As far as Howie Rose is concerned, this isn\u2019t goodbye. At least not yet.<\/p>\n
The longtime radio voice of the New York Mets called his final game for the Metropolitans on Sunday \u2014 a 7-2 Phillies win \u2014 and as he called a ninth inning for the final time, the timeless sound of the Beatles echoed throughout Citi Field. Rose, a self-diagnosed Beatlemaniac<\/a> who even left the booth mid-game this season<\/a> to share pleasantries with Sir Paul McCartney, didn\u2019t let the song\u2019s title \u2014 \u201cHello, Goodbye\u201d \u2014 be the last words he ushered into this new era of Mets baseball.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not goodbye as far as I\u2019m concerned,\u201d Rose said on air, as fans in the stadium chanted his name loud enough to hear over the broadcast. \u201cI\u2019ll still be here for the ceremonies, and I don\u2019t mean the retirement ceremonies. I mean Opening Day, and when we have Mets Hall of Fame Day, or retire a number, have an Old Timers\u2019 Day. So I\u2019m stepping away. It\u2019s basically a retirement.\u201d<\/p>\n An emotional Howie Rose reacts to Mets fans chanting his name as he begins his final inning: pic.twitter.com\/YuB9Pvmvro<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) September 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Rose has previously left the door<\/a> open to calling an occasional game after stepping away for good, saying last month he could see himself dropping in for one or two once he\u2019s officially retired. But Sunday still carried some sort of finality, the culmination of a farewell Rose had already begun articulating a day earlier<\/a>, hedging against a forecast that threatened to wash out Sunday\u2019s finale.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether they play tomorrow or not, I just preemptively want to say how much you all mean to me,\u201d he told listeners Saturday, calling Mets fans \u201ckindred spirits\u201d who could just as easily be sitting in his chair, having grown up, like him, in the upper deck of Shea Stadium.<\/p>\n While the Mets pushed Rose\u2019s formal ceremony<\/a> to next season, Sunday\u2019s game went on as scheduled anyway, giving Rose his actual final broadcast.<\/p>\n In honor of Howie Rose calling his last game, the Mets collectively tipped their hats towards the radio booth \ud83e\udd79<\/p>\n \u201cFitting tribute for a legend\u201d \u2013 Gary Cohen pic.twitter.com\/HXwscTl04e<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 SNY (@SNYtv) September 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n The Mets entered 2026 with the since fired<\/a> Carlos Mendoza texting Rose in spring training<\/a> to promise this would finally be his year, the World Series parade that had eluded both the team and its 52-year broadcaster. Instead, the Mets spent the year settling for far less than that vision, and Rose, whose ongoing battle with bladder cancer kept him off the road this season<\/a>, called every one of his final home games anyway, unwilling to miss a single one. It was a quieter final chapter than the one he authored<\/a> just two years earlier, when his calls of Francisco Lindor\u2019s and Pete Alonso\u2019s postseason home runs<\/a> during the Mets\u2019 2024 NLCS run became the signature calls of his career.<\/p>\n