Fictional Mets game with Keith Hernandez on ‘Seinfeld’ was held 35 years ago Tuesday
Keith Hernandez had just one question after his ex-agent, Scott Boras, called to say the former MLB star had been asked to appear on an episode of the TV show, “Seinfeld.”
“What’s that?”
Yep, Hernandez had never heard of “Seinfeld” when he was cast for “The Boyfriend” episode in season three, a fact he revealed in a 2017 interview on Colin Cowherd’s show.
“Being a baseball player, we play night games, we’re not prime-time television watchers,” Hernandez recalled. “(Boras said,) ‘They want to have you come out for a week to LA and probably minimal lines.’ And I said, ‘How much?’
“And he said, ‘Well, they’ll fly you out first class, put you up for a week at a nice hotel, pay you 15 grand.’ I said, ‘I’ll do it.’ Of course no one’s gonna spit on 15 thousand (dollars).”
If you know the episode, that was an example of foreshadowing.
Game recap
In the episode, Jerry and George bump into Hernandez in a gym locker room. The star-struck Jerry strikes up a friendship with Hernandez, who soon starts dating Elaine. Kramer learns Hernandez has joined their circle of friends and is none too pleased. Seems he and his friend Newman were at a Mets game, and Hernandez had made a bad impression.
That fictional game was played 35 years ago Tuesday, and here’s Newman’s recap to Elaine: “June 14, 1987. Mets-Phillies. We’re enjoying a beautiful afternoon in the right field stands when a crucial Hernandez error opens the door to a five-run Phillies ninth. Cost the Mets the game.”
Kramer added: “Our day was ruined.”
It got worse after the game when Newman and Kramer were certain that Hernandez had spit on them. Jerry was dubious and, in a nod to the movie “JFK,” pokes holes in their story.
Later in the episode, the two confront Hernandez in Jerry’s apartment and learn the truth: There was a second spitter: former Mets pitcher Roger McDowell, who was behind the bushes by the gravely road.
“Wow, it was McDowell,” Newman said.
“But why? Why McDowell?,” Jerry asked.
Turns out, Kramer and Newman were heckling McDowell and poured a beer on him. The apologetic duo then offered to help Hernandez move.
An oral history
Here’s what Hernandez, Seinfeld and McDowell had to say about the episode.
In an interview on SNY-TV, Seinfeld told Hernandez why he was chosen for the role by series co-creator Larry David.
“He must have asked me who was my favorite Met at the time,” Seinfeld recalled, “and I’m sure I said you.”
Hernandez told Cowherd he was surprised when he saw the script.
“They overnight the script to me and I look at it and I go, ‘Oh, my gosh, I had so many lines,’” Hernandez said.
“So a good friend of mine from New York was Marsha Mason, the terrific actress. ... So to memorize my lines, she said, ‘Line one, line two, line three. Then go to bed and do your lines.’ So I knew everybody’s lines in the scenes that I did.”
Hernandez revealed in a behind-the-scenes look at the episode for a Seinfeld DVD he had offered one alteration to the story.
“When I saw the original script and who the second spitter was going to be, and they originally wanted to use Darryl Strawberry,” Hernandez said. “But Darryl had some series of bad publicity. I said, ‘Are you sure you wanna have Darryl do this?’ You know, Darryl’s a good friend. I said, ‘I don’t think it’s the right time for Darryl to be someone spitting on fans.’”
McDowell, the second spitter, may have been the second choice, but he didn’t hesitate to join the fun, as he told Complex.com
“I remember sitting at home, and I get a call from Keith Hernandez,” McDowell said. “He was friends with Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, and they want me to be part of the show. Keith explains it’s a spoof of the JFK shooting, and they wanted me in a role. ... I said yes, and they flew me to Los Angeles.
“We went outside to film my thing, and I know it took more than 20 takes. I was acting, because we did so many takes that I ran out of spit, and had to act like I was spitting. I don’t know why they asked me, except in their conversations with Keith, he probably just said, “This would be the right guy.’ I could spit good, but I don’t have a face for TV so being hidden behind a bush was probably a good thing.”
Wayne Knight, who played Newman, said in the Seinfeld DVD extra that one of the show’s writers had seen Knight in “JFK.”
“I came back as Newman doing the same reenactment that I had done in ‘JFK,’” Knight said.
In the episode, Jerry frets over what to wear when he’s going to meet Hernandez for the first time outside of the gym. As he said on the DVD extra, that was a case of art imitating life.
“And I remember the morning that he was going to be on the show standing in my closet looking at my shirts going, ‘What should I wear? I’m going to meet Keith Hernandez, what should I wear?’ ” Seinfeld said. “And I actually even remember feeling sweaty as I was driving to work that I was going to meet Keith Hernandez and how exciting this was going to be.”
Hernandez told Cowherd he had major butterflies before shooting the episode.
“I was petrified. I had never acted and we had to do it in front of a live audience, and I was petrified,” he said. “I didn’t mess up but I was nervous.”
Even though the episode appeared 30 years ago, Hernandez said “Seinfeld” fans regularly stop him and ask about it.
“It certainly was one of the two greatest experiences of my life,” Hernandez told the Los Angeles Times. “Playing major league baseball for 17 years, playing in two World Series, that has to rank No. 1. But being on that sitcom has to rank No. 2. It was one of the great life experiences for me. I was just so fortunate.”
One final note
In reality, Hernandez had a home run and two hits on June 14, 1987 as the Mets defeated the Pirates 7-3 in Pittsburgh.
