Howie Rose won't close the book on occasional Mets booth returns
Howie Rose is retiring as the Mets' full-time radio play-by-play voice after Sept. 20, but he has not closed the book on calling games. The 72-year-old said he may still MC on-field ceremonies and "pop into the booth" if his successors need a break, even as he ruled out changing his mind about full-time work.
Key Takeaways
- Howie Rose's last scheduled full-time Mets radio game is Sept. 20, 2026.
- He left the door open to occasional booth appearances and on-field MC duties.
- SNY's documentary "Howie Rose: Put It In the Books" premiered Aug. 18 after the Mets postgame show.
- Rose, 72, cut travel this season, calling 81 home games plus three at Yankee Stadium.
Will Howie Rose call another Mets game after Sept. 20?
After a Citi Field screening of the new SNY film about his life, Rose told Gary Cohen he is not saying he will never do another game after Sept. 20. Full-time work, he stressed, is finished.
"It's a people business, and I'm going to miss the people most," Rose said. The Mets have already agreed, he added, to "dust me off a few times a year" as master of ceremonies for on-field events such as Hall of Fame inductions and number retirements.
He also floated popping into the booth "if the kids need a break from time to time." By "kids," Newsday reported, Rose meant the announcer who will join his current partner, Keith Raad, in 2027.
Cohen asked whether anything could change his mind about staying on. Rose's answer was a drawn-out no.
Why is Howie Rose stepping away from full-time Mets radio?
Rose said he could probably keep calling games at roughly the same level for another two, three, or four years. The motivation, he confessed, is not what it was.
This season he reduced his schedule to all 81 home games plus three at Yankee Stadium in September. He does not like doing only half the games. He loved being around the team every day on the road as well as at home, and he feels parachuting in and out shortchanges the job.
Awful Announcing reported he was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2021, later trimmed his workload to about 100 games, then cut travel completely this year. After Sept. 20, he plans to head to Florida like many other New Yorkers.
Mets fans still treat plenty of franchise plot twists as unsolved mysteries. Rose's full-time future is no longer one of them.
What does SNY's Howie Rose documentary cover?
"Howie Rose: Put It In the Books" premiered Tuesday, Aug. 18, at 10:30 p.m. on SNY after the Mets postgame show and is set for multiple re-airings. Rose and his family saw it Friday night before a Nationals-Mets game.
The film traces his rise from Bayside, Queens, to radio with help from Marv Albert at WHN, later WFAN, then play-by-play for the Rangers and Islanders and the Mets. It revisits his "Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!" Rangers call, with Stephane Matteau at the screening in a Howard Johnson Mets jersey, and explains how Rose coined "Put It In the Books!"
Pete Alonso, interviewed in an Orioles cap, said, "When you think of the New York Mets, you think of Howie." The documentary also includes Mike Piazza reflecting on Rose's subdued call of Piazza's home run in the first game back at Shea Stadium after 9/11, when executives told the booth to keep the broadcast sensitive.
Rose said "this one has a chance" even as the ball headed toward the Whitestone Bridge; the Mets took a 3-2 lead. Marv Albert, Mike Francesa, Gary Cohen, and Ian Eagle appear as well. A decades-old misunderstanding with Francesa is even resolved on camera.
Alonso's 2024 Wild Card series winner is also featured, including the Mets playing Rose's call on the plane home from Milwaukee and giving him a standing ovation.