Larry Rothschild
Larry observes Cubs batting practice in 2008.
New York Yankees – No. 58
Pitcher / Manager / Coach
Born: (1954-03-12) March 12, 1954 (age 58) Chicago, Illinois
Batted: Left	Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 11, 1981 for the Detroit Tigers
Last MLB appearance
September 11, 1982 for the Detroit Tigers
Career statistics
Pitching record	0-0
Earned run average	5.40
Strikeouts	1
Games managed	499
Managerial record	205-294
Winning %	.411
Teams
As player Detroit Tigers (1981–1982) As manager Tampa Bay Devil Rays (1998–2001) As coach Cincinnati Reds (1986–1993) Atlanta Braves (1994) Florida Marlins (1995–1997) Chicago Cubs (2002–2010) New York Yankees (2011–present)
Career highlights and awards
2× World Series champion (1990, 1997)

Lawrence Lee Rothschild (born March 12, 1954) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher and manager. He currently serves as the pitching coach of the New York Yankees.

Playing career[link]

Rothschild graduated from Homewood-Flossmoor High School and pitched for the Florida State Seminoles baseball team. He signed as an amateur free agent with the Cincinnati Reds in 1975.

Rothschild spent 11 years in the Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, San Diego Padres, and Chicago Cubs organizations as a relief pitcher from 1975 to 1985. He was 66-46 in the minor leagues. He pitched in seven games in the major leagues for the Tigers, five in 1981 and two in 1982.

Coaching and managing career[link]

He then worked as a coach with the Reds from 1986 to 1993, winning a World Series ring in 1990 as the team's bullpen coach.

Rothschild worked with the Atlanta Braves as a pitching instructor in 1995 before joining the Florida Marlins in 1995 and staying until 1997, where he won another World Series ring in 1997.

He managed the Tampa Bay Devil Rays beginning in their inaugural season of 1998 until early in the 2001 season, when he was fired as a result of three consecutive losing seasons and a 4-10 start to 2001.^[1] During his time in Tampa Bay, Rothschild compiled a record of 205 wins and 294 losses.

He spent the remainder of 2001 as a consultant with the Florida Marlins, and was hired as the Chicago Cubs pitching coach in 2002. In 2010 he accepted an offer for three years from the New York Yankees after Dave Eiland was fired.^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or The Baseball Cube
• Larry Rothschild managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
• Biography on Cubs Official Site
• "Warming up for the Jewish Boys of Summer," 3/5/08

Lawrence O'Donnell
O'Donnell at the 2009 premiere of Polliwood
Born	(1951-11-07) November 7, 1951 (age 60) Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Ethnicity	Irish American
Education	Harvard University
Occupation	Political analyst
Notable credit(s)	Political commentary: The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell The McLaughlin Group Morning Joe Television fictional series: The West Wing (producer, writer) Big Love, Homeland (actor)
Spouse	Kathryn Harrold (m. 1994, divorced)

Lawrence Francis O'Donnell, Jr. (born November 7,^[1] 1951) is a political analyst, journalist, actor, producer, writer, and host of The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, a weeknight MSNBC opinion and news program. O'Donnell called himself a "practical European socialist" in a Newsmaker Interview dated November 11, 2005.^[2] He frequently filled in as host of Countdown before getting his own show on the cable network. Beginning 24 October 2011, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell switched time slots with The Ed Show, with Ed Schultz taking over the 8 p.m. Eastern slot, and O'Donnell returning to the 10 p.m. Eastern slot.^[3]

O'Donnell has also appeared as a political analyst on The McLaughlin Group, The Al Franken Show, and Countdown. He was an Emmy Award-winning producer and writer for the NBC series The West Wing and creator and executive producer of the NBC series Mister Sterling. He is also an occasional actor, appearing as a recurring supporting character on the HBO series Big Love, portraying an attorney. He began his career as an aide to U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and was Staff Director for the Senate Finance Committee.

Personal life[link]

O'Donnell was born in Boston on November 7, 1951; the son of Frances Marie (née Buckley), an office manager, and Lawrence Francis O'Donnell, Sr., an attorney.^[1] He attended St. Sebastian's School '70, where he was captain of his baseball team, and graduated from Harvard College in 1976.^[4] While at Harvard, he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon and was popular among its members due to his wit and sarcasm.^[5] In 1994, O'Donnell married television and movie actress Kathryn Harrold. O'Donnell and Harrold have a daughter, Elizabeth Buckley Harrold O'Donnell.^[6] O'Donnell and Harrold later divorced.

