Keith Hernandez’s Brutally Honest Thoughts About His Seinfeld Episode And Being Cut From The Finale

Keith Hernandez’s episode on Seinfeld is seen as one of the best, but the former baseball player has mixed feelings.

The baseball spit story, which was inspired by the movie JFK and the real-life assassination of former President John F. Kennedy, is easily one of the most quoted moments in Seinfeld’s history. At the center of this plotline was the brilliant casting of Major League Baseball legend Keith Hernandez, who played a warped version of himself.

While Seinfeld became famous for its guest starring roles, Keith Hernandez was one of the few to actually play himself. This was a genius creative choice, mostly because Hernandez had never acted before and, initially, knew next to nothing about the Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David sitcom.

Years later, Hernandez revealed he had a complicated relationship with the show and his critically acclaimed episode, “The Boyfriend”. Here’s what he’s said about it…

What Did Keith Hernandez Say About Filming His Episode Of Seinfeld?

Both Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, who co-created Seinfeld, were and are diehard baseball fans. This is why baseball plays such an important part in the acclaimed series. Well, that and the fact that the show takes place in New York City and anyone who knows anything about The Big Apple is aware of its population’s obsession with the sport; whether their teams do well or not…

Keith Hernandez told Vulture that he was approached to guest-star on the show two years after he retired from MLB. Seinfeld was a fan and was eager to get him on his show, which had already aired for two seasons.

Despite some initial issues with Jason Alexander, Hernandez found himself quite at home amongst the Seinfeld cast. However, his nerves reached a boiling point when he realized he was just days from filming a lengthy monologue in front of a live studio audience.

“I was worried about the line-reading of “gravely road” when I’m in Jerry’s apartment. They actually used it as a dubbed voiceover in the final cut, but I still had to do it in front of a live audience,” Hernandez admitted during his interview with Vulture about the episode.

“I knew that the whole scene was two pages of dialogue. It was more than a little bit daunting.”

The big monologue scene was part of the iconic JFK-inspired baseball spit story. In which, Newman and Kramer accused Hernandez spat on them after they insulted his game loss. Although the physics of the whole event are questioned by Jerry.

Hernandez’s side of the story may have presented him with his most nerve-racking. But it was by no means the most frustrating moment of his time filming Seinfeld. That moment would be his very first scene where he meets Jerry in a locker room.

“The first scene in the locker room was the most difficult for me because they kept altering lines until the last minute. I memorized not only my lines in every scene, but I also knew Jerry and Jason’s lines. I wanted to learn the cadence of how they spoke, so when they switched the lines, I was stressed out,” Keith Hernandez said to Vulture.

“After I did everything perfectly in front of the NBC suits, I went out in the first scene in front of the live audience, and I screwed up. It was like, Cut, all right Keith, let’s do it again. And I’m like, Oh gosh, you gotta be kidding me. I went back behind the set, took a deep breath, and tried to calm down. And I didn’t make a mistake after that,” Hernandez explained to Vulture.

“Larry [David] came up to me and said, ‘It’s important that we get this right. We think we got a really funny episode and we don’t want to use laugh tracks if we can’t finish this today. We really want real laughter.’ I survived it. I really couldn’t appreciate what was going on until I watched it when the episode aired.”

What Keith Hernandez Really Thinks About Seinfeld

During his interview with Vulture, Keith Hernadez revealed that he had never heard of Seinfeld before he was cast on the show. This was due to the fact that he was playing baseball during prime time on weeknights when it originally aired.

“When I was playing, I was the guy who could never have dinner with regular people living in Manhattan at 8 p.m. because I would be in the second or third inning of a ball game,” Keith Hernadez said to Vulture.

But even when Hernadez retired, he still didn’t become a diehard Seinfeld fan like many who approach him on the street to this very day.

“In my retirement, I was enjoying being able to go out and have dinner at a normal hour. The ’90s were just terrific. I lived in Manhattan for 24 years, and that’s when I really got to take advantage of what the city had to offer — going to Broadway plays, eating great food, meeting interesting people, all that stuff,” Hernandez admitted to Vulture.

“I wasn’t ever able to do that before because we played predominantly night games. So, no, I wasn’t going to sit at home in my condo on 49th and 2nd and watch television.”

As for rewatching his episode, “The Boyfriend”, Hernandez admitted that he’s only seen it a couple of times.

“I feel like it’s embarrassing to me. I don’t think I did that great a job.”

Was Keith Hernandez Cut From The Seinfeld Finale?

Keith Hernandez’s 1992 episode, “The Boyfriend”, launched Seinfeld into a new level of success. At least, this is what co-creator Larry David told Hernandez, according to the former MLB player.

“[Larry David] more or less told me, ‘Look, we used that episode on sweeps week because the first two years the show really didn’t take off, and we felt we had a winner with that episode. We didn’t tell you, but it was going to all revolve around how you did.’ I was stunned,” Hernandez told Vulture.

“He continued, ‘We had the show written for a half hour, and we had the show written for an hour with an added subplot, all depending on how you did.’That added subplot was George trying to keep his unemployment, and that would make it an hour they could use on sweeps. Larry said, ‘We had our fingers crossed. You passed the grade. We were so thrilled you knew your lines.’ They felt that the show took off with that episode.”

Given the success of Keith Hernandez’s appearance, it made sense why he would be asked to return for the star-studded (and controversial) finale. However, all of his lines were reportedly cut from the final episode which drew a whopping 72 million people to their TV sets.

“I had a speaking line with Wayne [Knight] that was very funny, but it didn’t make it. And I had a scene with Jerry and George’s parents that was so funny I had to bite my lip. They didn’t use it and I was shocked,” Hernandez admitted to Vulture.

Following his celebrity guest spot on Seinfeld, Keith Hernandez had a few more acting roles, including on Law & Order, but he wasn’t interested in pursuing it as a second career. However, it did give him a level of notoriety that he’s still thankful for.

“People from all walks of life, and all interests, gathered to watch it every week. So it just gave me a second life and more recognition” Hernandez said to Vulture.

Finally, Hernandez said, “It gave me legs. It kept me out there, and people knew who I was That show is one of the greatest experiences of my life.”