Top 10 Gary Cohen Calls

19.04.2020 23:00

I think we all miss baseball. And, if you’re like me, you’ve been watching countless hours of Mets highlights, just trying to supplement for the live games we cannot have right now. Looking back at all these highlights makes me realize just how lucky we are to have not one, not two, but three great commentators who bring their own personality and spice into the coverage of games. With that being said, let’s take a look back at my personal top 10 Gary calls. Let me know in the comments if my list lines up with yours, or what you’d change about the list!

10. “Dom Smith! Back from the injured list!”

I’ll start this list off with the call that put the exclamation point at the end of a great 2019 season, and that is Dom Smith’s pinch hit, walk off home run in the 11^th inning of the final game of the season against the Braves. Gary’s call was great and exemplified just how crazy Dom’s hit was.

9. “Forget it, that is long gone! Off the scoreboard!”

Although the 2006 NLCS ended in heartbreaking loss for the Mets, it started off with a bang. In Game 1, Carlos Beltran broke the 0-0 tie with his first home run of the postseason to put the Mets up 2-0, and Gary was right there to take it all in and share the excitement with Mets fans watching at home.

8. “Todd cranks one, deep left field, down the line, that ball is… OUTTA HERE!”

Some of you might say that I have too many highlights from 2019 in here, but it was the most highlight-filled season I’ve seen in quite some time, and Gary really came through in all of them. This one was especially good, as the game felt like it was over going into the inning. When Todd Frazier hit that home run to tie against the Nationals, I remember getting up and running around the room with my dad, and Gary’s yelling and the extra “OUTTA HERE!” bring out this excitement perfectly.

7. “Wilmer Flores Night at Citi Field comes to a fitting close.”

After the drama of a failed trade that almost took the Mets walk-off king away from New York, it was only fitting that Wilmer lead the team to a victory against the division rival Washington Nationals to ignite the Mets run to the playoffs. Gary’s excitement, combined with the emotional impact of the game and the fact that it was a walk-off home run in the 12^th inning made this call very special.

6. “Scooter and The Big Man bust the city in half.”

Last year was an amazing season for the Mets, and even though the team didn’t make the playoffs, 2019 was still full of amazing memories. Two of the players that powered this team were Michael Conforto and Pete Alonso, and when the Mets entered the bottom of the seventh down by one against the Marlins, those two were not ready to give up. Conforto started it off with a bomb down the right field line, and Pete followed up with a laser beam to left to give the Mets the lead.

5. “David Wright brings himself back into the lineup with THUNDER.”

In the final stretch of their World Series run, the Mets finally got their captain back. David Wright had been out since the beginning of the season, and the full scope of his injuries were beginning to surface. Still, he thrust himself back into the lineup and hit a moonshot against the Phillies in his first at-bat back.

4. “It has HAPPENED!”

Gary included all the relevant information needed to understand why Johan Santana’s no-hitter versus the Cardinals was so special. “In their 51^st season, Johan Santana has thrown the first no-hitter in New York Mets HISTORY!” I always appreciate the thing that Gary does where he puts extreme emphasis on the last word in his sentence, and right here is one of the prime examples of it. And, after his call, he lets the actions on the field speak for themselves and lets the sounds of the players celebrating act as the only audio for some time before coming back in himself.

3. “Tears of joy for the 2015 New York Mets.”

After an eight-season playoff drought, the Mets fan base was ready for a return to October baseball. With an eight-run lead against the Cincinnati Reds, all that stood between the Mets and the playoffs was Jay Bruce. And when Jeurys Familia struck him out, Gary was right there with the excitement and definition in his voice to send chills and goosebumps into the bodies of thousands of Mets fans watching at home.

2. “HE MADE THE CATCH!”

I think every Mets fan remembers this play. I was only six at the time, but I still remember how excited my dad and uncle got when Endy Chavez leaped off the ground and snagged this ball out of the air. Gary was through the roof with excitement and put every ounce of that adrenaline into his call. The famous, “HE MADE THE CATCH!” will forever be engrained in the minds of Mets fans.

1. “THE IMPOSSIBLE HAS HAPPENED”

Watching his at-bats was one of the best parts of the Bartolo Colon experience with the Mets. Between countless fallen helmets and swing and miss after swing and miss, our hopes to see Colon hit his first major league home run were dwindling. However, he finally came through in his last year as a Met, and Gary’s call does the play justice. “The team vacates the dugout as Bartolo takes the long trot,” made the initial excitement that much better, as each viewer at home realized that the team was giving Colon the famous silent treatment.