleven golden gloves, and the 60-ish WAR he accumulated, hernandez should go into the hall, cocaine trials or no cocaine trials (raines, after all, is in there).
highly recommended.
my early impression of hernandez, from watching the tail end of his career as a kid, was that he was a fiery player, a "banjo hitter," and an expert fielder. but the actual story behind his obsessive focus on line drive hitting + "judy hitting" on 0-2 counts is far, far more interesting. he's an extremely detail-oriented guy, and despite making periodic arguments against statistics (most of them fairly reasonable, especially about downplaying uppercut hitting if the parks were much bigger, as some of the multipurpose turf stadiums were), he's certainly obsessed with his, with every anecdote meticulously checked via baseball-reference.com and his 1974-1980 progress as a hitter tracked like holy writ.
at this point, with a long career in broadcasting, the surprisingly good seinfeld appearance (which gives us the title), the subsequent amusing interviews with seinfeld (several are on youtube), the eleven golden gloves, and the 60-ish WAR he accumulated, hernandez should go into the hall, cocaine trials or no cocaine trials (raines, after all, is in there).
highly recommended.
February 13, 2019
Some great open and honest insights from this baseball great. I especially loved his honesty about insecurities, women, weed and beer. Great read!
August 24, 2021
The best part of this book was listening to the audiobook read by the author. Just like listening to his stories while broadcasting on SNY.
June 3, 2018
Here is a testament to how good this book is: I am not a big Keith Hernandez fan. My first impressions of him were that he was a jock, one of the cocaine users of the 1980s and a NY Met. (I didn't care for the Mets). Plus he cheated on his wife and that's a big no-no in my world.
I also read his diary of the 1986 season he wrote earlier this year and thought it was only "okay."
However, his memoir has changed my attitude toward him somewhat. This is not a typical memoir of his entire career. Instead, he focuses on his minor league days, comparing them to like aka the Bull Durham movie. He does add glimpses of his broadcasting life and how he got into it, along with flashbacks of his childhood. But mostly, this is 1970s baseball - one of my favorite eras of baseball.
He also shows a lot of humbleness and humility. He gets star struck when he meets Ted Williams and Warren Spahn, for example. He is a good player, but he worked at it and that's discussed in his book. Also, there's self-awareness and a realization about his father's intense skills workouts with Hernandez as a child that's pretty moving at the end of the book as well.
His stories are fun and his insight into baseball's strategy show he's not a dumb jock, but instead a very intellectual baseball mind.
A book has to be pretty good to change my attitude toward someone. He did apologize and "fess up" for his cheatin' ways and he admitted to using drugs early on, like most players who were suddenly wealthy. It is one of the better "memoirs" of recent and it doesn't follow the cookie-cutter method of quick books like Chipper Jones' memoir for example.
So, I give Hernandez a pass and I'll look at his career with the Cardinals and Mets with a little more favorable attitude. I still don't like the Mets all that much, though.
I also read his diary of the 1986 season he wrote earlier this year and thought it was only "okay."
However, his memoir has changed my attitude toward him somewhat. This is not a typical memoir of his entire career. Instead, he focuses on his minor league days, comparing them to like aka the Bull Durham movie. He does add glimpses of his broadcasting life and how he got into it, along with flashbacks of his childhood. But mostly, this is 1970s baseball - one of my favorite eras of baseball.
He also shows a lot of humbleness and humility. He gets star struck when he meets Ted Williams and Warren Spahn, for example. He is a good player, but he worked at it and that's discussed in his book. Also, there's self-awareness and a realization about his father's intense skills workouts with Hernandez as a child that's pretty moving at the end of the book as well.
His stories are fun and his insight into baseball's strategy show he's not a dumb jock, but instead a very intellectual baseball mind.
A book has to be pretty good to change my attitude toward someone. He did apologize and "fess up" for his cheatin' ways and he admitted to using drugs early on, like most players who were suddenly wealthy. It is one of the better "memoirs" of recent and it doesn't follow the cookie-cutter method of quick books like Chipper Jones' memoir for example.
So, I give Hernandez a pass and I'll look at his career with the Cardinals and Mets with a little more favorable attitude. I still don't like the Mets all that much, though.
