Early Life
Hernandez was born in San Francisco, and grew up in Pacifica and Millbrae, California. He attended Terra Nova High School in Pacifica during his freshman year, then transferred to Capuchino High School in nearby San Bruno for the remainder of his high school years. Hernandez was a star athlete in high school and graduated in 1971. One of his teammates at Terra Nova High School was future major league pitcher Bob McClure, who had also played Little League baseball with him when they were younger. Given his surname, and the fact that he is from California, it was incorrectly assumed that Hernandez was of Mexican descent, and he was nicknamed Mex by his teammates. In actuality, his father is Spanish and his mother is Scotch-Irish.
Hernandez was perceived as having poor attitude issues because he sat out his entire senior year of high school due to a dispute with a coach. He played briefly at the College of San Mateo, a local community college, before he was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 42nd round of the 1971 Major League Baseball Draft as the 783rd player selected. He batted and threw left-handed, and through most of his career was listed as being 6' tall (1.83m) and 195 lbs. (88.5 kg).
Read more about this topic: Keith Hernandez
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