Jerry Seinfeld's SNY Booth Visit Was Refreshing

Article first published as jerry-seinfelds-sny-booth-visit-was on Blogcritics.


Most Mets fans know that comedian Jerry Seinfeld is a longtime fan of the team, but on Wednesday, June 23, 2010, they got to hear him enter the television broadcast booth armed with more than jokes. He actually displayed a nice flair for talking about the intricacies of the game, could do a little play-by-play, and came off like a regular guy from Queens who happens to be a comedy legend.

Jerry made it clear early on that he was there as a fan and what his focus was to be. He said he didn't like celebrities coming into the booth and chatting about everything but baseball. He told booth regulars Keith Hernandez and Gary Cohen, "So let's just talk about the game."

And Jerry did just that. He proved to be knowledgeable about the players, about the team, and stuck to his word, more or less. Of course, it was inevitable that the entertainer Lady Gaga (who recently attended a Mets-Yankees game at Citi Field, had a problem with the fans, flipped photographers the bird, and eventually landed herself in Seinfeld's private suite) would come into the mix. Seinfeld brought her up first and joked, "That's why I'm here."

Jerry didn't mince words about Gaga's strange antics. He said, "I did not like the finger." One can only imagine what kind of episode could have evolved out of this kind of thing on the classic comedy Seinfeld, especially if Kramer and Newman were in the mix. Needless to say, Seinfeld was a bit annoyed that to soothe the obviously disturbed Gaga that she was placed in his suite, but he went on to say, "She should make a nice apology to the Mets fans and I'm willing to forget the whole thing."

During the game the Mets showed they too had a sense of humor, with a Go Gaga for Wright promotion involving foam fingers given away to fans. The intention of this good natured gimmick was to inspire fans to use their appropriate digits to vote for third baseman David Wright for a place on the NL All-Star Team. Once again, Seinfeld must have been thinking how those twenty thousand foam fingers could have worked in an episode, or perhaps he'll reserve it for use in his stand-up routine.

Fans of the classic comedy should remember when Keith Hernandez, playing himself, was a guest star on Seinfeld and started dating Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Seinfeld and Hernandez engaged in a light-hearted banter about that time, when the Mets and their fans were glowing after winning the 1986 World Series. As they spoke, you could hear how much Seinfeld admired the former Mets first baseman. Of when Hernandez came on the set to start filming, Seinfeld said, "I was most excited to meet Keith Hernandez of anyone I ever met on the show."

Over all, it was a pleasant experience that Mets fans will long remember. In the end, the broadcast was more about Jerry Seinfeld than the game (the Mets did win 5-0 over the Detroit Tigers), even with his coming in with the best intentions. Not that there is anything wrong with that.