June 3, 2022
I feel like this should be titled “I’m Keith Hernandez, Part 1” because there’s so much more to his story, and he really only addressed a chunk of his career in sports and broadcasting. I would like to learn more about the cocaine use, the issues that got him traded from STL, and of course his Seinfeld cameo. But he wrote the book he wanted to write and it didn’t touch on that stuff. I hope he writes another because this was an an excellent book, maybe one of the best as far as a ball player’s memoirs go. And I believe this was written by Keith Hernandez not a ghostwriter. Anyway, great book. Highly recommend for baseball fans, especially Cardinals or Mets fans who think highly of Keith
May 12, 2020
A well-paced engaging read displaying what it’s like to be truly obsessed with baseball. Hernandez’s stories are well-told and I like the flipping between past and present. The downside is that while Hernandez catalogues the misogyny rife within the game, he seems barely able to engage with it and how it shaped his own view of the world.
July 28, 2019
This review might not be interesting to the vast majority of my followers but, for the sake of continuity, I want to write some words down and log this book as read and reviewed.
Oh, Keith! You rebel, impatient and hot-headed dude. Such a bad influence, with a public history of drug use. Who cheated on his first wife and was known for picking up fights and holding grudges. A naturalized New Yorker who nowadays is a color commentator for the Mets and SNY. Sometimes grumpy, most of the times emotional. Who once was infamous for sleeping in the job. Oh, Keith! But what a great baseball player you were! That beautiful swing, that gold-caliber defense!
"The reason the batter's getting paid a lot of money isn't because he's got a genius IQ; it's because he has split-second reaction time that allows him to do what is almost theoretically impossible: hit a baseball slung by a man with a cannon for an arm who's just sixty feet six inches away and is motivated to not allow a hit. That's tough stuff".
Baseball. So American, so boring. Heavily-dependant on stats. Sabermetrics. You don't have to know me that well to know how much I love the sport. You can't be surprised when something baseball-related appears on my stories. And, of course, a baseball book might pop up once in a blue moon.
I'm Keith Hernandez follows the player career, his humble beginnings, the time spent in the minor leagues, his rise and fall (and rise again) through the ranks and the first years of the beginning of a memorable career.
I have to say this: it's a little disappointing in the sense that the book follows KH's career up to the beginning of the 1980 season. Little after he won the Batting Title and Co-MVP. What this means is that Mets fans don't receive a lot of insight on his years in New York. Keith is seemingly wearing a Mets uniform on the cover, this could be misleading.
KH won 11 gold gloves and was part of two World Series teams (1982 Cardinals and 1986 Mets), these events are not part of this book. This makes me think that Keith has plans of writing more.
All in all, I'm Keith Hernandez is a decent biography. Like almost every biography, it has a target audience, and this one probably isn't that wide. But that's okay, this book seems more like a personal project. The author compared it to a scrapbook his father created.
"So now I've written a book. And I realize that, in a way, I've finally started to create a scrapbook of my own. Like my father before me, I've cut and pasted the memories together and tucked them into one place. I focused on the early years, and while those may not be the most celebrated, they were the "hard" ones. The most instructive."
I have to admit, this book felt thrilling on more than one occasion. A certain pennant race and a famous competition for the Batting Crown between Keith and Pete Rose.
One minor issue I had at first was that the book seemed all around the place. Fortunately, in the end, all the information given painted a clearer picture. Lastly, I'll expand on this by quoting the author:
"When I first started this process, I thought: There's so much there, and I'm not sure how to arrange it all. But like a crossword puzzle, I just went one way, then another, and another, until it was all put together. That's how I remember things. I always have. I can go up and down, left and right. It isn't a rigid progression. It's fluid.
Like a good baseball swing".
Oh, Keith! You rebel, impatient and hot-headed dude. Such a bad influence, with a public history of drug use. Who cheated on his first wife and was known for picking up fights and holding grudges. A naturalized New Yorker who nowadays is a color commentator for the Mets and SNY. Sometimes grumpy, most of the times emotional. Who once was infamous for sleeping in the job. Oh, Keith! But what a great baseball player you were! That beautiful swing, that gold-caliber defense!
"The reason the batter's getting paid a lot of money isn't because he's got a genius IQ; it's because he has split-second reaction time that allows him to do what is almost theoretically impossible: hit a baseball slung by a man with a cannon for an arm who's just sixty feet six inches away and is motivated to not allow a hit. That's tough stuff".
