I am not a fan of Gary Cohen. It’s taken me a while to zero in why, and I think I have found a way to verbalize it. I call it the Drive Across The Country test.
You’re going to drive from New York to San Francisco across I-80. Who do you want as company?
I think a baseball announcer should be good company. Easy on the ears. Conversational. Whimsical. Fun.
Howie Rose in shotgun? Let’s do it!
The late Bob Murphy (public persona anyway)? Sure. Vin Scully sure!
Keith Hernandez? Awesome. Ron? Sure!
Steve Gelbs?? Yeah totally.
Back In the day – Ralph (public persona), sure. Tim and Steve Zabriskie, heck yeah!
Fran Healey – bad at calling baseball, but I bet you he was nice company.
Michael Kay? Probably.
David Cone? Sure!
A-Rod? Yep.
John Sterling? Definitely fun, my only hesitation is could John keep up as he is older now.
But Gary Cohen? Would you want to spend 4 days in a car with Gary Cohen?
And that’s how I feel when I watch the games. I don’t feel welcome. Gary makes it sound like we should be honored to be in his presence. He is not at all warm.
He also doesn’t appear to see the ball well, often (in my opinion) misjudging balls hit to the outfield. Then there’s the case of the poorly called home runs. Here’s an example of both….not reading the ball correctly, and then a forced catch-phrase.
MARK JUST MASHED ONE 💥 pic.twitter.com/dyHAcvYJ9R
— New York Mets (@Mets) May 18, 2023
I know that SNY has cultivated this “best booth in baseball” narrative – but that’s all because of Keith Hernandez. Ron is a nice solid #2 (always has been, right?) but Keith is the star in this booth? Gary? VERY VERY replaceable….see Wayne subbing in as a fine example.
I don’t enjoy my time with him, which is one reason I have stopped watching Mets games.
Is this someone you WANT to spend time with, or is he just the guy on your TV?
One might say he is a Net Negative.
