We won’t have Bob Costas to kick around any longer.
Costas, 72, is retiring from calling MLB games, The Athetic’s Andrew Marchand reported.
Costas has been calling baseball games since the 1980s and most recently was on the announce team for TBS.
During the 1990s, he was on the call for the World Series on NBC. He called his first MLB game for NBC 44 years ago.
His final MLB broadcast was the Yankees’ win over the Royals in Game 4 of the ALDS.
Costas’ contract with TBS’ parent company WBD expired, and The Athletic reported that he made his decision to retire now before this season began.
Costas will remain an on-air contributor to MLB Network, but will not call games for them.
In recent years, Costas became a distraction from the games he was announcing.
During the ALDS, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo criticized Costas and TBS for too many shots of George Brett and references to the 1970s, as well as various calls that came up short.
“I watched a George Brett documentary last night and a baseball game broke out — the old Rodney Dangerfield line. I mean, what are they doing? And I love George, but jeez, six questions in the middle of a playoff game? You know, Bob had a tough night,” Russo said on Audacy’s “You Better You Bet.”
“He blew the call in left, the home run that he thought Judge hit, obviously, the bottom of the eighth on the single and he thought it was a single and it was an out. He loves telling you the stories. We learned a lot about ballpark construction with the foul territory last night too, he brought that up.
“You know, he’s brought up, we know enough about the ’76-77 Yankees and Royals. Yeah, he’s gotten pounded here. He’s gotten pounded. I don’t read the social media that much but I’m aware of what has been said. I feel bad for Bob because he’s a legend, he’s an all-timer, probably it bothers him. [Ron] Darling has to figure out where he fits in… but Bob I think maybe (has) got to let the game breathe a little bit.”