Baseball. So American, so boring. Heavily-dependant on stats. Sabermetrics. You don't have to know me that well to know how much I love the sport. You can't be surprised when something baseball-related appears on my stories. And, of course, a baseball book might pop up once in a blue moon.
I'm Keith Hernandez follows the player career, his humble beginnings, the time spent in the minor leagues, his rise and fall (and rise again) through the ranks and the first years of the beginning of a memorable career.
I have to say this: it's a little disappointing in the sense that the book follows KH's career up to the beginning of the 1980 season. Little after he won the Batting Title and Co-MVP. What this means is that Mets fans don't receive a lot of insight on his years in New York. Keith is seemingly wearing a Mets uniform on the cover, this could be misleading.
KH won 11 gold gloves and was part of two World Series teams (1982 Cardinals and 1986 Mets), these events are not part of this book. This makes me think that Keith has plans of writing more.
All in all, I'm Keith Hernandez is a decent biography. Like almost every biography, it has a target audience, and this one probably isn't that wide. But that's okay, this book seems more like a personal project. The author compared it to a scrapbook his father created.
"So now I've written a book. And I realize that, in a way, I've finally started to create a scrapbook of my own. Like my father before me, I've cut and pasted the memories together and tucked them into one place. I focused on the early years, and while those may not be the most celebrated, they were the "hard" ones. The most instructive."
I have to admit, this book felt thrilling on more than one occasion. A certain pennant race and a famous competition for the Batting Crown between Keith and Pete Rose.
One minor issue I had at first was that the book seemed all around the place. Fortunately, in the end, all the information given painted a clearer picture. Lastly, I'll expand on this by quoting the author:
"When I first started this process, I thought: There's so much there, and I'm not sure how to arrange it all. But like a crossword puzzle, I just went one way, then another, and another, until it was all put together. That's how I remember things. I always have. I can go up and down, left and right. It isn't a rigid progression. It's fluid.
Like a good baseball swing".
June 21, 2018
I'm reminded of the old Lewis Gizzard joke about a man at a revival meeting confessing his sins, each one more horrible than the last. The preacher encourages him after each confession, saying things like "Amen, brother," and "Testify!" When the man finally confesses to something too far beyond the pale, the preacher steps back and says, "Damn, brother. Don't believe I'd have told that."
Throughout this book, Hernandez is remarkably candid in describing his insecurities, exploits, and indiscretions. There are a few cringeworthy moments that make me think less of him, but his confessions are stated matter-of-factly without apology or defense. When clarification is needed, he adds copious footnotes to explain his positions,* and in some instances, the footnotes are better than the narrative they're referencing.
The bulk of the book, though, is engaging, alternating between his early days in professional baseball and his more recent days as broadcaster/memoir writer.
I loved his stories of minor league life, including one tale of an embarrassing moment with Texas League president (and Birmingham native) Bobby Bragan.
On the other hand, I was a little bummed when he had less than worshipful memories of the late Harry the Hat Walker (another Birmingham native and UAB's first baseball coach), and the late Gary Carter (my all-time favorite player).
But that's part of what makes this book an above average memoir. He is forthright in sharing the faults he sees in his coaches, teammates, his father, and himself.
* In one especially forgettable footnote, Keith speculates about his Silver Slugger award--a heavy silver bat. He starts the note with "I believe that..." and later admits that, "I'm not sure, but..." This is a footnote, Keith! That's where you're supposed to clarify with factual details. And this is a book, not a broadcast. Look that stuff up!
Throughout this book, Hernandez is remarkably candid in describing his insecurities, exploits, and indiscretions. There are a few cringeworthy moments that make me think less of him, but his confessions are stated matter-of-factly without apology or defense. When clarification is needed, he adds copious footnotes to explain his positions,* and in some instances, the footnotes are better than the narrative they're referencing.
The bulk of the book, though, is engaging, alternating between his early days in professional baseball and his more recent days as broadcaster/memoir writer.
I loved his stories of minor league life, including one tale of an embarrassing moment with Texas League president (and Birmingham native) Bobby Bragan.
On the other hand, I was a little bummed when he had less than worshipful memories of the late Harry the Hat Walker (another Birmingham native and UAB's first baseball coach), and the late Gary Carter (my all-time favorite player).
But that's part of what makes this book an above average memoir. He is forthright in sharing the faults he sees in his coaches, teammates, his father, and himself.