Career[link]

From 1977 to 1988, O’Donnell was a writer.^[4] In 1983, he published the book Deadly Force, about a case of wrongful death and police brutality in which O'Donnell’s father was the plaintiff’s lawyer.^[7] In 1986, the book was made into the film A Case of Deadly Force, in which Richard Crenna played O'Donnell’s father and Tate Donovan played O'Donnell, and for which O’Donnell was associate producer.^[8]

U.S. Congress[link]

From 1989 to 1995, he was a key legislative aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.^[4] From 1989 to 1991, he served as senior advisor to Moynihan. From 1992 to 1993, he was staff director of the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, then chaired by Senator Moynihan. And then from 1993 to 1995, he was staff director of the United States Senate Committee on Finance, once again under Senator Moynihan’s chairmanship. He thus led the staff of the Senate's tax-writing committee during the consideration of President Bill Clinton's first budget, which Congress enacted in the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993.

Television[link]

From 1999 to 2006, O’Donnell was associated with the television drama The West Wing. Over that time, he wrote 16 episodes. From 1999 to 2000 he was executive story editor for 12 episodes, in 2000 he was co-producer of 5 episodes, from 2000 to 2001 he was producer of 17 episodes, from 2003 to 2005 he was consulting producer for 44 episodes, and from 2005 to 2006 he was executive producer for 22 episodes.^[9] O’Donnell won the 2001 Emmy award for Outstanding Drama Series for The West Wing, and was nominated for the 2006 Emmy for the same category.^[10]

In 2002, O’Donnell was supervising producer and writer for the television drama First Monday, and in 2003, he was creator, executive producer, and writer for the television drama Mister Sterling.^[9]

Acting[link]

O'Donnell plays Lee Hatcher, the Henrickson family attorney, in the HBO series Big Love about a polygamous family in Utah. In addition to being a producer on The West Wing, O'Donnell also played President Josiah Bartlet's father in a flashback sequence of the episode "Two Cathedrals".

He also portrayed Judge Lawrence Barr in two episodes of Monk. He played himself on a few episodes of Showtime's Homeland.

MSNBC[link]

In 2009, O'Donnell became a regular contributor on Morning Joe with Joe Scarborough. His aggressive debate style on that program and others has led to several notable on-air confrontations, one of the most notable being an interview with Marc Thiessen on Morning Joe that became so heated that Scarborough took O'Donnell off the air.^[11][12][13]

Also in 2009 and 2010, O'Donnell began appearing frequently as a substitute host of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, particularly when Olbermann's father was ill in the hospital.

On September 27, 2010, O'Donnell began hosting a 10 p.m. show on MSNBC, called The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell.^[14][15]

On January 21, 2011, it was announced that O'Donnell would take over the 8 p.m. slot from Keith Olbermann after Olbermann announced the abrupt termination of his show, Countdown with Keith Olbermann;^[16] it later returned to the 10 p.m. hour.

Controversy[link]

In October 2004, O'Donnell got into a heated debate on Scarborough Country with John O'Neill, spokesman for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, over the allegations O'Neill made against John Kerry in his book Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out against John Kerry.^[17] In the debate, O'Donnell repeatedly and boisterously accused O'Neill of lying. Guest host Pat Buchanan tried to constrain O'Donnell with little success, and O'Neill at one point responded, "I will [provide evidence] if you'll shut up, Larry."^[18]

Before showing a taped interview with RNC Chairman Michael Steele, O'Donnell caused controversy over his intro to the interview which was considered racially insensitive. He said, "Michael Steele is dancing as fast as he can, trying to charm independent voters and Tea Partiers while never losing sight of his real master and paycheck provider, the Republican National Committee". After drawing criticism from Steele and talk-radio host Larry Elder, O'Donnell apologized for his remarks.^[19][20][21]

O'Donnell also drew criticism during an interview with congressman Ron Paul, when Paul accused him of breaking an agreement to not ask him about other political candidates.^[22] O'Donnell said he was not part of any agreement, but an MSNBC spokeswoman stated, "We told Rep. Paul’s office that the focus would be on the tea party movement, not on specific candidates".^[23]

