@CardsMagazine CARDINALS MAGAZINE 69
Soon to be honored by the Baseball
Hall of Fame as the 2018 recipient of
the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence
in broadcasting, Bob Costas is stopping
by St. Louis in advance of his big day in
Cooperstown.
After all, the Gateway City is where
his career took off 44 years ago, on radio
superstation KMOX.
Though Costas, 66, is a native and
resident of New York, he has often
remarked that he considers St. Louis
his hometown – and told Cardinals
Magazine as much.
“More than half of my closest
friends are in St. Louis. I have so
many memories from St. Louis,” says
the longtime NBC broadcaster and
studio host. “My kids grew up there.
My kids went to school there. My kids
are Cardinals fans. So it will always have a
special place in my life story.”
Costas first came to St. Louis in autumn
of 1974, hired by legendary KMOX general
manager Bob Hyland to do play-by-play
for the Spirits of St. Louis in the American
Basketball Association. Costas, then 22 and
a few months out of Syracuse University,
had mailed Hyland a voice tape of some of
the work he’d done at a local station while
still completing his degree.
“His voice sparkled,” Hyland would tell
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “What he lacked
in experience, he overwhelmed us in his
other qualities. He has a bright future.”
As the ABA was nearing the end of
its colorful life, Costas’ career was just
beginning. He called Missouri Tigers
basketball games for KMOX and hosted the
station’s famous “Sports Open Line” call-in
show. Always on the go, Costas branched
out to do NFL and NBA regional telecasts
on CBS (which owned KMOX) and even
broadcast the Chicago Bulls on WGN-TV for
19 road games during the 1979-80 season.Then NBC came calling. Costas
signed with the network in 1980 to
do NFL and college basketball games
while continuing to work at KMOX.
He also appeared on his first baseball
telecast that summer (his prior baseball
play-by-play experience consisted of a
couple Cardinals minor league games
on radio in 1978).
A year later, he accepted a full-time
position with NBC and moved to
New York in time for the NFL season.
Since then, his work has ranged beyond
football, basketball and baseball to
include hockey, golf, boxing, horse
racing, NASCAR and, of course, the
Olympics. After serving as late-night
host for the 1988 Games in Seoul,
the 28-time Emmy winner enjoyed
a run as the prime-time anchor for
11 Olympics on NBC, from 1992 in
Barcelona to 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.
Still, baseball remained his first love, and
his time broadcasting the sport spans four
decades. He’s called regular-season baseball- notably NBC’s Game of the Week (1982-
- – the All-Star Game, and postseason
play, including the World Series. From
2009 on, he has called games and served as a
documentary host for MLB Network.
Even now, as Costas has cut back on his
regular schedule at NBC, his play-by-play
Bob Costas brings even more St. Louis flair to
the broadcast wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame
NATIONAL VOICE,
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