* In one especially forgettable footnote, Keith speculates about his Silver Slugger award--a heavy silver bat. He starts the note with "I believe that..." and later admits that, "I'm not sure, but..." This is a footnote, Keith! That's where you're supposed to clarify with factual details. And this is a book, not a broadcast. Look that stuff up!
August 25, 2018
If it wasn't for the amusing Seinfeld reference in the title of this book, an alternate idea would be The Making of Keith Hernandez, because that is truly what you get here. Mr. Hernandez chronicles, with an inward-turned critical eye, his introduction to baseball and rise to the major leagues. This chronology is spliced in with vignettes about his current life living on Long Island and working as a broadcaster for the New York Mets. It is a tribute to Mr. Hernandez and his editor that in reading this you can practically hear his voice telling you the story, which is exactly what I wanted. Lovely read for any fans of baseball or Mr. Hernandez.
April 6, 2019
More like 4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book and liked the way Mr. Hernandez told it. I thought he was very candid and honest about his strengths and shortcomings. The way he talks about them, as a ball player and as a regular guy, are the strengths of the book. Very human. Mr. Hernandez is a good story teller and talks about so many ball players in his life that I was constantly putting down the book to look up the players and their stats. I loved that.
For those expecting the book to cover Mr. Hernandez' whole career, you'll be disappointed. It covers his early years and the present. Highly recommend this book.
For those expecting the book to cover Mr. Hernandez' whole career, you'll be disappointed. It covers his early years and the present. Highly recommend this book.
December 18, 2024
An especially well written baseball memoir. It was a lot of fun to read about the trials and tribulations of Keith’s early career, the tough tough love he had to endure during his adolescence, and that Keith isn’t just some talking head jock.
I simply wish he wrote a companion piece that is his 30-50 page manifesto on the rise of baseball analytics and its consequences so I could completely ignore it. I do appreciate his limited self awareness, and ultimately it is his memoir to do whatever he would like to do with it, but with this book being as lean as it is, it felt maddening to stop every other chapter for an old man to yell at a cloud.
Otherwise it is truly one of the better baseball stories I’ve read, but not without baggage it can’t seem to let go.
I simply wish he wrote a companion piece that is his 30-50 page manifesto on the rise of baseball analytics and its consequences so I could completely ignore it. I do appreciate his limited self awareness, and ultimately it is his memoir to do whatever he would like to do with it, but with this book being as lean as it is, it felt maddening to stop every other chapter for an old man to yell at a cloud.
Otherwise it is truly one of the better baseball stories I’ve read, but not without baggage it can’t seem to let go.
May 21, 2018
Baseball books are my comfort food, and this is one of the best I've ever read. Heartfelt story of a man becoming the major-league baseball player he dreamed of being as a boy. With the insecurities such an immense challenge creates. Hernandez was a childhood hero of mine and this was a delightful trip back to my boyhood days, with a look at what unfolded before and after the highlight reels during Keith's days as a Cardinal. Hated turning the final page.
January 8, 2025
The Sports Illustrated review of “Poignant and surprisingly literary” could not have been a better description. As a diehard Mets fan, having watched arguably 140+ regular season games and every postseason game of 2024, the omnipresence of Keith in the booth is what drove me to read his memoir. Would recommend to any baseball fan — especially those that want a behind the curtain look into the minor league shenanigans of the 1970s.
May 31, 2018
I think my favorite part was when he referenced “sit Ubu sit, good dog”. That’s probably gonna go over the heads of anyone under the age of 30.
Fine memoir otherwise. Lots of Cardinals stuff, lots of lamenting about the current hyper-analized stats of modern day sports. Fair points. I’m not a die-hard baseball fan so some of the names were lost on me, but it was still enjoyable.
Fine memoir otherwise. Lots of Cardinals stuff, lots of lamenting about the current hyper-analized stats of modern day sports. Fair points. I’m not a die-hard baseball fan so some of the names were lost on me, but it was still enjoyable.
September 10, 2020
Fun read! A little disorienting, at times, with the 'back and forth' time lines (continuously going back to the past and then to the present, from chapter to chapter). But Hernandez does such a good job with the details of him coming up in his career, making you feel the struggles he was going through...along with his well-known sense of humor.
August 2, 2018
Good Baseball stories
Read
September 17, 2022fun :)
March 31, 2023
Love Keith. Could have been a bit better of a book
July 11, 2018
I got this book mainly because I thought it might help with something for a book I'm writing, but I ended up really enjoying it. If you like listening to Keith on SNY Mets broadcasts, you'll enjoy it, too.