During an October 2011 interview, O'Donnell accused Republican primary candidate Herman Cain of sitting on the sidelines during the civil rights protests of the 1960s and also charged him with avoiding the draft during the Vietnam War. Erick Erickson (a conservative blogger) called it "Perhaps the most detestable media character assassination I have seen in a very long time." Conor Friedersdorf said the questions posed by O'Donnell were "offensive" and declared, "In this interview, O'Donnell goes to absurd lengths to use patriotism and jingoism as cudgels to attack his conservative guest, almost as if he is doing a Stephen Colbert style parody of the tactics he imagines a right-wing blowhard might employ. Does he realize he's becoming what he claims to abhor?"^[24] O'Donnell's interview with Cain was later defended by Reverend Al Sharpton ^[25]

During the April 11, 2012 broadcast of The Last Word, O'Donnell apologized for comments made regarding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormon church) that, in his own words, offended many, including some of the shows most supportive fans^[26].

Political views[link]

O'Donnell called himself a "practical European socialist" in a 2005 interview.^[2] Despite regularly expressing support for regulated capitalism and mixed economies, O'Donnell again declared himself a "socialist" on the November 6, 2010 Morning Joe show, stating: "I am not a progressive. I am not a liberal who is so afraid of the word that I had to change my name to 'progressive'. Liberals amuse me. I am a socialist. I lie to the extreme left, the extreme left of you mere liberals."^[27] On the 1 August 2011 episode of The Last Word, O'Donnell further explained, "I have been calling myself a socialist ever since I first read the definition of socialism in the first economics class I took in college." O'Donnell went on to state that what he means by calling himself a socialist is

Not that we choose the socialist option every time but we do consider socialism a reasonable option under certain circumstances; in fact, under many circumstances. As any introductory economics course can tell you, there is no capitalist economy anywhere in the world, and there is no socialist economy anywhere in the world, not even Cuba. We are all mixed economies; that is, mixes of capitalism and socialism, and we all vary that mix in different ways. China has more capitalism, and a lot more capitalism, than has Cuba, but it also has a lot more socialism than we [the United States] do. Our socialist programs include the biggest government spending programs: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, as well as welfare, and the socialist program I hate the most, agriculture subsidies. Yes, I'm a socialist, but I hate bad socialism, and there is plenty of bad socialism out there, just like there is plenty of bad capitalism out there, like the capitalism that pollutes our rivers or makes health care too expensive for so many people. I can argue this because every side of this is true: capitalism is good, capitalism is bad; socialism is good, socialism is bad; all of those things are true at the same time. That's why we have a mixed economy, an economy in which we are trying to use the best, most efficient forms of capitalism, and the best, most efficient forms of socialism, where necessary. So my full truth is I am as much a capitalist as I am a socialist; but since we live in the only mature country in the world where "socialist" is considered such a dirty word that no one would dare admit to being one, I feel more compelled to stand up for the socialist side of me than the capitalist side of me.^[28]

Philanthropy[link]

In late 2010 O'Donnell made a trip to Malawi with the intent of providing desks for students who had never seen desks. MSNBC and UNICEF partnered to create the K.I.N.D. fund - Kids in Need of Desks - with the mission to deliver desks to African schools. During its first year, the program raised $2,413,999 and delivered 39,949 desks with over 5,000 more in the pipeline on their way to classrooms.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Lawrence O'Donnell at the Internet Movie Database
• The Last Word Blog
• Lawrence O'Donnell on Twitter

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2010)

Bob Costas
Bob Costas (right) interviews then U.S. President George W. Bush at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
Born	Robert Quinlan Costas (1952-03-22) March 22, 1952 (age 60) Queens, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Sportscaster
Spouse	Jill Sutton (2004–present) Carole Krumenacher (1983–2001, divorced, 2 children)
Children	Keith and Taylor
Parents	Jayne and John Costas

Robert Quinlan Costas (born March 22, 1952) is an American sportscaster, on the air for NBC Sports television since the early 1980s.

