The New York Mets’ television announcers had a last-minute change to their broadcast in Oakland Saturday.
SNY’s Gary Cohen and Ron Darling called the game against the Oakland Athletics from a different booth because a possum “makes a home” in the visitors’ broadcast booth.
“So, when we came here last September, we were told the tale of the ‘RingCentral Coliseum Possum,’ who apparently makes a home in the visitors’ TV booth,” Cohen said in the top of the second inning.
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A game between the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics Aug. 28, 2022, at RingCentral Coliseum in Oakland, Calif. (Brandon Sloter/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Cohen said former Mets radio broadcaster Wayne Randazzo, now the TV voice for the Los Angeles Angels, told the SNY crew that while he was calling an Angels’ series against Oakland earlier this season, the possum “made an appearance during the game in their booth.”
“So they set traps for this possum, but he’s proved elusive,” Cohen said.
It seemed like the plan for Saturday was to have Cohen and Darlng, a former Mets pitcher, call the game from the normal visitors’ booth despite nobody having “been in that booth for a few days.”
But when SNY staff entered the booth Saturday morning, they were forced to make the change due to a foul odor.
Oakland Athletics gear on the grass before a game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards April 10, 2023, in Baltimore. (Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images)
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“They walk in the booth and immediately were met with the stench of the possum having … done his business in the booth,” Cohen explained. “Apparently, the booth reeked so badly of possum leaving that an executive decision was made to move us to this booth.”
“I came here and went to the booth, and people grabbed me, almost tackled me, and pushed me into this booth,” Darling added.
Cohen joked that there is a pole in front of his view, saying he “chose pole” over possum, and said his college basketball play-by-play skills will come in handy.
Sportscaster Gary Cohen introduces the 1969 New York Mets, winners of the Willie, Mickey and the Duke award during the 2019 Baseball Writers’ Association of America awards dinner Jan. 26, 2019, at the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel in New York City. (Alex Trautwig/MLB via Getty Images)
“I can bob and weave like the best of them,” Cohen said when discussing how he’ll call the game with a restricted view.
The stadium opened in 1966, and the A’s have been a candidate to move to a different city if they cannot 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.
