QUEENS, NY — Throughout his childhood in Hawaii, Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa implored that he was related to Baseball Hall of Famer and Mets broadcasting icon Ralph Kiner, who led the National League in home runs for seven straight seasons while with those very same Pirates.
They never believed him, even when fate showed him as obvious a sign as ever 18 years ago, when he attended his only Mets game as a spectator at Shea Stadium. That night, July 14, 2007, was Ralph Kiner Night, honoring the man who spent 53 years as a broadcaster with the club.
“For me to go to one Mets game and it be Kiner night, I couldn’t believe it,” Kiner-Falefa, who played for the Yankees from 2022 to 2023, said. “I had no idea what I was walking into. I just thought I was walking into a major-league game, and for it to be Kiner Night, it was a dream come true to see him on the field and get the ovation and understand what I’m a part of with the family name.
“All my friends were like,’ You’re always saying this is your cousin.’ And I’m like, ‘He is, I promise you.’ But we never met each other.”
There was a time when the 30-year-old infielder believed he would never meet any portion of that side of his family. His grandfather on his mother’s side, John Kiner, attended college at the University of Hawaii and never returned to the mainland, though he regaled young Isaiah with stories of his fourth cousin, who slugged 369 home runs in just 10 career MLB seasons.
But that all changed in 2018 when it was confirmed that Kiner-Falefa was, indeed, related to the Pirates’ legend, who passed away in 2014. He had to wait seven years to meet that side of his family, but on Monday evening at Citi Field prior to the start of a three-game set between Pittsburgh and the Mets, Kiner-Falefa met Scott Kiner, the son of Ralph.
“I had heard many times that he said he was related to my father, and my father isn’t here, obviously,” Scott, whose book One Of A Kiner was released on Monday, said. “So, as a representative of the family, I’d like to say that he actually is related to the Kiner family. The heritage goes back to Pennsylvania Dutch.”
Scott and Isiah had to go back 175 years, in fact, to Mary McPherran Kiner of Mifflin County, PA, Ralph’s great-grandmother, Scott’s great-great-grandmother, and Kiner-Falefa’s great-great-great-grandmother.
“So, there is Pennsylvania Dutch in this guy. Not much,” Kiner joked. “But he is Pennsylvania Dutch.”
Had it not been for Hawaiian tradition, though, Kiner-Falefa might never have pursued this. His parents are technically not married. Instead, after eight years of being together, “it was just considered official.”
“It’s actually a blessing because if they were married, I would only have the Falefa,” he said. “So I’m able to have the Kiner name and pass that on.”
The distant cousins traded jerseys while Scott presented Kiner-Falefa with a charcoal painting of Ralph done in 1948 by famed American artist Gil Cohen — something he labeled as a wedding gift after Kiner-Falefa was married in December.
“I wasn’t invited,” Kiner quipped.
Almost in disbelief, Kiner-Falefa repeatedly mentioned how this was a “full-circle moment.” Not only is he playing for his cousin’s team, but he realizes the dream of meeting a long-lost relative in the city that adopted Ralph in his post-playing career.
“Understanding what he means to this franchise as well. It’s pretty special that he had a post-playing career that meant so much to New York,” Kiner-Falefa said. “New York is the best city in the world. To be so popular here, people sometimes forget how good of a player he was. To know both parts, and to have played for the Yankees — I know it’s different — but to still be in the city and then play for the Pirates, it all comes full circle. It’s pretty amazing.”
It also puts a bow, of sorts, on Scott Kiner’s book, which chronicles the lives of his parents — his mother, Nancy Chaffee, was a tennis star and later a successful commentator for ABC.
“I wrote in the introduction that when I meet [Isiah], which I’m doing, I’m going to give him my first book,” Scott said. “And in the book, I wrote, ‘Don’t be such a stranger.”