He goes through the early stages of his life and career, mostly pre-Mets, although he also includes some thoughts and memories on his time with SNY. Good stories, and more than that a good look at what a player goes through on his way to making it in the major leagues.
He goes through the early stages of his life and career, mostly pre-Mets, although he also includes some thoughts and memories on his time with SNY. Good stories, and more than that a good look at what a player goes through on his way to making it in the major leagues.
May 23, 2019
This is inside baseball for people on the outside.
I enjoyed this baseball book, the title of which comes from a line on Seinfeld, of all things.
This is a good discussion of some of the intricacies of hitting, particularly of hitting major-league pitching. He talks a lot about making adjustments and getting good advice from good hitters. He also provides a lot of information on pitchers--and pitches.
Along with hitting and pitching, Hernandez discusses many ways in which the game has changed since he played in the '70s and '80s, and also how different it was when his father played minor-league baseball in the '30s and '40s.
But most importantly, this book is a good story and an easy read. It’s interesting and deep in many ways, but the discussion is light and easy to follow. There’s a lot of good information about life in the minor leagues. (Hernandez says Bull Durham captures life in the minors “to a T.”) I also enjoyed the fact that the story is not in chronological order. It skips around in a manner that is unpredictable and refreshing. This is not a biography that leaves you bogged down in a man’s childhood for ten chapters.
Finally, I believe the full title may be I’m Keith Hernandez: a Memoir. That probably sold me. I love memoirs. And once I began it, I read nothing else until I was finished, setting aside for the moment another well-written baseball book I was busy reading, Three Nights in August by Buzz Bissinger.
Hernandez details so many issues: the rise and appropriate use of sabermetrics; how expansion teams water-down talent and cause batters to face weaker pitching (thus the NL keeps losing to the AL following the creation of three NL teams to one AL team in 1997-98); big money: player contracts, free agency, the “Reserve Clause” and the Seitz arbitration; Pete Rose as hard worker, competitor, and mentor; overemphasizing stats and causing the “paralysis of analysis”; winning the NL batting title and being publicly grilled by Ted Williams who unexpectedly walked up out of the audience and took the stage unannounced; why an overemphasis on home runs actually makes games less-interesting (no steals, no hit-and-runs, no close calls by the umpire at the plate, no small ball, no strategy); various pitches, when they were perfected, and how to hit them; the prevalence of marijuana, cocaine, and amphetamines in the minors, in the clubhouse, and in Hernandez's early career; failed marriages, his own and others, and the struggle to dedicate everything to personal achievement on the field and have nothing left but selfishness when you return to your family; the early days of the memorabilia shows where Hernandez would sign autographs for four hours and leave with a suitcase full of cash—nearly $25,000, or the equivalent of his salary that same year; and Hernandez’s years in the announcer’s booth and his thoughts and favorite stories about that side of baseball.
Interesting fact: Hernandez did not watch a baseball game for ten years—from the time he retired from playing until the day he entered the broadcast booth. He was living in New York and the kid who grew up reading the box scores with his cereal was busy doing other things.
Some quotes:
Turns out insanity at the little league is not an entirely new development. After Keith struck out the final batter for a 10-0 shut out in a championship Little League game, the opposing coaches attacked the umpire.
I love this cliffhanger-of-a-sentence discussing a minor league field in Little Rock:
I enjoyed this baseball book, the title of which comes from a line on Seinfeld, of all things.
This is a good discussion of some of the intricacies of hitting, particularly of hitting major-league pitching. He talks a lot about making adjustments and getting good advice from good hitters. He also provides a lot of information on pitchers--and pitches.
Along with hitting and pitching, Hernandez discusses many ways in which the game has changed since he played in the '70s and '80s, and also how different it was when his father played minor-league baseball in the '30s and '40s.
But most importantly, this book is a good story and an easy read. It’s interesting and deep in many ways, but the discussion is light and easy to follow. There’s a lot of good information about life in the minor leagues. (Hernandez says Bull Durham captures life in the minors “to a T.”) I also enjoyed the fact that the story is not in chronological order. It skips around in a manner that is unpredictable and refreshing. This is not a biography that leaves you bogged down in a man’s childhood for ten chapters.
