New York Mets broadcasting legend Howie Rose is set to hang it up next month when the team plays their final home game of the season against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sept. 20. It’ll be the end of an era for several generations of Mets fans. Rose, 72, began as a broadcaster for the team in 1987 and has remained part of the fabric of Mets baseball ever since.
This season, Rose scaled back his play-by-play duties, calling only Mets home games and a trio of Subway Series games against the cross-town Yankees, in preparation for a retirement he announced before the season began.
“I didn’t want to overstay my welcome,” Rose said in a March interview.
Despite stepping out of the booth, Rose will still be around the Mets in some capacity post-retirement. He’ll continue his role as master of ceremonies for on-field celebrations during the season, like number retirements and Hall of Fame inductions.
But it also appears that Sept. 20 might not be his very last time calling a Mets game after all. No, Rose hasn’t gotten cold feet on retirement. He just thinks that he might have a few cameos left in him after his play-by-play career officially comes to an end.
In a recent interview with Anthony Rieber in Newsday, Rose explained.
“They’ve been nice enough to agree to dust me off a few times a year to MC the various ceremonies that might take place on the field, and maybe pop into the booth if the kids need a break from time to time,” Rose said. “I’m not saying I’ll never do another game after Sept. 20th, but as a full-time thing, that’ll be it.”
Rose then reiterated his reason for retirement.
“I feel as though I could probably go on another two, three, four years doing it at approximately the same level, whatever that is,” he said. “But I have to confess that the motivation is not what it was.
“I don’t like just doing half the games. I don’t believe in that. I loved, as hard as it was, being around the team every day on the road as well as at home. I think you shortchange the job a little bit if you parachute in and out, and that’s what I feel like I’ve been doing.”
The Mets’ television partner, SNY, will debut an hour-long documentary chronicling Rose’s career on August 18.
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