SI

Yankees TV Booth vs. Mets TV Booth Has Become a Thing

The YES Network’s Michael Kay makes it clear he thinks his booth is the best in baseball.

Jimmy Traina

Oct 13, 2012; Bronx, NY, USA; MLB vice president of baseball operations Joe Torre (right) talks with New York Yankees former player Paul O'Neill (left) and broadcaster Michael Kay before game one of the 2012 ALCS against the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 13, 2012; Bronx, NY, USA; MLB vice president of baseball operations Joe Torre (right) talks with New York Yankees former player Paul O'Neill (left) and broadcaster Michael Kay before game one of the 2012 ALCS against the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports / Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
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1. So, this is a weird one.

Yankees TV voice Michael Kay was not happy that a promo for SNY’s telecast of Tuesday’s Yankees-Mets game ran during his ESPN Radio show on that same day.

I can understand Kay, who works for the YES Network, not being thrilled that an ad for his competitor would run on his own show, although, in this day and age, we should all be happy for any ad money we can get.

However, Kay didn’t just gripe about the conflict of interest regarding the ad. Kay was upset that the ad refers to the SNY booth of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling as the “best booth in baseball.”

“Do you expect me to take that lying down,” Kay asked his co-hosts Don La Greca and Peter Rosenberg. “I think our booth is the best booth in baseball.”

But I honestly couldn’t tell when watching the video for the first time if he was being serious or if it was a radio bit. I get that having an ego is part of our business, but to boast that your booth is the best in the entire sport is a tad strange.

I thought this had to be a bit to get pickup, which worked perfectly.

The Mets booth obviously saw Kay’s rant and coyly mocked him during Wednesday’s telecast.

For the record, I have no idea which booth is the best in baseball because there are 30 teams and I don’t watch every team’s local broadcasts so it would be impossible for me to declare which is best.

I’m familiar with a lot of the booths, and I think there are a lot of great play-by-play guys around the league. Don Orsillo in San Diego, Dave O’Brien in Boston, Jason Benetti in Detroit, Wayne Randazzo in Los Angeles, Dave Sims in Seattle, Dewayne Staats in Tampa Bay, Dan Shulman in Toronto, Jon Shiambi in Chicago, John Sadak in Cincinnati and Duane Kuiper in San Francisco are some that immediately come to mind. (Please don’t tweet me if I left anyone out, I’m sure there are more.) But I don’t know how anyone can state which is the best unless they watch every single team on a regular basis.

Also, the pronouncement of the “best booth” is subjective. There isn’t an actual real answer.

Having said all that, as a Yankees fan, I can tell you the Mets booth is definitely better than the Yankees booth.

I honestly don’t know how anyone can say the Yankees booth is the best when the Yankees don’t even have a steady booth. YES has a million analysts that work Yankees game.

Paul O’Neill, David Cone, John Flaherty, Jeff Nelson and Joe Girardi are listed as analysts on the YES website. Yankees fans have no idea who is calling games on a day-to-day basis.

Meanwhile, Cohen, Hernandez and Darling call basically every Mets game.

There’s also one other big reason the Mets booth gets a nod over the Yankees booth: Hernandez. He’s as good a character as there is when it comes to local broadcasters.

2. A brand-new episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped this morning and it features a conversation with Pablo Torre, who hosts the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast for Meadowlark Media.

Torre explains how the idea for his unique podcast came about, how he picks his topics, what his goal is with the podcast, what it's like to work for Dan Le Batard and how he was able to stay with ESPN on a part-time basis while he works full-time for another company.

Torre also reveals his most memorable podcast episode, responds to various pitches for podcast ideas from Jimmy and the two reminisce about working at Sports Illustrated together.

Following Torre, Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY joins me for our weekly "Traina Thoughts" segment. This week's topics include JJ Redick upsetting some people by using the f-word at his Lakers' introductory press conference, protesters interrupting sporting events and Travis Kelce joining Taylor Swift on stage on the Eras Tour. The segment finishes with a reading the podcast's Apple reviews for June.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

3. I know everyone is up in arms about NBC using an AI version of Al Michaels on the Olympics, and I don’t understand it at all either, but a couple of things. Michael did sign off on NBC doing this. It would’ve been nice if NBC just hired Al to do the voiceovers after they screwed him over last year and wouldn’t let him call an NFL playoff game. Bottom line this seems like one of those things that even though you can do it, you shouldn’t do it.

Michaels spoke to Vanity Fair about A.I. Al Michaels, so check it out.

4. The Dodgers bat boy saved Shohei Ohtani’s life last night. No big deal.

5. This is the best use of the Stanley Cup that I’ve ever seen in my life from Panthers executive and former NHL goalie Roberto Luongo.

6. Saw this live on Jeopardy! last night and couldn’t believe my ears.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: For my fellow Curb Your Enthusiasm fans, Susie Essman is on the latest episode of Conan O’Brien’s podcast.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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