Dan Caesar
Reporter
Bob Costas has been presented with enough awards over his illustrious broadcasting career to seemingly fill the tractor-trailer convoy that hauls the equipment for a Taylor Swift concert, a list that includes 29 Emmys (becoming the only person to be honored in sports, news and entertainment). He also has been named national sportscaster of the year eight times and has been inducted into a multitude of announcing halls of fame.
Costas, who got his start in 最新杏吧原创 in 1974 when he was hired out of Syracuse University by legendary KMOX (1120 AM) general manager Robert Hyland to call games of the American Basketball Association鈥檚 Spirits of 最新杏吧原创, is in the Missouri and 最新杏吧原创 sports halls as well as having a spot on the 最新杏吧原创 Walk of Fame. Those honors celebrate his highest-level achievements in broadcasting a wide array of sports in a network career, mostly at NBC, that now is winding down. He recently announced his retirement from doing baseball play-by-play, which had been the one sport he still was calling at age 72.
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Costas has shined from broadcasting football to basketball as well as in his record run as prime-time network television host of 11 Olympic Games, plus his branching out to host in-depth shows focusing on entertainment and news in addition to athletics.
But baseball always has been No. 1 to him, thus his most cherished honor to date is receiving the Ford C. Frick Award 鈥 presented annually for excellence in baseball broadcasting that includes recognition in the sport鈥檚 Hall of Fame, an accolade he received in 2018. But there is about to be a co-leader at the top of his list, the Musial Award he is to be given Saturday night at Stifel Theatre in 最新杏吧原创. He is to be introduced by comedian and actor Billy Crystal, a longtime friend.
The gala, named after Cardinals legend and good guy Stan Musial, salutes sportsmanship, class and character and is being recorded to be shown nationally by CBS (KMOV, Channel 4, locally) on Dec. 29. Costas is being honored with the lifetime achievement award for sportsmanship, to be hailed that night.
鈥淚 appreciate them all,鈥 Costas said of his many honors. 鈥淏ut the two most meaningful to me are the Frick Award and this one.鈥
Marc Schreiber, president of the event鈥檚 organizer, the 最新杏吧原创 Sports Commission, said Costas long has been on the list of candidates to receive the award.
鈥淚t was time for us to extend that invitation,鈥 he said.
Making it special for Costas is that he had a fond relationship with Musial, and as a longtime 最新杏吧原创an Costas knows how important he was to the region. Costas delivered the eulogy at Musial鈥檚 funeral, in 2013 in 最新杏吧原创, a speech in which he became quite emotional.
鈥淭here is nobody who in the most positive way exemplifies baseball in 最新杏吧原创 more than Stan,鈥 Costas said, pointing out that many have come and gone since Musial retired in 1963.
Adding to the importance of the honor for Costas is having the town as his home base for decades after his career sprouted nationally, the place his children grew up. He left in 2012, and now he and wife Jill Sutton have homes in Newport Coast, California, and his native New York. But he often returns to 最新杏吧原创, where he has championed many charitable endeavors over the years听鈥 notably for Cardinal Glennon Children鈥檚 Hospital.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a 最新杏吧原创 award, it鈥檚 a national award,鈥 Schreiber said. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 something to be said for Bob鈥檚 connection to 最新杏吧原创. It鈥檚 the pinnacle honor coming from a community where he has meant so much.鈥
Costas鈥 deep local roots plus his admiration of Musial could lead to another instance in which he might have to gather himself.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know, it depends on the moment,鈥 he said. 鈥淚f it just happens, it happens.鈥
Play-by-play ends
Costas鈥 announcement early this month that he is relinquishing baseball play-by-play duties, which he began doing for NBC in 1980 and in recent years for MLB Network and TBS, came because he thought he was losing a couple miles per hour off his proverbial broadcasting fastball.
Bob Costas, left, and Tony Kubek broadcast baseball together for NBC in the 1980s.听
His adroit weaving of facts, historical references, humor and interesting and sometimes obscure tidbits with the nuts-and-bolts pitch-by-pitch descriptions, all in eloquent fashion, elevated his broadcasts to the highest echelon. You could count on finding out something you didn鈥檛 know when he was on the air.
So Costas, a perfectionist, did not want to stay too long.
鈥淚 had felt I wasn鈥檛 consistently able to hit my own standards,鈥 he told the Post-Dispatch. 鈥... I couldn鈥檛 do it as deftly as before.鈥
He expounded on it in a conversation with Tom Verducci on MLB Network when addressing his decision on Nov. 4.
鈥淚 knew for more than a year that this would be the end of it,鈥 Costas said. 鈥... I felt that I couldn鈥檛 consistently reach my past standard. It might have been individual games or stretches within games or moments in games that it was just the same as it was in the 1990s or the early 21st century, but I couldn鈥檛 string enough of them together.
鈥淚 have too much regard for the game and the craft and for whatever my own standard has been to hit beneath my lifetime batting average.鈥
He added:
鈥淚 just knew that there was something about the game 鈥 a kind of romance, mythology, but beyond that, generational connections that those moments deserved something more than just the bare-bone facts. And I think that for a long time, I could do that. And then toward the end, I felt that I couldn鈥檛 do that quite as well.
鈥 ... Words matter. Not just functional words, but words that have a little touch of elegance to them. That鈥檚 what you strive for. ... I just hoped to end on a grace note.鈥
Still on the air
Costas told the Post-Dispatch he had not intended to make a formal announcement about leaving play-by-play, at least not yet, but said he couldn鈥檛 lie when The Athletic鈥檚 Andrew Marchand heard about it and asked him to confirm.
But there was a residual benefit to the news slipping out 鈥 he said it was 鈥渧ery heartening, all the appreciation in print and on the air鈥 that he received, something akin to a guy hearing nice things being said about him at his funeral.
鈥淭here was an upside to it that I hadn鈥檛 intended,鈥 he said.
Costas isn鈥檛 done broadcasting, though. He remains a contributor to MLB Network in an emeritus role and perhaps other similar opportunities could arise at some point. But make no mistake, an era is over. Costas鈥 days of doing play-by-play have ended, five decades after they began in 最新杏吧原创.
His final call came across the state, in Kansas City, in Game 4 of an American League Division Series when the New York Yankees beat the Royals 3-1 to advance in the playoffs. That was eight days short of the 50th anniversary of his first Spirits call, the season opener they lost to the Memphis Sounds 97-92 on Oct. 18, 1974, at The Arena.
While that half-century bookending might seem like a tidy way to finish his play-by-play days, Costas said that symmetry played no role in his decision.
鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 even thought about it,鈥 he said.
He simply thought the time was right to end an epic run.
On Saturday he will be honored for much more than his vast on-air accomplishments.
Schreiber said he is happy the Sports Commission 鈥渃an recognize Bob鈥檚 connection to sportsmanship and how he has represented 最新杏吧原创,鈥 that it is fitting that after receiving so many broadcasting accolades that this time it will be 鈥渁bout his character, his class, his approachability, his needed voice of civility.
鈥淥ver time he has made us better sports. ... That鈥檚 what the Musial Awards are all about.鈥
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