Keith Hernandez rejoins SNY booth for Mets broadcast after back surgery
Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Keith Hernandez returned to the SNY Mets booth on Monday night with his usual flair and panache.
Hernandez, who had back surgery on April 14, was shown walking with a cane into the visiting radio broadcast booth at Denver’s Coors Field. The 72-year-old picked up the cane, got into his lefthanded batting stance and said, “I’m back, and I can still swing it.”
Hernandez was joined by giddy broadcast partner Gary Cohen in a booth that included a lot of balloons as a backdrop. Some of them read, “You are special.”
Of his return, Hernandez said: “I am that old Simon and Garfunkel song, ‘Gee, it's great to be back home.’ Home is where I want to be, right with you in the booth, Gare.”
Of his surgery, Hernandez said: “It was a four-hour surgery . . . They cleaned it out. I'll say one thing: When you're on anesthesia, the time flies.”
Of the Mets, Hernandez said: “When things go bad, it’s just like the sky is falling . . . It just hasn’t been a very cohesive group. When you’re going bad, you find ways to lose, and the Mets have done that.”
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
