Yankees Announcer Michael Kay Furious With Praise Of Mets Booth
06/26/2024 02:58 PM
Apparently, the Subway Series rivalry extends from the playing field into the broadcast booth.
On Tuesday, New York Yankees play-by-play announcer and ESPN New York radio host Michael Kay took exception to an SNY ad that ran during his show touting the New York Mets' trio of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling as "the best booth in baseball."
After beginning his comments by claiming he might "get in trouble" for what he's about to say, Kay detailed his issues with the SNY promotion.
"Their ad, which ran during the last break, 'Enjoy the Subway Series with the best booth in baseball.' I mean, do you expect me to just take that lying down?" Kay said. "I think our booth is the best booth in baseball. You know who the host of the show is…I'll take [Paul] O'Neill, [David] Cone and me over Gar, Ron and Keith. I would. I mean, they're great, but so is our booth. The way you want people to watch is to say, 'Join the best booth in baseball?' I'm sorry, I think we're the best booth in baseball."
Understandable that Kay would go to bat for himself and his colleagues, even though SNY is paying for the ad and understandably wants to promote its own employees.
Kay's co-hosts Don LaGreca and Peter Rosenberg challenged him on the matter, but Kay reiterated that his beef wasn't with the content of the SNY ad, but more the fact it ran during his show
"What I'm going to say right now might get me into some trouble..." pic.twitter.com/YtGlTlzw49
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 26, 2024
"I think they should feel that way," Kay continued. "And I feel that way [about the YES booth]. But you also have to be somewhat out of a mindset of being completely clueless to run that on 'The Michael Kay Show.'"
Kay said again that he feels Cohen, Darling and Hernandez do "a great job" and he's a "big fan" of the well-regarded trio of broadcasters. He just didn't like hearing them praised as the "best booth in baseball" during a show that he hosts when he'll be in the
"But to say, 'Best booth in baseball' when one of the hosts of the show that you're running it on is in the other booth," Kay added.
With Kay leading the YES booth and Gary, Keith and Ron calling the game for SNY, the Mets beat the Yankees 9-7 at Citi Field on Tuesday.
They will look to sweep the two-game mini-series tonight.
