After more than four decades in the booth and a long list of industry awards, sportscaster Bob Costas is retiring from calling baseball games. Costas, who handled his first network baseball game for NBC in 1980 and his final one earlier this month for TBS, confirmed the decision to the Athletic. He made no comment about his partial retirement Thursday but said he will in the future. Costas' contract with TBS ended with this season, but the Washington Post reports his retirement was in progress for more than a year.
Costas' work on this season's American League Division Series between the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals drew criticism on social media, per USA Today, with commenters saying he lacked enthusiasm and fumbled calls. Costas has broadcast multiple sports, including NBA and NFL games, but always maintained baseball was his favorite. Costas also was NBC's prime-time Olympics host from 1992 to 2016, per the AP. He worked the World Series in 1995, 1997, and 1999. Costas, 72, plans to remain an analyst and commentator on MLB Network, where he's been lead game broadcaster since it launched, but won't call any more of its games. He plans to carry on as the voice of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Costas has won 29 Emmy Awards, per the Missouri Broadcasters Association—which has him in its Hall of Fame—more than any sports broadcaster. Eight times, he was named National Sportscaster of the Year, also a record. Costas received the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcast excellence from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018. His career was launched in 1974 when KMOX hired the recent Syracuse graduate to do the play-by-play for St. Louis' ABA team, the Spirits, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. (More Bob Costas stories.)
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