When he said yes to “Seinfeld,” New York Mets icon Keith Hernandez was struck with stage fright.
Hernandez, the 1979 National League MVP with the Cardinals who played a central role on , was paid $15,000 to appear in a 1992 episode of the American sitcom. As Hernandez explained to The Denver Post ahead of the Mets’ series finale against the Rockies on Thursday at Coors Field, it was his first time acting and he had trouble controlling his nerves heading into filming.
“(My agent) Scott Boras told me I would probably have a few lines in a cameo, but when I first read the script, I went, ‘Holy (hell), I’m a costar here. I’ve got a lot of lines. This is not just a little cameo appearance,'” Hernandez, now a broadcaster with the Mets, recalled. “And I was petrified.
“I guess I did OK. It was a great experience. But I was nervous as heck. In the first take of the episode’s first scene at the soundstage in front of the (NBC) suits and a live audience, sure enough, I screwed up my line. It was cut. And I’m like, ‘Oh, crap.’ But I didn’t make a mistake the rest of the way.”
appeared in the third season of “Seinfeld” and was an hour-long special that aired during sweeps week. “The Boyfriend” became one of the more memorable episodes of the show’s nine-year run. Hernandez’s performance as himself in a plot in which he navigates a bromance with Jerry Seinfeld and dates Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ character, Elaine Benes, was lauded as a strong guest-star performance.
Hernandez said that he’s now recognized more in everyday life as a character from “Seinfeld” than for his 17-year baseball career, in which he was a five-time All-Star and 11-time Gold Glove Award winner. In addition to winning the ’86 World Series with the Mets, he won the ’82 World Series with the Cardinals, and both Fall Classic victories came in seven games.
After his appearance on “Seinfeld,” Hernandez had a few more acting gigs, including “Law & Order.” But his performance on “Seinfeld”resonated most, and Hernandez said he still earns about $5,000 a year in residuals from the show. Hernandez was also in the final episode of “Seinfeld” as a background character.
Hernandez was so spent after acting in “The Boyfriend” that he stayed in Southern California for an extra week after filming concluded, relaxing at a hotel in Santa Monica. To this day, Hernandez said he’s only seen the episode two times.
“I have a hard time watching it today,” Hernandez admitted. “I just get embarrassed looking at myself acting.”
Hernandez, who returned to the Mets’ SNY broadcast booth following last month’s back surgery, has family connections in Colorado. Two of the 72-year-old’s daughters live in Denver, and another lives in Breckenridge.
The former first baseman also recalled fond memories of hitting at Mile High Stadium in the minor leagues, when his Tulsa Oilers played the Denver Bears in Triple-A action in the early 1970s.
While he believes the underachieving Mets (14-22 entering Thursday, and last place in the NL East) still have a chance to turn their season around, he also expressed optimism about the trajectory of the Rockies (three consecutive 100-loss campaigns) under first-year president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta.
“(DePodesta) will get it going in the right direction,” Hernandez said. “It’s hard to win here in Denver. It’s hard to put a pitching staff together… it’s going to take time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but the Rockies have got the right guy at the helm. They’ve got a baseball guy that knows what he’s doing.”