Early life[link]

Bob Costas was born in Queens, New York as a son of Jayne (née Quinlan), of Irish descent, and John George Costas, of Greek descent and an electrical engineer.^[1] In Ken Burns' Baseball, Costas indicated that he had a very poor relationship with his father, but did not go into specifics. He grew up in Commack, New York, graduating from Commack High School South. Following high school, he majored in Communications & Rhetorical Studies at Syracuse University where he dropped out of school. Later, he received an honorary degree from S. I. Newhouse School of Communications.

Broadcasting career[link]

Early career[link]

His sportscasting career started while attending Syracuse University, as an announcer for the Syracuse Blazers minor-league hockey team playing in the Eastern Hockey League and North American Hockey League.

Costas' career as a professional began at KMOX radio in St. Louis, where he served as a play-by-play announcer for the Spirits of St. Louis of the American Basketball Association. He also called Missouri Tigers basketball for KMOX, and co-hosted the station's Open Line call-in program.

Costas was a prominent contributor to the ABA book Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association. He is extensively quoted on many topics, and the book includes his reflections of ABA life during his tenure as radio voice of the Spirits of St. Louis.

Costas later did play-by-play for Chicago Bulls broadcasts on WGN-TV during the 1979–1980 season.^[2][3] He was also employed by CBS Sports as a regional NFL and NBA announcer from 1976 to 1979, when he moved to NBC.

NBC Sports[link]

When Costas was first hired by NBC, Don Ohlmeyer, who at the time ran the network's sports division, told the then 28-year-old Costas that he looked like a 14-year-old (a story that Costas would recite during an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien when O'Brien commented about Costas' apparent inability to "age" normally). Ohlmeyer presumably based his reaction on Costas' modest stature (Costas is 5' 7" in height) and boyish, babyfaced appearance.

He has been an in-studio host for NBC's National Football League coverage and a play-by-play man for National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball coverage. Costas has teamed with Isiah Thomas and Doug Collins for NBA telecasts (from 1997–2000) and Sal Bando^[4] (1982), Tony Kubek (from 1983–1989), Joe Morgan and Bob Uecker (from 1994–2000) for baseball telecasts. Before becoming the studio host for The NFL on NBC in 1984, Costas did play-by-play of NFL games with analyst Bob Trumpy.

Since 2001, he has been the co-host of the Kentucky Derby. Since 1995, Costas has also hosted NBC's coverage of the U.S. Open golf tournament.

In 2009, he hosted Bravo's coverage of the 2009 Kentucky Oaks.^[5]

Olympics[link]

Costas has frontlined many Olympics broadcasts for NBC. They include the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992, Atlanta in 1996, Sydney in 2000, Salt Lake City in 2002, Athens in 2004, Torino in 2006, Beijing in 2008, and Vancouver in 2010.^[6] He discusses his work on the Olympic telecasts extensively in a book by Andrew Billings entitled Olympic Media: Inside the Biggest Show on Television. A personal influence on Costas has been legendary ABC Sports broadcaster Jim McKay, who hosted many Olympics for ABC from the 1960s to the 1980s.^[7]

During the 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Opening Ceremonies, Costas' remarks on the China Team's possible drug use caused an uproar among the American Chinese and international communities. Thousands of dollars were raised to purchase ads in the Washington Post and Sunday New York Times, featuring an image of the head of a statue of Apollo and reading: "Costas Poisoned Olympic Spirit, Public Protests NBC."^[8][9] However, Costas' comments were made subsequent to the suspension of Chinese coach Zhou Ming after seven of his swimmers were caught using steroids in 1994. Further evidence of Chinese athletes' drug use came in 1997 when Australian authorities confiscated 13 vials of Somatropin, a human growth hormone, from the bag of Chinese swimmer Yuan Yuan upon her arrival for the 1997 World Swimming Championships. At the World Championships, four Chinese swimmers tested positive for the banned substance Triamterene, a diuretic used to dilute urine samples in order to mask the presence of anabolic steroids. Including these failed drug tests, 27 Chinese swimmers were caught using performance enhancing drugs from 1990 through 1997; more than the rest of the world combined.^[10]

Major League Baseball[link]

