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When New York Yankees fans set for a yes-network broadcast, Michael Kay’s voice is the team’s long-standing play-by-play advertisement, usually the one who welcomes them to another game.
As the camera pans out, yes Yankees analyst David Cone, the five-time world champion and Cy Young Award-winning jug, is usually left.
Cone has been one of the most reliable color commentators in baseball, for his embrace of analyzes, eager insight from his 17 years pitching to a career 3.46 era with five different teams, including Yankees for six seasons and much more.
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David Cone smiles after throwing the ceremonial first pitch ahead of the game between the New York Mets and New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, July 23, 2024 in New York, New York. (Mary Decicco/MLB photos via Getty Images)
But with all the statistics and knowledge that cone possesses, there is also the knowledge-entertaining factor that can only be categorized as “Coney -isms.”
It is not necessarily the same as “Yogiisms” that Yankee’s Great Yogi Berra was known for, but nonetheless, Cones metaphors throughout the Yes broadcasts offer a nostalgic feeling from the past that just feels right in today’s modern MLB.
And if you ask cone about these “Coney -isms”, he is quite humble about their origin.
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“I think it’s probably affected by other people in the game. You always steal something from someone, it’s pretty all done before,” Cone told Pakinomist Digital, laughing.
When the pre-game show is over and it’s time for the first pitch, Cone is usually the one who breaks Yankees’ starts that night. And that collapse almost always begins with cone saying, “Toeing the plate”, with reference to the haug.
Baseball fans will know other phrases rattling by his tongue as “Worm-Burner,” to refer to a sharply affected basic ball, but others are perfectly placed metaphors when he can find the right moment, which is what he learned from a former player-facing Broadcaster as himself.
“For me it was Dennis Eckersley,” Hall of Fame -Reliever, who is also in Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame for his work as Boston Red Sox’s color analyst. “Dennis Eckersley had kinda all this lingo for himself. I think he was the one who originally invented a ‘walk-off piece’. For him it is when a pitcher had to go out of the haug after abandoning the winning race.
David Cone throws the ceremonial first pitch ahead of the game between the New York Mets and New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, July 23, 2024 in New York, New York. (Mary Decicco/MLB photos via Getty Images)
While Cone has some original quips in his years emitting, he is a sponge when it comes to hearing something he loves, like “Phone-Booth Swing.”
“The first time I heard someone say ‘phone booth swing’, as if you’re swinging in a phone booth. Some [Kansas City Royals former reliever] Dan Quisenberry, he taught me it in the early 80s. So some of that is just the VID that comes with your own little wit that you can interact in there and come up with your own metaphor. “
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One of Cone’s favorites, which he says is an original he is proud of was the first time he tore a “Forrest Gump Ball” during a broadcast. Under Tom Hank’s critically acclaimed film, his Forrest Gump character discusses, where he was shot in his time serving in the Vietnam War.
“It’s easy to call – a Forrest Gump Ball. His famous line in the movie, ‘In the back,'” Cone said. “You are always looking for pop culture references, music references, if possible. And that kind of thing is something you need to be open to but not forced. Look for opportunities to use them.”
When Cone calls a game in the stand at Yankee Stadium, “Boogie Down Bronx” is always a fan favorite. He said he was “enchanted” by hip-hop culture while playing in Bronx, so he has made it a point over the years to connect with that side of the story of the stadium.
“It’s a tribute to Bronx’s pride,” he explained. “There is a reason why it is called ‘boogie down bronx.’ You check your story in hip -hop and it is credited to be the birthplace [of it]. So yes, it’s just Bronx’s pride. “
Former New York Yankee’s David Cone sets for a photo ahead of the game between New York Yankees and Houston Astros at Yankee Stadium on June 24, 2022 in New York City. (Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
From calling a dirty shoot a “frisbee” to saying a jug “had some traffic, but avoided being hit in the middle of the road,” there has been a phrase for every situation it seems when the cone is on the microphone.
It is all done for the love of the game.
“I think it just comes from trying to be easy and funny and entertaining when it’s appropriate,” he said. “The game is suitable for it on certain points. When the game draws a little when it opposes a truly action -packed game. Then the game calls itself at the time. There are definitely opportunities to be easy and fun and entertaining when you can because people see these games to escape from what’s going on. That connection to Yankees over the years.”
