The New York Mets’ television announcers had a last-minute change to their broadcast in Oakland on Saturday.
SNY’s Gary Cohen and Ron Darling called the game against the Oakland A’s from a different booth because an opossum «makes a home» in the visitors’ broadcast booth.
«So when we came here last September, we were told the story of the ‘RingCentral Coliseum Possum,’ which apparently makes its home in the visitors’ TV booth,» Cohen said at the top of the second inning.
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A game between the New York Yankees and the Oakland Athletics on August 28, 2022 at RingCentral Coliseum in Oakland, California. (Brandon Sloter/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Cohen said former Mets radio host Wayne Randazzo, now the television voice of the Los Angeles Angels, told the SNY crew that while calling an Angels series against Oakland earlier this season, the opossum «made a in-game appearance in his cabin.»
«So they set traps for this possum, but it turned out to be elusive,» Cohen said.
It appeared the plan for Saturday was for Cohen and Darling, a former Mets pitcher, to announce the game from the regular visitor’s booth even though no one «had been in that booth for a few days.»
But when SNY staff entered the booth on Saturday morning, they were forced to make the switch due to a bad smell.
Oakland Athletics team on the turf before a game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 10, 2023, in Baltimore. (Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images)
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«They go into the cabin and are immediately met with the stench of the possum that … has relieved itself in the cabin,» Cohen explained. «Apparently the position reeked of possum so much that an executive decision was made to move us to this position.»
«I came here and went to the booth, and people grabbed me, almost knocked me over and pushed me into this booth,» Darling added.
Cohen joked that there is a pole in front of his view, saying he «chose the pole» over the opossum, saying his college basketball play-by-play skills will come in handy.
Sportscaster Gary Cohen introduces the 1969 New York Mets, Willie, Mickey and Duke Award winners during the 2019 Baseball Writers Association of America Awards Dinner on January 26, 2019, at the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel in New York City. (Alex Trautwig/MLB via Getty Images)
«I can swing like the best of them,» Cohen said when discussing what he’ll call the game with a restricted view.
The stadium opened in 1966, and the A’s have been candidates to move to another city if they can’t get a new stadium. A new stadium in the Oakland market seems unlikely.
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New York (9-6) won the game, 3-2, and Oakland fell to an MLB-worst 3-12.