One of Bob Costas' most memorable broadcasts occurred on June 23, 1984 (in what would go down in baseball lore as The Sandberg Game). Costas, along with Tony Kubek, was calling the Saturday baseball Game of the Week from Chicago's Wrigley Field. The game between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals in particular was cited for putting Ryne Sandberg (as well as the 1984 Cubs in general, who would go on to make their first postseason appearance since 1945) "on the map." In the ninth inning, the Cubs trailed 9–8, and faced the premier relief pitcher of the time, Bruce Sutter. Sandberg, then not known for his power, slugged a home run to left field against the Cardinals' ace closer. Despite this dramatic act, the Cardinals scored two runs in the top of the tenth. Sandberg came up again in the tenth inning, facing a determined Sutter with one man on base. Sandberg then shocked the national audience by hitting a second home run, even farther into the left field bleachers, to tie the game again. The Cubs went on to win in the 11th inning.^[11] Costas said when Sandberg hit that second home run, "Do you believe it?!" The Cardinals' Willie McGee hit for the cycle in the same game.

While broadcasting Game 4 of the 1988 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics on NBC, Costas angered many members of the Dodgers (especially the team's manager, Tommy Lasorda) by commenting before the start of the game that the Dodgers quite possibly were about to put up the weakest-hitting lineup in World Series history. That comment ironically fired up the competitive spirit of the Dodgers, and later (while being interviewed by NBC's Marv Albert), after the Dodgers had won Game 4 (en route to a 4–1 series victory), Lasorda sarcastically suggested that the MVP of the 1988 World Series should be Bob Costas.

Besides calling the 1989 American League Championship Series for NBC, Costas also filled-in for a suddenly ill Vin Scully, who had come down with laryngitis, for Game 2 of the 1989 National League Championship Series. Game 2 of the NLCS occurred on Thursday, October 5, which was an off day for the ALCS. NBC then decided to fly Costas from Toronto to Chicago to substitute for Scully on Thursday night. Afterwards, Costas flew back to Toronto, where he resumed work on the ALCS the next night.

Bob Costas anchored NBC's pre and post-game for NFL broadcasts and the pre and post-game shows for numerous World Series and Major League Baseball All-Star Games during the 1980s (the first being for the 1982 World Series). Costas didn't get a shot at doing play-by-play (as the games on NBC were previously called by Vin Scully) for an All-Star Game until 1994 and a World Series until 1995 (when NBC split the coverage with ABC under "The Baseball Network" umbrella). It wasn't until 1997 when Costas finally got the chance to do play-by-play for a World Series from start to finish. Costas ended up winning a Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Personality, Play-by-Play.

In 1999, Costas teamed with his then-NBC colleague, Joe Morgan to call two weekday night telecasts for ESPN. The first was on Wednesday, August 25 with Detroit Tigers playing against the Seattle Mariners. The second was on Tuesday, September 21 with the Atlanta Braves playing against the New York Mets.

National Basketball Association[link]

When NBC gained the NBA network contract from CBS in 1990, Costas hosted the telecasts and was teamed in the studio with ex-Lakers coach Pat Riley. He also hosted the studio program Showtime and did play-by-play for the 1991 All-Star Game. In 1997, Costas began a three year stint as the lead play-by-play man for The NBA on NBC. NBC enlisted Costas' services after they were forced to (temporarily) remove Marv Albert from their broadcasts due to lingering personal and legal problems at the time. Costas stepped aside following the 2000 NBA Finals, in favor of a returning Marv Albert. Costas returned to call some games of the 2002 NBA Playoffs after Albert was injured in a car accident two days before the playoffs began.

While this, in essence, ended his active role on the NBA on NBC program (by this point, Hannah Storm and briefly Ahmad Rashad had replaced Costas on studio anchoring duties), Costas would return to do play-by-play for selected playoff games. Costas also anchored NBC's NBA Finals coverage in 2002, which was their last to date as Hannah Storm also anchored it with Costas.

National Football League[link]

In 2006, Costas returned to studio hosting duties on The NFL on NBC (under the Football Night in America banner), which was returning after a near ten year hiatus. Costas last hosted NFL telecasts for NBC in 1992.

Costas is nicknamed "Rapping Roberto" by New York Daily News sports media columnist Bob Raissman.^[12] Al Michaels also called him "Rapping Roberto" during the telecast between the Indianapolis Colts and the New York Giants on September 10, 2006, in response to Costas calling him "Alfalfa."^[13]

Costas is a Sportscaster for the 46th Super Bowl a.k.a. Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday February 5, 2012

National Hockey League[link]

Costas hosted NBC's coverage of the 2008, 2009 and the 2010 NHL Winter Classic.^[14] He was scheduled to host coverage of the 2011 event as well, but due to the game's postponement, Costas only hosted pre-game coverage before leaving to go to Seattle for his duties with NBC's NFL coverage the next night. He hosted the event in 2012 as well as a post-game edition of NHL Live on NBC Sports Network.

