Costas to enter Hall of Fame
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Bob Costas has an appointment with destiny as he prepares to join the Baseball Hall of Fame as its newest recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, given annually for broadcast excellence.
No stranger to upstate New York, he graduated from Syracuse University, where he launched a career covering almost every major sporting event from the World Series to 12 Olympic Games and racing’s Triple Crown.
So don’t be surprised if, on his way to Cooperstown this summer, Costas makes a brief detour to the Spa City.
“Saratoga is one of the most beautiful settings in all of sports,” he said. “I’ve never been assigned to the Travers. But I still have friends in Syracuse, and we like going out to restaurants near the track.”
His path to baseball immortality started out in his father’s car, parked in the driveway of his family’s Long Island home, where he’d listen to New York broadcast legends Red Barber and Mel Allen. “I did that because the reception was better,” Costas said.
Radio fueled his imagination in ways television never could.
He could also pick up out-of-town games from Pittsburgh, Detroit and St. Louis to hear the likes of Bob Prince, Ernie Harwell, Harry Caray and Jack Buck. Later, after moving to Los Angeles, Costas was among the legions of fans who tuned their transistor radios to hear Vin Scully, whom he considers the industry “gold standard,” call Dodger games.
Now he’s about to take his rightful place among them, during ceremonies scheduled for Saturday, July 28, during Induction Weekend.
“Baseball’s always been my favorite,” Costas said. “It allows you to talk about the game’s history, tell anecdotes and banter with your partners more than other sports.”
However, broadcasting and baseball itself aren’t the same as when since he started doing NBC’s Game of the Week in the mid-1980s. Graphics, video challenges and
special effects such as KZone, which shows the location of balls and strikes, have altered viewers’ perception and forced broadcasters to alter their styles accordingly.
“They can be helpful, but those things can also get in the way,” Costas said. “There’s less space to tell a tale, to spin a yarn. With two outs, can I get this story in or am I going to be interrupted by a replay? You can’t tell three or four stories per game any more. You might make four or five observations.”
He’s covered many of the game’s most exciting moments. In 1986, he was in the Red Sox clubhouse at Shea Stadium, expecting to interview jubilant players when Mookie Wilson’s ground ball when through Bill Buckner’s legs, arguably the most dramatic ending ever recorded in a Fall Classic game.
Two years later, he was in the Dodger dugout when Kirk Gibson limped to home plate and then around the bases, after blasting a pinch-hit, walkoff home run to win World Series Game 1.
“As soon as he left the field he was brought over to me,” Costas said. “Being part of that immediate aftermath was very memorable.” He doesn’t do as many broadcasts these days, but said, “Baseball keeps giving to me.”
In one of this year’s games, for example, American League MVP Jose Altuve hit three home runs, giving Costas another great addition to his memory banks.
He hasn’t decided on the specific words yet, but his induction speech this summer will include something about falling in love with the game, the thrill of hearing broadcast greats bring baseball to life on the airwaves, and the many close friends he’s made and worked with along the way.
“And what the game has meant to me,” Costas said. “I started out just wanting to be a good announcer, good enough to do baseball. I never imagined the Hall of Fame.”