Bob Costas retires from baseball play-by-play after 42 seasons

After 42 seasons, Bob Costas is retiring from baseball play-by-play.

Costas had done games the past couple seasons for MLB Network and TBS Sports. His final games were the American League Division Series between the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals.

Costas’ contract with TBS expired at the end of the season, but his plans to retire from baseball play-by-play had been in the works for over a year.

Baseball has always been Costas’ favorite sport. He started on the radio as a sports reporter at KMOX in St. Louis before he was hired to call games on NBC from 1982-89 and again from 1994-2000. He was one of the announcers for the 1995 World Series and then the main play-by-play voice for the Fall Classic in 1997 and ’99.

He joined TBS in 2021 to serve as studio host for its coverage of the National League Championship Series and then called games the past three seasons.

Costas had also done games on MLB Network since its start in 2009. He will continue to do some work for the network on key events, including the Baseball Hall of Fame announcement.

In 2018, he received the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcast excellence from the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Costas is also known for being the prime-time host of NBC’s Olympics coverage from 1992 to 2016. 



(AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)