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When I was little I wanted to be the play-by-play voice of the Mets and Knicks. As I got older I began to do things that would lead to my eventual 30 years broadcasting games at small colleges. One of them was going to games. Another was turning down the sound of games on television and doing my own-play-by-play.
When I was 17 or 18 (late 1992, early 1993) I invited a bunch of my high school friends over and we did a broadcast, complete with a keyboard replicating the "dee-fense" organ music sound effect you would hear at MSG.
I knew the Knicks had a new play-by-play guy and so I sent him a copy of the tape and asked for an evaluation. Sure enough a couple of months later I got a letter from Mike Breen saying he enjoyed the sound effects and (more importantly) that my play-by-play was good.
Thirty four years later I finally got to thank him. It was an honor to speak with him and interview about his Mets fandom and the 1986 team. The interview is below. I think my favorite answer is him explaining what he watches when he watches a baseball game but there are some other pretty good ones in here too.
What's your earliest Met memory?
It was the '68 Mets. That was the first year I really started rooting for them.
I was seven at the time. I was one of six boys, so, my father watched all sports and whatever favorite team that he had, that was my favorite team. He was a New York Giants fan growing up. The Giants obviously left, the Dodgers left. He couldn't root for the Yankees, so he had to find another team to root for.
He waited and picked the expansion Mets and he passed that along to me.
Were you able to comprehend it at a level where you would get particularly upset when they would lose and be really happy when they would win?
I didn't get upset when they lost. I was thrilled when they won. I was playing Little League baseball at the time, so, what I used to do, it's a little embarrassing now, but we had on our front door it was a glass where you could see your reflection, and I used to play entire games where I would stand at the plate, and I would do the batting order for the Mets.
If I swung and hit, I'd run to the right side of the house for first base. The back of the house was second. The left side of the house was third, and then home. And I would do whole games doing that, running around and pretending. I wasn't announcing the games. I just loved baseball so much when I was a little boy It wasn't like I'd do it for a couple batters. I would do complete games
Where were you in your life in 1986?
In '86, I was producing and reporting for WNBC Radio 660 AM, and that was the time where WNBC had Don Imus in the morning, they had Soupy Sales, they had Howard Stern, and at night they decided to try a sports talk show. The only other sports talk shows that were anywhere in the country were Art Rust Jr. at WABC and the One on One at WFUV, the Fordham radio station.
NBC decided to get into that, and they hired Jack Spector, who was a great disc jockey from back in the '50s. He was one of the good guys at WMCA, and Jack was the host, and I was one of his producers.
During the Mets season, and especially during the playoffs, I would go out to Shea Stadium and I would phone in reports on the playoff games.
When you talked to Gary and Keith in the booth earlier this year, you said you were scared of talking to Keith?
Oh, I was so intimidated.
When I was twenty-five years old, it was the first time that I'd been into a professional locker room, and I was intimidated in most of them, but Keith especially. Keith was not an easy interview. He had great insight, and he was great with the writers. But at this point, It was fairly new that there were a lot of radio reporters going in. And a lot of the players, because we weren't there every day, they didn't really trust us. Yeah. And some of them weren't very cooperative, and Keith was one of them. So I was very intimidated by Keith.
Who were the guys you'd go to?
Gary Carter was the best. Bob Ojeda was wonderful as well. In fact, I have a interesting story on Bob Ojeda. Game 4 of the World Series, for many of us who worked at WNBC Radio, it was one of the saddest days ever.
They had a traffic reporter up in a chopper named Jane Dornacker. Everybody loved Jane, and live on the air, she was giving a report, and the helicopter crashed. She passed away before she got to the hospital. It was a couple of hours before the Mets game, and it was just... we were all traumatized and so upset obviously. And then Channel Four News came on. I was in the newsroom at the time. They do the story of Jane Dornacker and the crash and her passing away. I don't even think they went to a commercial, Mark. They went right to, 'Also tonight is Game 4 of the World Series. That was supposed to be the lead story on all the newscasts, but the Jane Dornacker story obviously became number one, and it was a very awkward throw, to go from the death of this woman to the Mets in the World Series.