Talk show hosting[link]

Costas also hosted the syndicated radio program Costas Coast to Coast from 1986–1996, which was later revived as Costas on the Radio. Costas on the Radio, which ended its three year run on May 31, 2009, aired on 200 stations nationwide each weekend and syndicated by the Clear Channel owned Premiere Radio Networks. Like Later, Costas' radio shows have focused on a wide variety of topics, and have not been limited to sports discussion.

Costas hosted Later with Bob Costas on NBC from 1988 until 1994. This late night show created by Dick Ebersol, coming on at 1:30 a.m. as the third program in NBC's nightly lineup after The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Late Night With David Letterman, was something of a break from the typical TV talk show format of the era, featuring Costas and a single guest having a conversation for the entire half hour, without a band, opening monologue or studio audience. On several occasions, Costas held the guest over for multiple nights, and these in-depth discussions won Costas much praise for his interviewing skills. The show was taped in GE Building's studios 3B or 8H at the Rockefeller Plaza with Costas interviewing the guest for 45 minutes to an hour before turning the material over to editors who condensed it down to 22 minutes plus commercial breaks.^[15] More popular guests were given two or three part interviews that ran consecutive nights. In August 1991, Mel Brooks became the only guest for four consecutive nights in the series' history.

In June 2005, Costas was named by CNN president Jonathan Klein as a regular substitute anchor for Larry King's Larry King Live for one year. Costas, as well as Klein, have said that Costas was not trying out for King's position on a permanent basis. Nancy Grace was also named a regular substitute host for the show.^[16]

On August 18, 2005, Costas refused to host a Larry King Live broadcast where the subject was missing teenager Natalee Holloway. Costas said he had no hard feelings about the subject, but that he was uncomfortable with it.^[17]

Since October 2011, Costas is a correspondent for Rock Center with Brian Williams. He gained acclaim for his November 2011 live interview of former Pennsylvania State University assistant coach Jerry Sandusky concerning charges of sexual abuse of minors, in which Sandusky called in by telephone to deny the charges.

Costas currently hosts a monthly talk show Costas Tonight on NBC Sports Network.

HBO Sports[link]

In 2001, Costas was hired by HBO to host a 12 week series called On the Record with Bob Costas.^[18] On the Record with Bob Costas was similar to the format of the old Later program as they both concentrated on in-depth interviews.

In 2002, Costas began a stint as co-host of HBO's long running series Inside the NFL. Costas remained host of Inside the NFL through the end of the 2007 NFL season. He hosted the show with Cris Collinsworth and former NFL legends Dan Marino and Cris Carter. The program aired each week during the NFL season.

In 2005, On the Record with Bob Costas was revamped to become Costas Now, a monthly show that would focus more on sports and air year-round in a 9 p.m. ET/PT time slot. Costas Now was more akin to HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.

Costas left HBO to sign with MLB Network in February 2009.

MLB Network[link]

Costas agreed to become a contributor to MLB Network. At the channel's launch on January 1, 2009, he hosted the premiere episode of All Time Games, a presentation of the recently-discovered kinescope of Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. During the episode, he held a forum with Don Larsen, who pitched MLB's only postseason perfect game during that game, and Yogi Berra, who caught the game.

Costas joined the network full-time on February 3, 2009. He hosts a regular interview show titled MLB Network Studio 42 with Bob Costas as well as special programming, and provides play-by-play for select live Thursday Night Baseball games.^[19]

Other appearances[link]

Costas provided significant contributions to the Ken Burns, PBS mini series Baseball as well as its follow-up The 10th Inning. He also appears in another PBS film, A Time for Champions, produced by St. Louis' Nine Network of Public Media.^[20]

Interests[link]

Love of baseball[link]

Costas is a devoted baseball fan (he's been suggested as a potential commissioner) and wrote Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball in 2000. For his 40th birthday, then Oakland Athletics manager Tony La Russa allowed Costas to manage the club during a spring training game. The first time Costas visited baseball legend Stan Musial's St. Louis eatery, he left a $3.31 tip in homage to Musial's lifetime batting average (.331). Costas delivered the eulogy at Mickey Mantle's funeral. In eulogizing Mantle, Costas described the baseball legend as "a fragile hero to whom we had an emotional attachment so strong and lasting that it defied logic." Costas has even carried a 1958 Mickey Mantle baseball card in his wallet.

