Bob Costas

1952-

American sportscaster

Bob Costas has turned the broadcasting world upside down with his impeccable style. He is known for his ability to memorize trivial facts and insert them with precision timing when broadcasting. Costas is also known for his ability to hold his own when situations occur on a live broadcast. The thing he is most known for, however, is his love of baseball. Not the present baseball, but the heroic baseball of the past. Costas hopes that perhaps one day his children can see the kind of baseball he grew up listening to on the radio, and watching on a black and white screen.

Living and Breathing Baseball

Costas had early aspirations for becoming a broadcaster. Growing up listening to people like Harry Caray and Howard Cosell inspired him to walk in their paths. Costas stated in an article for the Philadelphia Daily News: "I always thought the broadcaster was as much a part of the game as the game itself." His father was a sports fan, which helped to fuel the fire. It was his father who taught Costas about baseball and shared his love for Mickey Mantle . Costas carries that admiration of Mantle with him to this day, symbolized by Mantle's 1958 baseball card he keeps in his wallet.

In Costas's senior year in high school, he applied to Syracuse University, because he knew that is where broadcast greats Marty Glickman and Marv Albert had gone to school. In 1970 he began attendance at Syracuse University as a journalism major. Stan Alten, one of Costas's professors, stated to USA Today, "Bob is one of those natural talents that doesn't come along that often, just like a great poet. When those come your way, the best thing to do is make sure you don't screw him up by trying to change his style." In 1974, his final year of college, Costas was offered a job at KMOX-AM. He had submitted an application with them using a tape he had doctored by turning up the base, as his voice at the time did not sound very mature. Costas never dreamed that the stunt would actually work. He packed up his things and left immediately to go become the voice for the St. Louis Spirits of the American Basketball Association. Broadcasting on KMOX-AM was a dream for Costas. He recalls picking up the signal on a good night when he was young, and listening to Harry Caray broadcast in his phenomenal fashion. Costas admitted to the Rochester Times-Union, "I thought I was in way over my head. I only hoped to be adequate enough not to embarrass myself."

Chronology

Bigger and Better

Costas got himself noticed by the executives at CBS, as the broadcasting system was affiliated with KMOX. In 1976 he began doing freelance work for CBS, going on the air for basketball and football. In 1980, NBC took Costas on, where he again covered basketball and football, but truly longed to cover baseball. His life changed in many ways in the year of 1980, as it was also the year he met his wife, Randi. He was speaking to a classroom about broadcasting and ended up falling in love with the teacher. They eventually married in 1983. In 1983 he also began to work alongside Tony Kubek for the national baseball game of the week. Costas really admired Kubek, for his knowledge of the mechanics of the game. He shared with the Detroit News: "I lean toward anecdotes, interesting facts and statistics that illustrate a particular part of the game." Glad to be covering the game he loves, Costas admitted to USA Today, "Baseball is an ongoing love affair. All the other sports are one-night stands by comparison."

Not everyone likes Costas's style though. Many people tire of the endless facts he regurgitates during numerous broadcasts. Mike Weisman, an NBC producer, told Sports Illustrated, "I still think he is too talkative.… Instead of letting a thought sink in, he tends to hit the audience with another good point." Most people do embrace Costas's style, and the majority of his colleagues really admire his work. So much so, that in 1985 he was named the Sportscaster of the Year. Costas was honored to simply be nominated to run with some of his greatest idols, like Vin Scully and Dick Enberg. It was moments like that when he realized he was glad he stuck with his style, knowing it was different. Costas expressed to Sports Illustrated, "if you don't take a risk, you'll never be any good."

Challenges Broadcaster Stereotypes

The biggest cause Costas has championed is for the arena of professional baseball. He wrote a book on the topic to get people thinking and to throw out some of his own ideas for changes to the grand old game. A writer for Hollywood.com wrote that the book shows Costas "offering carefully considered views on the ramifications of the 1994 baseball strike." Jerry Gladman with the Toronto Sun surmises that "Costas has written this book solely as someone seeking solutions.… In the hopes someone is listening and can help return the game to full health." Costas made his effort and will continue to pursue a better world for baseball.

Costas has challenged the broadcasting circuit to throw away the cookie cutter sportscasters. He has pushed for his colleagues to consider breaking out of their shells to bring life and vitality to the broadcast again. He doesn't want everyone to be like him, but does want to inspire fellow broadcasters to renew a passion for the sports they are reporting. Robert Bianco, reporting for USA Today, believes "Costas was everything you'd want in an anchor: smart and witty, without being intrusive or smug or losing his sense of occasion." Bianco continued, "Pay Costas whatever he wants."

CONTACT INFORMATION

Address: Bob Costas, c/o NBC Sports, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112.

SELECTED WRITINGS BY COSTAS:

Bob Costas on Sports. Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing, 1997.

Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball. New York: Broadway Books, 2000.

Bob Costas

At the young age of 34, sportscaster Bob Costas was cited by his colleagues as the best in his profession. It was heady stuff for a guy who, just a decade earlier had doctored his radio audition tape so he would sound older. But Costas, combining a witty irreverance with top-notch reportage, mixing a deep affection for sports with an off-the-wall demeanor, was the hottest name in sports broadcasting by the mid-eighties. His style appealed to both old-timers and baby-boomers, earned him jobs broadcasting baseball and hosting football afternoons for NBC, and brought him a $550,000-a-year contract. "I would have been willing to pay my dues," he told Sports Illustrated. "But nobody ever made me."

Source: Contemporary Newsmakers 1986, Issue Cumulation. Gale Research, 1987.

Awards and Accomplishments

St. Louis: For the Record (Urban Tapestry Series). Towery Publications, 2000.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Books

"Bob Costas." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. 5 vols. St. James Press, 2000.

"Bob Costas." Contemporary Newsmakers 1986. Issue Cumulation. Gale Research, 1987.

Periodicals

Berger, Jerry. "Bob Costas Says That He and His Wife, Randi, are Getting a Divorce." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. (August 31, 2001): A2.

Bianco, Robert. "How to Mine More Gold from the Olympics Mix in More Live Events, Ditch the Packaging - and keep Bob Costas." USA Today, (October 02, 2000): 01D.

"Bob Costas…Take two." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, (August 4, 1996): 04F.

Gladman, Jerry. "Costas Calls 'Em as He Sees 'Em." Toronto Sun, (May 13, 2001): S32

Thompson, Kevin. "For the Record, Costas Among the Best." Palm Beach Post, (February 11, 2001): 2J.

Walters, John. "Features/Atlanta 1996: Master of Ceremonies from the Center Spot On 'The Hollywood Squares' to Center Stage at the Atlanta Games - Bob Costas Makes it all Look Easy." Entertainment Weekly, (July 19, 1996): 30.

Other

"Bob Costas." MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.com/onair/bios/b_costas.asp. (January 4, 2003).

"Bob Costas." Hollywood.com. http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/bio/celeb/1673835. (January 4, 2003).

Costas, Bob. "Bob Costas' Eulogy for Mickey Mantle." http://members.aol.com/mindycpa/Eulogy.htm. (January 4, 2003).

Fendrich, Howard. "Costas to stay with NBC." AP Sports Writer. AP Online. (January 4, 2003).

Marin, Drake. "Bob Costas." The BOB COSTAS Page. http://drake.marin.k12.ca.us/students/friedmad/announce/Costas.html. (January 4, 2003).

McDermid, Brendan. "Bob Costas Appears Before the Senate Judiciary Committee." Reuters News Pictures Service. (November 11, 2000).

Sketch by Barbra J. Smerz