Sal Marchiano was there. He interviewed Bob Ojeda, who had won the previous night, so he was the guest. Sal tried to start the interview, and it clearly was uncomfortable to try and talk about it because Sal knew Jane as well. Bob Ojeda stopped him, and rather than talk baseball right away, he expressed his sympathy. He said that it was more important about what happened to this poor woman than any World Series game, and he sends along his best wishes and condolences and how sad he was. And it meant so much to us in the newsroom that here's this player who just came off the biggest win of his career. His team has got a chance to even the World Series tonight, and he put Jane Dornacker's story above the Mets and I'll never forget that. It's not surprising 'because Bob Ojeda was a wonderful guy to deal with.
Where were you for the NLCS games?
I was at the Lenny Dykstra home run. I had tickets for that and sat in the stands.
Game 6, I was at home watching that one with my dad and our whole family. We were hanging on every word of the broadcast.
Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS is similar to Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals in terms of the communal nature with people watching it in the streets.
The 1969 Mets were the surprise to win the championship. The Knicks had that in common with 1969. But there were a lot of similarities in '86 and how the city was so swept up by this particular team and all the comebacks, not just Game 6.They didn't make it easy on, on the blood pressure of their fans during that, and that's why it was so exciting. The comeback nature of some of their victories and the heart-stopping games were reminiscent for me with what the Knicks accomplished.
Can you just re-explain the circumstances that led you to be sitting in the Red Sox radio booth for Game 6 of the 1986 World Series and how that played out?
The amount of media requests and credentials were off the charts. They were cramming people everywhere. I was afraid I wasn't even gonna get a seat, and they kept trying to help. Jay Horwitz, who is just the prince of all princes, he would do everything to find me a seat, and this is what he found for me. It was in the back section of the booth and I had to duck down a little bit to see.
But I was just so happy to be there and be able to call in reports and be in the stadium for that night. So, I wasn't right behind any of the announcers. I was way in the back of the booth. And, I for the most part I behaved like a professional. My head is down and I'm sunken when it's five-three Red Sox in the 10th and there's two out.
I'm thinking, "Okay, I gotta do tthe anti-Bob Murphy, the unhappy recap. When they turned it around I completely lost all professionalism as a journalist. But I quickly realized, okay, where I was and calmed down and, because I knew it was inappropriate.
You have in the past described your Mets fandom as irrational. Do you have examples that illustrate that?
Some of my adult friends say it's irrational because I'm ever the optimist.
I just always feel they have a chance. I always try and look at the positive. And, every year going in, I think if our third pitcher really comes through, if the bullpen is sharp, if we get a little power hitting on the left side, I think we got a chance to win it. So that's where I'm irrational. I remain positive.
I love the game so much. I love going to the ballpark. I love sitting in the stands. And just the pace of the game and how it can turn on. There's no clock, so you know you can always make a great comeback. I've always had that kind of positive outlook on my Mets even in years where people don't expect much.
It had to be tough when they lost 12 in a row at the start of this year.
My two favorite players on the Mets for the past five or six years, were Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo. I was a big Edwin Diaz fan too, and it all happened in the span of a few days where they were all gone, so I was crushed going in.
But then when they made the signings, I liked some of the signings. I thought, "Okay maybe this could be a good year." So I quickly changed to my positive attitude. But that was very hard to to maintain during the early season. It was such a disappointing start. But even now I'm thinking about the way they played after the trade deadline and even after the All-Star break I enjoyed this team so much down the stretch. As disappointing as the overall season was, I really enjoyed the last six or seven weeks on just how they played good, exciting, smart baseball. So I'm gonna be very I'm gonna be very positive in the off-season going into next year.
Do you have a favorite player who wasn't very good but you liked him anyway?
My favorite player of all time is Bud Harrelson. He made an All-Star team and was one of the best fielding shortstops in his era. Player who's not very good? That's a hard one. I don't wanna insult a guy and say he's not very good. Like a lot of Met fans, when a new player is brought up and he's from our farm system- You believe in him and he's one of ours, you always believe him. I thought Mike Vail was gonna, he was gonna break Joe DiMaggio's hit streak when he first came up. Players like those are the ones I tend to root for.
I was at David Wright's very first game and was so excited for him because, it's hard for these guys to reach the hype and the prediction of how good they're gonna be. And he certainly did.
A guy who struggled this year who I root so hard for because I love the way he carries himself, I love the way he talks about his profession, is Sean Manaea. I'm a huge Sean Manaea fan. Because he's the same person whether he's pitching the best ball of his career or the worst ball of his career.
I always like watching how guys handle the good times and the bad times.
