St. Louis Cardinals Gameday – June 2018

@CardsMagazine CARDINALS MAGAZINE 71

First, congratulations on receiving the 2018

Frick award. We’re guessing you got the news

from Jeff Idelson, president of the Hall of Fame.

COSTAS: Thank you. When I saw the

Cooperstown area code, my heart kind of

skipped a beat. I knew it was Jeff calling,

and I knew that was the day the decision was

rendered. I knew he probably wasn’t calling

to say, “Hey, Bob, you just missed. Better

luck next time.” Jeff is a longtime friend. He

congratulated me, and it was really one of the

nicest experiences I have ever had.

You must have received tons of

congratulations since that first call.

COSTAS: A few weeks after the

award was announced, I attended the

annual dinner of the New York chapter

of the Baseball Writers’ Association of

America. It’s a fancy affair with a nice,

glossy program. One of its pages featured a

photo of Joe Buck and me with the words,

“Congrats, Bob. My dad would be so proud!

Well done, my friend. – Joe” That was very

special and very much appreciated.

Let’s go back to your Syracuse days. Was
baseball in your sights from the beginning?
COSTAS: Baseball was always my
favorite sport. I wanted to be a sports
broadcaster, but when you start out, you
can’t be choosy. You can’t say, “Oh, no,
I’m a baseball announcer.” My first job
was broadcasting minor league hockey in
Syracuse in the old Eastern Hockey League.
And then my second job was the Spirits of
St. Louis in the ABA.
I never really did baseball until I went to
NBC. I think they just assumed – I didn’t
lie to them – that I must have done some
Cardinals games by that point. I think I did
a pretty good job early with NBC, and they
liked my work. And so, when some backup
baseball games came along, they just threw
me in there. One of the first games I did was
with Tim McCarver, and to tell you how
long ago it was, the Red Sox were at the
(California) Angels, Carl Yastrzemski hit a
home run, and Rod Carew stole a base in
the game (June 14, 1980).

Did you broadcast any baseball games when

you were doing radio in college?

COSTAS: I would go to Syracuse Chiefs

games – at the time the Chiefs were the

Triple-A affiliate of the Yankees – in their

old, rickety ballpark. Not a lot, but maybe

a half-dozen times, with friends of mine

who were also broadcasting students. We’d

take a tape recorder – an old-style, reel-to-

reel tape recorder – and we’d alternate the

innings. We sounded terrible, but we got a

little bit of experience.

BOB COSTAS

... but his first major league assignment came in 1974 at KMOX

Radio, calling games for the Spirits of St. Louis of the ABA.