94 CARDINALS MAGAZINE @CardsMagazine
I thought the uniform was the best-looking
uniform in the game. So, it was great to have
that uniform on.”
The first chapter takes readers to 1972
and Hernandez’s flight from San Francisco
(he was raised in nearby Pacifica) to his first
spring training in St. Petersburg, Fla., as a
Cardinals “bonus baby.” Because he hadn’t
played his senior season in high school –
the coach was “a bit of a jerk,” he writes
- Hernandez fell deep in the draft but still
received a hefty sum ($30,000, he reveals)
because the Cardinals recognized his talent
and potential.
More than 300 pages later, the book
concludes during the 1980 season, the
year he signed a deal with St. Louis for
$3.8 million over five seasons. It would be
another two years before he’d win a World
Series ring with the Redbirds and nearly
three before a startling trade to the Mets.
“Everybody thinks the title of the book is
from the ‘Seinfeld’ episode; it obviously is,”
Hernandez told Cardinals Magazine. “But,
more importantly, when the book ends, it
also states, ‘I’m Keith Hernandez.’ I have
arrived, I’m a major league player who
belongs on the same field with Pete Rose,
Willie Stargell, Steve Carlton, Steve Garvey,
Dave Parker. And not just on the same field
but I’m at their level: I’m here, I’m a major
leaguer. It’s a dual meaning.”
‘SITTING NEXT TO MR. MUSIAL’
The book consists of three parts, titled
“Bricks and Mortar,” “Get to Work” and
“Consistency.” Chapters in Part I generally
alternate between childhood recollections
and his minor league trials on and off the
field – Hernandez admits to occasional use
of marijuana and amphetamines, and some
boys-will-be-boys behavior that will make
some readers blanche.
Hernandez and his older brother, Gary,
learned everything about the game – from
the strike zone to their swing to the finer
points of fielding – from their dad, John, a
former minor leaguer who seems caring, at
best, and, at worst, a drill sergeant gone too
far. Keith’s loving yet strained relationship
with his father is a subject that permeates the
pages of the book.
(Keith’s brother and dad both played in
the St. Louis farm system. The Cardinals
drafted Gary, an All-America first baseman
at Cal-Berkeley, in 1972 in the 17th round;
he made it as high as Double-A ball in four
seasons. Signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers
in 1941, John Hernandez was a consistent
.300-hitting first baseman who also
peaked at Double-A; he suited up with the
Cardinals’ Houston affiliate in 1947 and ’48
before his career ended a year later.)In Chapter 17, Keith tells the story of
going to his first big-league game, as a
9-year-old tagging along with his dad and
brother to see the Giants and Cardinals
in 1963 at Candlestick Park. The Giants,
coming off a World Series season, feature
four future Hall of Famers – Willie Mays,
Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda and Juan
Marichal – “but they’re not the prize waiting
in the Cracker Jack box,” Hernandez admits.
“Of all things baseball that I love – includingHernandez’s bat didn’t initially play in the big leagues; he hit bumps in the road in 1975 (a
demotion to Triple-A) and in ’76 (benched) before posting a solid ’77 (.291, 15 HR, 91 RBIs).GROWING UP A CARDINAL