PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Howie Rose, the charismatic play-by-play man who has called Mets games in various capacities since 1995, announced Thursday that he will retire after this season.
Rose had previously said he hoped to continue announcing until the Mets win another World Series. But he has cut back his schedule multiple times over the past several years, in part due to health issues stemming from a battle with bladder cancer that began in 2021. Travel remains difficult for Rose, who will not call any road games this year until the postseason.
“That’s basically the only way I can keep it going at this point,” Rose said earlier this spring. “The thing is, I may be 72 now, but I also did baseball and hockey full seasons concurrently for a long time. … It catches up to you. Travel is not my favorite thing. So to be able to eliminate it, at least for the regular season, was something that I needed to do if I was going to work this year.”
Rose broke into the broadcasting field in 1975 and has been part of the Mets universe since 1996, calling games on both television and radio. He also called NHL games earlier in his career, spending his baseball offseasons with the Islanders until 2016.
Among Rose’s highlights have been calls from the Mets’ run to the 2015 National League pennant, as well as Pete Alonso’s go-ahead home run in 2024 NL Wild Card Series Game 3. (He is perhaps best known for a hockey moment: his call of Stéphane Matteau’s overtime goal to lift the Rangers into the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals.)
A childhood Mets fan who grew up attending games at Shea Stadium, Rose likely would have already retired if not for the fact that the team hasn’t won a World Series in 40 years.
“I reserve the right at any time to say, ‘That’s it,’ but I would never do that in-season,” Rose said last month. “So, I’m committed to doing this season, and we’ll see when the games start where my head’s at and how I project ahead.”