New York Mets fans should enjoy listening to Howie Rose on the radio while they can, because it may not be for much longer.
Mets fans have been fortunate to hear Gary Cohen calling games on TV with Rose serving as the team’s lead radio play-by-play voice over the last two decades. And while Cohen has not hinted at retirement, the 71-year-old Rose believes his renowned sportscasting career is nearing the finish line. Rose joined The Show: A NY Post baseball podcast with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman this week, where he was asked about the future.
“I’ve seen a lot of broadcasters go longer than they should,” Rose said. “I know Bob Costas says as he approached 70, kind of realized that there are some differences in how quickly the words come. And I have taken to saying the synapses don’t fire quite as quickly as they used to. So, you have to find a way to work around that.”
“I’m just going year by year now,” Rose admitted. “I hope and expect to be back next year, I reserve the right to get down to Florida where I live when the season’s over and after a week or two, maybe reassess.”
Costas, who is 73, retired from calling MLB games at the end of last season. It concluded a run of more than four decades for Costas, who called his first game for NBC in 1980 before spending 15 years with MLB Network. But while Costas spent the last few years of his play-by-play career calling select regular-season games and a playoff series for TBS, Rose’s radio schedule for the Mets, although reduced, remains more taxing.
Rose, whose radio booth came in No. 5 in the Awful Announcing 2025 MLB local radio announcer rankings, also noted his wife has sacrificed a lot and deserves to have him around more than he has been, reminding everyone that he previously did hockey full-time in addition to his radio play-by-play role with the Mets.
“I can tell you, I’m not gonna do it much longer,” Rose continued. “I hope and expect to do it next year, but as I say, I’m going year to year and I’m very sensitive to those synapses.”
Rose told Sherman and Heyman that he thinks he has another year left, but made no guarantees. Still, when Rose retires, it should be to spend time with his family, and not because of any perceived slippage as an announcer.
While Rose is right, many broadcasters held onto their microphone for too long, he’s not there. Just last year, Rose delivered one of the best radio calls of his career when Pete Alonso’s go-ahead three-run home run against the Milwaukee Brewers sent the Mets to the NLDS.
At 71 years old, maybe Rose notices the synapses slowing down more over the course of a season than he used to. And you have to respect the fact that he has enough of an appreciation for the craft to be sensitive to those moments. However, Mets fans still enjoy listening to Rose on the radio and hope to continue doing so.