Ralph Kiner

In his rookie year, Ralph Kiner hit 23 home runs for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The very next season he hit 51 homers. Come on, Ralph was obviously on steroids. Wait, it was 1947. The only juice Kiner was on was orange juice. Maybe apple or pineapple juice too.
Kiner led the National League in homers 7-consecutive seasons. His back gave out on him or he would have certainly belted a lot more than the 369 homers that helped land him in the Hall of Fame.
It's funny, while I've always hated the Mets, I've always liked their broadcasters and Kiner has been broadcasting Mets games since their inception in 1962. He's still one of the Mets announcers although at the age of 87 he's cut down on his workload.
One of the great story-tellers in the game, I loved listening to him talk baseball. I even watched Kiner's Korner, the Mets post-game show. Ralph would interview the star of the game and it was so cheesy it was great. I also remember the giant microphones the Mets broadcasters used. If you saw it you know what I'm talking about.
Well, Ralph Kiner popped into my mind and I thought I'd post a short piece on one of the great sluggers and broadcasters in baseball history.