Major League Baseball player Keith Hernandez is just one of many celebrities to be featured as themselves on Seinfeld. While Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David’s magnum opus was famous for its outstanding main cast, it’s arguable that the supporting ensemble is what made the show so beloved.
While the vast majority of Seinfeld’s supporting cast members were established or up-and-coming actors who went on to become even more well-known for other roles, such as Friends' Courtney Cox, Seinfeld also featured a number of famous people playing versions of themselves. This included Keith Hernandez, who was featured in the 1992 episode, “The Boyfriend”. This was the turning point for the show, according to co-creator Larry David, in terms of the show becoming an absolute ratings behemoth.
While the episode included the wonderful JFK-inspired storyline, it also showed Hernandez’s legitimate comedic acting chops. But during an interview with Vulture, Hernandez revealed that not every Seinfeld cast member was happy to have him there.
Why Did Keith Hernandez Appear On Seinfeld?
During an interview with Vulture about his guest spot on Seinfeld, Keith Hernandez claimed that most people recognize him from the sitcom as opposed to his legendary career in baseball. Somewhat ironically, Hernandez didn’t know anything about Seinfeld when he got the call to guest star.
Despite Seinfeld already being on for two years and slowly becoming a critical hit, Hernandez never watched it. He was playing games at night so prime-time shows weren’t something he consumed.
However, he was curious when the offer came in as he was newly retired from MLB and recovering from back surgery.
“When Jerry [Seinfeld] conceived the show, he was a fan of mine and a fan of the Mets. He could’ve gotten a hold of me through the Mets, but he reached out to my former baseball agent, who called me and told me about the show,” Keith Hernandez said to Vulture during his interview about his guest spot on the show.
“[Jerry Seinfeld] called me early in the week on Wednesday, I believe, and they wanted me to fly to Los Angeles and be there on Monday the following week. That’s when they were going to film the episode,” Hernandez continued.
The baseball legend claimed the whole lead-up to his 1992 episode, “The Boyfriend”, as incredibly rushed. As soon as he agreed, a script was FedExed to him and arrived by the morning.
“I thought it was just going to be a little cameo — a short appearance. Then I realized that I was a very prominent figure in the episode. I was actually the ‘guest star.’ I had never acted and never had any desire to act, but it seemed like a wonderful experience and a good opportunity. So I agreed to it, and I arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday night. I had a Sunday to relax, and then it was a 7 a.m. call to the studio on Monday morning.”
How Much Was Keith Hernandez Paid To Guest-Star On Seinfeld?
Despite not having acted before, Hernandez claimed he wasn’t overly concerned with anything. He was mostly curious about how much he was going to be paid according to his interview with Vulture.
“I asked my agent how much and he said, ‘Well, they’re going to fly you to Los Angeles, put you up at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, and provide you with very nice transportation. You’ll be there for a week, and they’ll pay you $15,000.’ I said, ‘Okay, I’ll do it.’”
What Keith Hernandez Said About The Cast Of Seinfeld
Keith Hernandez revealed his true feelings about working with the Seinfeld cast, who wasn’t always open to certain guest stars, during his interview with Vulture.
While he claimed co-creator Larry David was “very friendly and welcoming”, Hernandez said that co-creator and star Jerry Seinfeld was “a little sheepish”. But this may have something to do with the fact that Seinfeld was legitimately nervous to meet the baseball legend.
However, Hernandez’s comments about the other Seinfeld cast members and what they were really like to work with are far juicier.
This includes what he said about Julia Louis-Dreyfus, whom he dated on-screen in the episode, and Jason Alexander (George).
“Julia Louis-Dreyfus was about three months pregnant with her first child, I believe. She probably wasn’t feeling that great, but she was wonderful to work with,” Keith Hernandez said to Vulture.
“Jason Alexander was a little standoffish most of the week. Michael Richards was very inquisitive about baseball. He knew nothing about it and questioned me throughout the week. He was interested in the lifestyle and what my profession contained. It was wonderful. He was very sweet, a nice man.”
As for his comments about working with Jason Alexander, Keith Hernandez went into further detail when questioned by Vulture.
“[Jason Alexander] probably had to work his way through bit roles, and here I come as a guest star, and who am I? A retired baseball player? I’m just speculating.”
Things between he and Alexander changed when the cast had to do a run-through in front of the NBC executives.
“I had to pass their litmus test and censors, and I didn’t make any mistakes. Jason came up to me with a big smile and shook my hand and said, ‘Nice going.’ From that point on, he was wonderful,” Hernandez said of working with Alexander. “I guess I had to prove myself. I realized I couldn’t hold them up and be terrible and not memorize lines. I had a lot of lines. It was a very, very stressful week.”
Without a doubt, the other scene-stealer in the episode was Wayne Knight’s Newman who not only had the instantly recognizable line “Nice job, Pretty Boy”, but was central to the JFK-inspired spit story at the center of it all -- it was one of many outstanding movie references on the show. This, of course, resulted in Jerry doing a breakdown of the Zapruder film-esque footage of Hernadez allegedly spitting on both Kramer and Newman.
“Wayne Knight was wonderful. He’s a big baseball fan and a terrific guy.”
Aside from Jerry questioning the legitimacy of the “magic loogie” story, Hernandez himself got the chance to tell his version of the story in a speech that was the most challenging part of the shoot.
Hernandez revealed that he has only seen “The Boyfriend” a couple of times as he has a hard time watching himself on screen.