Costas has been fairly outspoken about his disdain for Major League Baseball instituting a wild card. Costas believes that it diminishes the significance of winning a divisional championship. He prefers a system in which winning the wild card puts a team at some sort of disadvantage, as opposed to on an equal level with teams by which they were outplayed over a 162 game season. Or, as explained in his book Fair Ball, have only the three division winners in each league go to the postseason, with the team with the best record receiving a bye into the League Championship Series. Once, on the air on HBO's Inside the NFL, he mentioned that the NFL regular season counted for something, but baseball's was beginning to lose significance.

Costas serves as a member of the advisory board of the Baseball Assistance Team, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to helping former Major League, Minor League, and Negro League players through financial and medical difficulties.

Political views[link]

Costas declared on June 27, 2007, that the presidency of George W. Bush had "tragically failed."

Some people may wonder about the [political] feelings that I've expressed, and I won't get into all the particulars. I think it is now overwhelmingly evident, if you're honest about it, even if you're a conservative Republican, if you're honest about it, this is a failed administration. And no honest conservative would say that George W. Bush was among the 500 most qualified people to be President of the United States. That's not based on political leaning. If a liberal, and I tend to be liberal, disagrees with a conservative, they can still respect that person's competence and the integrity of their point of view. This administration can be rightly criticized by a fair-minded person smack in the middle of the political spectrum on a hundred different counts, and by now they're all self-evident."^[21]

The following summer, Costas would interview Bush, as he made an appearance during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.^[22]

Personal life[link]

Costas was married from 1983 to 2001 to Carole "Randy" Randall Krummenacher. They had two children, son Keith (born 1986) and daughter Taylor (born 1989). Costas once jokingly promised Minnesota Twins center fielder Kirby Puckett that if he was batting over .350 by the time his child was born he would name the baby Kirby. Kirby was hitting better than .350, but Bob's son initially was not given a first (or second) name of Kirby. After Puckett reminded Costas of the agreement, the birth certificate was changed to "Keith Michael Kirby Costas".^[23] On March 12, 2004, Costas married his second wife, Jill Sutton. Costas resides in St. Louis, Missouri.

Awards and honors[link]

Bob Costas has won eight National Sportcaster of the Year awards from the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, and was inducted into that organization's Hall of Fame in 2012. He has also won four Sportscaster of the Year awards from the American Sportscasters Association, and nearly 20 Emmy Awards for outstanding sports announcing. In 1999, Costas was a recipient of the Curt Gowdy Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame, which is awarded to members of the electronic and print media for outstanding contributions to the sport. He is also an honorary board member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

In 2000 he won a TV Guide Award for Favorite Sportscaster.^[24]

He was selected as the Dick Schaap Award for Outstanding Journalism recipient in 2004.

In 2006, Costas was also awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Loyola College in Maryland.

He is an Honorary Trustee of Webster University, a private college located in the St. Louis suburb of Webster Groves. He is a frequent supporter of the school, to include numerous radio commercials

In popular culture[link]

Apart from his normal sportscasting duties, Costas has also presented periodic sports blooper reels, and announced dogsled and elevator races, on Late Night with David Letterman.

In 1985, Costas appeared on the The War to Settle the Score, a pre-WrestleMania program that the World Wrestling Federation aired on MTV.

In 1993, Costas hosted the "pregame" show for the final episode of Cheers. Costas once appeared on the television program, NewsRadio, as himself. He hosted an award show and later had some humorous encounters with the crew of WNYX. Costas also once appeared as a guest on the faux talk show cartoon Space Ghost Coast to Coast.

Bob Costas has been impersonated several times by Darrell Hammond on Saturday Night Live.^[25] Costas was "supposed" to appear in the fourth season premiere of Celebrity Deathmatch (ironically titled "Where is Bob Costas?") as a guest-commentator, but about halfway through the episode it was revealed that John Tesh had killed him before the show to take his place. Tesh had been widely criticized for his gymnastics coverage during the 1996 Olympics, but by no one more than Costas.

