The Mets offseason finally feels complete. According to the Boomer and Gio show on WFAN, Keith Hernandez will be back in the broadcast booth for the 2023 season.
Hernandez confirmed the news on Instagram.
Hernandez has been in the SNY broadcast booth for 17 years alongside Gary Cohen and Ron Darling. At the conclusion of the 2022 season, Hernandez’s contract with SNY expired.
Hernandez, 69, fell in New York City in September suffering a shoulder injury that required surgery and kept him out of the booth for the remainder of the Mets’ schedule.
He’s been as big a star calling Mets games as he was when he was on the field for the team.
Last week, the New York Post’s Mike Puma reported the sides were close.
“Hearing there has been progress in the contract talks between SNY and Keith Hernandez,” Puma tweeted. “The two sides are considered not far apart on a new multi-year agreement, but there is still work to be done before it can be completed.”
It was a big step as the sides didn’t seem nearly as close to an agreement earlier that week when there was a reported “gap” in contract talks.
Hernandez has been integral to the Mets booth for the last generation of Mets fans. In 2022 the Mets retired Hernandez’s No. 17. When asked what the franchise meant to him Hernandez was more than grateful.
“I never dreamed that I would be 50 years, maybe 40, I don’t feel like I’m that old. No, I never dreamed that I would become a fixture of the organization, I never dreamed of being in the booth. I think the fact that I’m still in New York is just because it’s New York City and there’s only one New York City and I’ve fallen in love with Manhattan and in the surrounding areas. I love it up here. There was no reason to leave. I was having too much fun.
I never dreamed that I would be 50 years, maybe 40, I don’t feel like I’m that old. No, I never dreamed that I would become a fixture of the organization, I never dreamed of being in the booth. I think the fact that I’m still in New York is just because it’s New York City and there’s only one New York City and I’ve fallen in love with Manhattan and in the surrounding areas. I love it up here. There was no reason to leave. I was having too much fun.”
Details of the contract have yet to emerge but there’s at least one more season of GKR.
