COMMENTARY

By Tim Dahlberg

updated 12:55 p.m. ET April 25, 2006

My first thought upon hearing Keith Hernandez was in trouble was that he was doing drugs again.

OK, that was a cheap shot. It’s been two decades since the former All-Star first baseman came clean about his cocaine use, and there is no evidence he’s been smoking anything lately.

Still, there has got to be something to explain what came out of his mouth Saturday night in San Diego.

Apparently “Just For Men” isn’t just a hair dye that Hernandez endorses. It’s his way of looking at life.

You know, the stuff made by men just for men?

Turns out Hernandez is a real believer.

In case you missed it, Hernandez was helping broadcast a Mets-Padres game when he tried to turn the gender equity clock back to the days when he was paid to play rather than talk.

The object of his ire: a 33-year-old woman who makes her living as a member of the Padres’ training staff.

Kelly Calabrese, San Diego’s full-time massage therapist, caught the attention of Hernandez when she high-fived Mike Piazza after he hit a home run. But it wasn’t Calabrese slapping hands with Piazza that offended Hernandez the most.

It was that she dared enter some sacred male-only zone.

“Who is the girl in the dugout, with the long hair?” Hernandez said. “What’s going on here? You have got to be kidding me. Only player personnel in the dugout.”

Hernandez should have stopped there. But there was more.

“I won’t say that women belong in the kitchen, but they don’t belong in the dugout,” he said.

MESSAGE BOARDS

And that last one came after he found out that she’s Padres player personnel, after all.

Nice, Keith.

Twenty years past your prime, 20 years behind the times.

Sure, you probably already knew that women have the right to vote, and may have even seen some drive their own cars to games. But did you know that they can be doctors, CEO’s and, yes, even get involved in baseball?

There’s even one who is a senator from New York and is an early favorite to run for president.

Slide show   NBCSports.com’s All-Stars Check out our predictions for the best players at each position in 2006.

But enough about them. You’ve apparently always had a way with women.

After all, didn’t you once date Elaine on an episode of “Seinfeld?”

“You know I am only teasing. I love you gals out there — always have,” Hernandez said by way of addendum to the kitchen comment, chuckling as he inserted his foot even deeper into his mouth.

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