Bob Carpenter brought his iconic home run call, “See! You! Later!” to Nationals television broadcasts for 20 seasons. Before his retirement from a 42-year career at the end of the 2025 season, Carpenter reflected on his most notable calls.
During his retirement press conference, Carpenter shared his favorite “See! You! Later!” moment (yes, it happened at Nationals Park), as well as a memorable moment nearly 40 years ago (and the reason why he actually didn’t exclaim his signature call).
Sept. 3, 2019: Nationals vs. Mets
Late in their World Series season, the Nationals staged a comeback with seven runs in the ninth inning to beat the Mets on a walk-off home run by Kurt Suzuki.
“Favorite see you later moment, if I had to do one because of the situation in the ballgame, it probably would have been Kurt Suzuki's homer against Edwin Díaz and the Mets. I think we’d given up five runs in the top of the ninth in that game. So all was lost, and we're fighting for a [National League] Wild Card spot.
“Then they go out and do that, and Kurt hits that homer.
“My sister [Mary] was visiting from St. Louis, and she happened to be behind me in the booth taping that on her phone. She said, ‘I've never seen my brother go to that octave or that level before.’ And it was just a really fun moment.
“Then as soon as I made the call and said, ‘The Nats have won it with seven runs in the ninth inning,’ I just shut up and started working on my scorebook to total out the game. Because I believe in not stepping on the moment at the ballpark when we can bring our fans into the ballpark with a moment like that, and I think that’s what we did.”
April 19, 1987: Rangers at Brewers
Carpenter was the broadcaster for the Rangers when they allowed two home runs, including a Dale Sveum walk-off, to the undefeated Brewers in the ninth inning.
“This is interesting -- I think about this every time I go to Milwaukee: When I was with the Texas Rangers in 1987, I believe it was, [the Brewers had] won their first 11 games of the year and we had a 4-1 lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning. Rob Deer hit a three-run homer to tie it, and then Dale Sveum -- against the other guy who was supposed to be our closer -- hit one out of the ballpark to win the game for Milwaukee.
“They weren't televising. We were the only TV show, because back then home teams didn't televise games. I mean, this is almost 40 years ago.
“And so I think I said something like, ‘Dale Sveum swings, and there's a deep one to right.’ Then I just said, ‘12 in a row!’ and then I shut up and let our director, Dave Burchett, cut all the action.
“It was a great baseball moment, even though our team just lost and it broke our hearts. But to watch those fans in that ballpark -- that was old County Stadium in Milwaukee -- and I swear to God, like RFK [Stadium], the upper deck was moving when those fans were jumping up and down.
“Those are the two ‘See! You! Later!’ moments -- even though I didn't use it, because there's no way I'm ever using that on an opposing team's home run.”