NEW YORK -- Inclement weather forced the Mets to postpone Sunday’s planned retirement ceremony for legendary broadcaster Howie Rose to the opening weekend of the 2027 season.
In a special press conference before Sunday’s Mets-Phillies game, Rose said that he was flattered that the organization was so insistent on having a proper celebration next year.
“It could be kind of somber when you reach the end of a career,” Rose said in front of family, friends and Mets luminaries. “But, God willing, we’ll all reconvene next year, and it’s gonna be a party. It’ll be happy. And I won’t have to go to work right after the game, as I would have today. In a sense, it’s the best of both worlds.”
Rose likened his circumstances to a particular moment in Mets history as only he could. The Mets were scheduled to play their very first game as the National League’s newest franchise on April 10, 1962, in St. Louis. Several members of the team got trapped in the hotel elevator while leaving for Busch Stadium. When they finally arrived, they discovered that the game had been postponed due to weather.
If the Mets could wait one more day, Rose can wait for his party, too.
“There’s some ironic symmetry to how this has worked out today,” Rose said.
Rose has been a Mets fan since the franchise’s inception in 1962. Born in Queens in 1954, he spent his summers in Section 1, Row 1 in the upper deck at Shea Stadium, once carving his initials into the wooden seats.
“That’s the nerve that touches me every time,” Rose said. “I was just the lucky one who got out of the upper deck and into the broadcast booth.”
Rose has been a voice of the Mets since 1995, and first joined the broadcast in some capacity in 1987. Through more than three decades, he has tried to represent the fans, embracing the sort of intimacy that radio permits. Rose has been the soundtrack to their summers and the voice of their defining memories, from Pete Alonso’s home run in Game 3 of the 2024 Wild Card Series to his “Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!” call of the New York Rangers’ triumph in Game 7 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals.
On Sunday, dozens of fans stood in the rain outside Citi Field more than three hours before the scheduled first pitch, donning “Matteau” jerseys and sweatshirts with Rose’s signature catchphrase, “Put it in the books!”
When he arrived at the radio booth roughly 20 minutes before Sunday’s game, fans showered him with a standing ovation.
Rose likened the past few weeks to Tom Seaver’s near-perfect game in 1969, when the Hall of Famer felt as if he was “levitating” in the later innings of his outing. He was 15 years old when the Miracle Mets won the franchise’s first of two world championships, forging an unbreakable bond. Cleon Jones and Art Shamsky, two hallmarks of the ‘69 team, were in attendance for Rose’s press conference on Sunday. So were Mookie Wilson, Howard Johnson, Terry Collins and Lee Mazzilli.
Cognizant of Sunday’s weather forecast, Rose approached Saturday’s game as if it was his last. He said his goodbyes on air, just in case. As it turns out, Mother Nature cooperated, allowing Sunday’s game to start on time.
The ceremony will have to wait. But for 2026, in the broadcast booth, Rose has one more hill to climb.
“The wildest, wildest fiction writer could not have come up with this,” Rose said. “So I’m very, very blessed.”