If you had called baseball, how would you have called a home run? You couldn't call a home run, BANG …
When I went in when they asked me to come sit in the booth with Gary and Keith, initially they wanted me to call a couple of innings. I didn't wanna do that because I have too much respect for the preparation of a baseball broadcaster. But we haven't completely said no to that down the road. So maybe down the road.
So I have to think of one. I've never really thought of one. I think I would almost have to say BANG on one of them just because people would expect that.
When you watch baseball, how do you watch it? In terms of when you're at a ballpark, like what are the things that you look at? Obviously when you broadcast a game, you're following the ball and such.
I like watching when different hitters come up and the way the infield shifts, the way outfielders play different hitters. If I'm anywhere near home plate I just love watching a pitcher and his craft, trying to figure it out, trying to figure out where the strike zone is that night, although it's a little different now that's it's automated. I like to watch, too the on-deck hitter. What's the on-deck hitter doing? Many of them, they're pretending, they get in their stance, get ready to swing when the pitcher's gonna throw it to the current batter. Stuff like that.
How some of the players, when they're coming out of the dugout, going to the on-deck circle or in and off the field, how they react with fans. Just a little bit of everything. My son works for the Mets. He's part of the in-house production team. So I always like to watch all the different things that they do at different stadiums in terms of highlights, in terms of songs. I get a kick out of the walk-up songs. I'm always checking the the miles per hour on pitches. Okay. That's, I love the pace of it. That's what I loved sitting with Gary and Keith. I was like a kid in a candy store.
Is there someone on the '86 team that you feel should be more appreciated than he was?
I would say Bob Ojeda. He was clutch. Ray Knight sometimes doesn't get enough credit. He had, some big hits in the postseason.
I know you said that your long-term memory isn't great, but is there any '86 moment that you can visualize where you were and how you reacted to it?
If the Dykstra home run doesn't happen, maybe the World Series doesn't happen. That was maybe the loudest that I've ever heard Shea Stadium until Game 6.
The place just exploded. It was such a magical game. He was considered one of the New Yorkers, gritty, tough, not the biggest guy, but strong and tough. That one's up there.
But, it has to be the last play of Game 6 and Mookie's dribbler.
Did you say something like 'oh shit'?
No, I just remember jumping up and down and realizing I should not be doing this in my current situation. I just couldn't believe it and wanted to scream more, but, clearly couldn't. Game 7, I watched at home with my family. We all watched together. To finally win was special.
Where were you when Beltrán struck out and all the other heartaches?
The Beltrán game, I was there.
And, after the Chavez catch you thought, "Okay, that's a sign. That's the sign this is gonna happen." And it was such a letdown because the place was the place was so electric. We felt we were gonna come back and win it, and, he was such a great player, and to end that way, to end on a called third strike, there's nothing worse for a fan.
If you remember in the World Series against the Royals when Matt Harvey came out for the ninth inning. I found that so inspiring because nobody expected him to come out. I get chills thinking about it. Sometimes those moments you forget because they didn't end in a victory but they were thrilling moments as a fan.
The last thing, and I've been asking everybody this: For Game 6 of the NLCS, my mom made me go to Hebrew school in the middle of the game and even though we listened to the 9th inning on the radio together as a class, I have held that as a grudge against my mother for forty years.
Did you ever do anything crazy for a Met game? And how would you respond if someone had tried to do that to you?
When we lost to the A's in '73 ... there was a big event at my brother's high school, and I had to go to that, and I couldn't see the game, and I remember being so mad. But it was a, it was an important event that he was going to and we all had to go there. And we listened and took the car, but I couldn't watch it on television. I remember being so mad at my parents 'cause I couldn't see that game.
I had a lot of people tell me they were at weddings for Game 5 of Knicks-Spurs.
And that the whole wedding party, including the bride and the groom, watched the whole fourth quarter, and the wedding stopped and put them up in there and watched those. So that's cool to hear.
One moment of self-indulgence: You should also know that as a play-by person myself, that for Game 4, I did mute you in the final thirty seconds so that I could do my own version. I just had a feeling that it was gonna be something ridiculous. I don't have your call of the Anunoby tip, but I have my call of the Anunoby tip. And I suppose that goes back to the letter that I had been encouraged by you that my play-by-play was good, and thus I should keep at it.
That's very cool.
You can contact me on Bluesky or via e-mail ([email protected]). You can find my other newsletter, which summarizes interviews I do with journalists, here.