Finally, I believe the full title may be I’m Keith Hernandez: a Memoir. That probably sold me. I love memoirs. And once I began it, I read nothing else until I was finished, setting aside for the moment another well-written baseball book I was busy reading, Three Nights in August by Buzz Bissinger.
Hernandez details so many issues: the rise and appropriate use of sabermetrics; how expansion teams water-down talent and cause batters to face weaker pitching (thus the NL keeps losing to the AL following the creation of three NL teams to one AL team in 1997-98); big money: player contracts, free agency, the “Reserve Clause” and the Seitz arbitration; Pete Rose as hard worker, competitor, and mentor; overemphasizing stats and causing the “paralysis of analysis”; winning the NL batting title and being publicly grilled by Ted Williams who unexpectedly walked up out of the audience and took the stage unannounced; why an overemphasis on home runs actually makes games less-interesting (no steals, no hit-and-runs, no close calls by the umpire at the plate, no small ball, no strategy); various pitches, when they were perfected, and how to hit them; the prevalence of marijuana, cocaine, and amphetamines in the minors, in the clubhouse, and in Hernandez's early career; failed marriages, his own and others, and the struggle to dedicate everything to personal achievement on the field and have nothing left but selfishness when you return to your family; the early days of the memorabilia shows where Hernandez would sign autographs for four hours and leave with a suitcase full of cash—nearly $25,000, or the equivalent of his salary that same year; and Hernandez’s years in the announcer’s booth and his thoughts and favorite stories about that side of baseball.
Interesting fact: Hernandez did not watch a baseball game for ten years—from the time he retired from playing until the day he entered the broadcast booth. He was living in New York and the kid who grew up reading the box scores with his cereal was busy doing other things.
Some quotes:
Turns out insanity at the little league is not an entirely new development. After Keith struck out the final batter for a 10-0 shut out in a championship Little League game, the opposing coaches attacked the umpire.
Mr. Reynolds runs out of the opposing dugout to home plate. He’s joined by his brother, Dave Reynolds, and both men start screaming at the umpire, Mr. Steiner, accusing him of favoritism toward our team. Mr. Reynolds then grabs Mr. Steiner by the throat and starts choking him. He’s got Mr. Steiner up against the backstop, his hands wrapped around his neck, and the other parents from both foul lines are sprinting toward home plate to break it up.
I love this cliffhanger-of-a-sentence discussing a minor league field in Little Rock:
Then there was the state mental institution over the left field fence....
July 28, 2018
Keith Hernandez is not one to pull his punches but I expected more funny stories. Missed Keith’s reminiscence of the Mets years, however, a true Cardinal fan should love this book.
June 12, 2018
Three and a half stars. I just can't say I loved it. I found it to be fragmented and poorly organized,something even the author partially acknowledges at the end. Secondly, I was very annoyed at the constant use of footnotes. This isn't a term paper or legal brief, it's supposed to be a collection of personal memories. Most of the footnotes were unnecessary, although there were a couple of doozies(Preston Tucker a third base coach had different signs for all fifteen position players). This is just not a compelling read that will astonish the reader or keep him fully immersed in the book.
Nor will you find salacious stories of sex and drugs: not that I'm complaining. in fact the subtle references to sex and drugs, even cheating on his pregnant wife, were downplayed. Yet the reader is left with the gut feel that there was much more there than a fleeting reference. There are a few fun stories about players and coaches. I found the story of a nine year old Keith Hernandez in the clubhouse, with his father, when Ken Boyer tussled his hair to have been endearing especially in light of the presence of Boyer as minor and major league manager in Keith's life. The story about hitting coach Harry "The Hat" Walker was interesting as well as the unwritten rules of baseball fight between Dave Kingman and the Cards Lynn McGlothen. Then there are anecdotes about Lou Brock and Pete Rose that encouraged the young Hernandez into being the best he could be,
Hernandez does bear his soul and confide to the reader just how low esteem he had for himself, and how he would worry and obsess about his batting swing. Perhaps that all encompassing obsession with the perfect swing was the result of an over-demanding father, but Keith has apparently forgiven him and understood his motives. I found his views on the crisis of today's baseball persuasive, although not novel. He does a good job detailing what is wrong with the rhythm and timing of today's game; essentially a home run and strike out era as opposed to singles, bunts, stolen bases, and sacrifices. He describes himself as an anachronism in saber metric terms. While I can understand and agree that baseball IQ can not be discounted or discerned in stats, Hernandez seems to disdain all but a few offensive metrics as valid. While he eschews the use of launch angle and exit velocity, I for one am intrigued by the stats. I wouldn't toss them in the garbage can as Frank Robinson did. So if you are a fan of Keith's, you will likely give it 4 or 5 stars, but I have to give him what I think it deserves.
