70 CARDINALS MAGAZINE @CardsMagazine
duties for the MLB Network have increased.
In April, he called the Cardinals’ home
opener and was recognized during pregame
festivities that evening.
Though he was never a regular play-by-
play commentator for the Cardinals on
radio or TV, he did fill in for a few games
on KMOX in 1987, ’89 and ’90 when
Jack Buck was handling other assignments.
Costas had moved back to St. Louis in 1988
(staying 18 years) because it’s where he
wanted to raise his family (he had a youngson, and a daughter on the way in 1989).
“It’s not that I dislike New York,” he’d
tell the Post-Dispatch a few years later,
but rather that St. Louis “feels like my
hometown. I feel a part of the community in
a way I don’t feel a part of the community
in New York.”
And Costas made sure, as adopted son,
he gave back, and then some. For 26 years,
he spearheaded a star-studded fundraiser
for Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical
Center, which brought celebrity performers
from Tony Bennett to Billy Crystal and
Jennifer Hudson to town and, more
important, garnered $16 million for the
hospital’s work.
Now Costas is set to become the sixth
Frick recipient with St. Louis broadcasting
connections, joining Jack Buck (1987),
Harry Caray (1989), Joe Garagiola (1991),
Milo Hamilton (1992) and Tim McCarver
(2012). Costas will be recognized at the
Hall of Fame awards ceremony on July 28
in Cooperstown, one day before the
induction of the 2018 Hall of Fame class:
Trevor Hoffman, Vladimir Guerrero,
Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, Jack Morris
and Alan Trammell.
Before Costas graces the Cooperstown
podium, he’ll be at Busch Stadium on
June 25 for “Bob Costas Night.” Fans who
purchase a special theme ticket for that
game (vs. Cleveland) will receive a Costas
bobblehead that commemorates his Hall of
Fame honor.
“What’s especially wonderful about it is
that so many of my friends from St. Louis
will be able to celebrate with me and enjoy
it with me at that game,” he says. “Some of
them will be in Cooperstown, but many of
them can’t make it. That game’s going to
be kind of a reunion for me, as well as an
occasion for me to get a tip of the cap from
the Cardinals.”
Recently, Cardinals Magazine called on
Lindenwood University sports historian
and former Sporting News archivist Steve
Gietschier to catch up with Costas as he
prepared to accept baseball broadcasting’s
most prestigious award.NATIONAL VOICE, ADOPTED SON
Costas rose to the top of his profession as an articulate, adaptable
talent in a nearly four-decade career at NBC Sports ...