Nor will you find salacious stories of sex and drugs: not that I'm complaining. in fact the subtle references to sex and drugs, even cheating on his pregnant wife, were downplayed. Yet the reader is left with the gut feel that there was much more there than a fleeting reference. There are a few fun stories about players and coaches. I found the story of a nine year old Keith Hernandez in the clubhouse, with his father, when Ken Boyer tussled his hair to have been endearing especially in light of the presence of Boyer as minor and major league manager in Keith's life. The story about hitting coach Harry "The Hat" Walker was interesting as well as the unwritten rules of baseball fight between Dave Kingman and the Cards Lynn McGlothen. Then there are anecdotes about Lou Brock and Pete Rose that encouraged the young Hernandez into being the best he could be,
Hernandez does bear his soul and confide to the reader just how low esteem he had for himself, and how he would worry and obsess about his batting swing. Perhaps that all encompassing obsession with the perfect swing was the result of an over-demanding father, but Keith has apparently forgiven him and understood his motives. I found his views on the crisis of today's baseball persuasive, although not novel. He does a good job detailing what is wrong with the rhythm and timing of today's game; essentially a home run and strike out era as opposed to singles, bunts, stolen bases, and sacrifices. He describes himself as an anachronism in saber metric terms. While I can understand and agree that baseball IQ can not be discounted or discerned in stats, Hernandez seems to disdain all but a few offensive metrics as valid. While he eschews the use of launch angle and exit velocity, I for one am intrigued by the stats. I wouldn't toss them in the garbage can as Frank Robinson did. So if you are a fan of Keith's, you will likely give it 4 or 5 stars, but I have to give him what I think it deserves.
October 15, 2021
I can’t help but feel unfulfilled after reading this. It essentially ends with his faint recollections of the early part of the 1980 season with nothing said about the things I wanted to know about.
Like, how did he get to be such a great fielder? What was it like playing for Whitey and the Running Redbirds and why was he traded so soon after winning the World Series? He talked about playing with Garry Templeton, what about playing with Ozzie?
What about all those years with the Mets?
And of course, I admit, I wanted to know about his struggle with drugs and how he got past it.
I also wanted to know the real story behind why he didn’t play his senior year of high school baseball. All he said was “the coach was a jerk”. Surely there is much more and it’s fascinating that he ended up such a big league star after giving up.
It reads like a stream of consciousness without a lot of direction. My version was 466 pages and after reading that much, I guess I just expected to know a lot more about one of the best and most intriguing ball players of his era.
You do get a lot of opinions on where the game is now, his love for it, and on the importance of his brother and father in his life, and that is meaningful. I just feel like many of the big questions I had were not even addressed as if I had the wrong person all along.
So keep that in mind if you’re looking to read this book.
Like, how did he get to be such a great fielder? What was it like playing for Whitey and the Running Redbirds and why was he traded so soon after winning the World Series? He talked about playing with Garry Templeton, what about playing with Ozzie?
What about all those years with the Mets?
And of course, I admit, I wanted to know about his struggle with drugs and how he got past it.
I also wanted to know the real story behind why he didn’t play his senior year of high school baseball. All he said was “the coach was a jerk”. Surely there is much more and it’s fascinating that he ended up such a big league star after giving up.
It reads like a stream of consciousness without a lot of direction. My version was 466 pages and after reading that much, I guess I just expected to know a lot more about one of the best and most intriguing ball players of his era.
You do get a lot of opinions on where the game is now, his love for it, and on the importance of his brother and father in his life, and that is meaningful. I just feel like many of the big questions I had were not even addressed as if I had the wrong person all along.
So keep that in mind if you’re looking to read this book.
May 19, 2018
Why did Keith disappoint me? Where’s the sex drugs and baseball? 80’s Mets stories?
I enjoyed his stories about his father’s teachings. I hope there’s a sequel to finish the details we want to hear.
I enjoyed his stories about his father’s teachings. I hope there’s a sequel to finish the details we want to hear.
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