In 1994, Costas appeared as the play-by-play announcer for the World Series (working alongside Tim McCarver) in the movie The Scout. In 1998, Costas appeared as himself along with his rival/counterpart Al Michaels (who now works for NBC) from ABC in the movie BASEketball. In 2006, Costas voiced the animated character Bob Cutlass, a race announcer, in the movie Cars. Costas also appeared as himself in the 2001 movie Pootie Tang, where he remarks that he saw "the longest damn clip ever".

In 2002, Bob was the play-by-play announcer, alongside Harold Reynolds, for Triple Play 2002 during the ballgame for PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

Costas has been alluded to in popular music. Arguably his most honorable accomplishment was having his named mentioned in the Mac Dre song "Mafioso"-"Got game like Bob Costas." Costas was "name checked" in a Ludacris song after he mentioned the rapper on the late night talk show Last Call with Carson Daly. He has been mentioned by Domo Genesis on his song, "We Major". In "The Last Huzzah" by Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire, Das Racist member Kool AD name drops him.

On June 13, 2008, Costas appeared on MSNBC's commercial-free special coverage of Remembering Tim Russert (1950~2008).

On February 11, 2010, Stephen Colbert jokingly expressed his desire to stab Costas at the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Costas later made a cameo appearance on the February 25, 2010 edition of Stephen's show.

On January 30, 2009, Costas guest starred as himself on the television series Monk in an episode titled "Mr. Monk Makes the Playoffs"'. He mentions to Captain Stottlemeyer about how Adrian Monk once helped him out of a problem several years ago with regards to a demented cat salesman. Of course, it wasn't the cat salesman who was demented: he sold demented cats. He apparently sold Costas a cat that was going to try to kill him with a squeeze toy (in fact, when he signs off, he says "The cat was definitely trying to kill me").

He guest-voiced as himself in 2010 Simpsons episode, "Boy Meets Curl", when Homer and Marge make the U.S. Olympic curling team. Costas also guest-voiced as himself on the Family Guy episode "Patriot Games".

Memorable calls[link]

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Into left-center field and deep, THIS IS A TIE BALLGAME!

—Calling Ryne Sandberg's first game-tying home run against Bruce Sutter in the ninth inning of a Cardinals–Cubs game at Wrigley Field, June 23, 1984.

Hit to deep left-center, LOOK OUT! DO YOU BELIEVE IT! IT'S GONE!!

—Calling Sandberg's second game-tying home run against Sutter in the 10th inning. The Cubs went on to win 12-11 in the 11th inning. June 23, 1984.

Grissom on the run... The team of the '90s has its World Championship!

—Calling Marquis Grissom's catch for the final out of the Atlanta Braves' 1995 World Series victory.

Tony Fernández, who has worn hero's laurels throughout the postseason, including earlier in this seventh game of the World Series—now, cruel as it may seem, perhaps being fitted for goat horns.

—Calling a miscue by Cleveland Indians second baseman Tony Fernández in the 11th inning of Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, ultimately won by the Florida Marlins

McKey...gets it in to Miller for the win...IT'S THERE! Four tenths of a second! One of the greatest clutch playoff performers of his generation has apparently done it again!

—Calling Reggie Miller's game-winner in Game 4 of the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals.

Seventeen seconds from game seven or from championship number six. Jordan...open...CHICAGO WITH THE LEAD!

—calling Michael Jordan's championship-clinching shot in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals.

Bryant...TO SHAQ!

—Calling the famous Kobe Bryant-to-Shaquille O'Neal alley-oop in Game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals.

Back from the brink of elimination to the brink of the NBA Finals!

—moments after the Kobe–Shaq alley-oop, which capped off a 15-point comeback.

A drive to right! Back to Georgia! Gone! A grand slam! What a scene at Shea!

—Call of the Mets' Robin Ventura's Grand Slam Single in Game 5 of the 1999 NLCS

Career timeline[link]

• 1974–1976: Spirits of St. Louis Play-by-play, KMOX radio
• 1976-1981: Missouri Tigers men's basketball Play-by-play, KMOX radio
• 1976–1979: NFL on CBS Play-by-play
• 1979–1980: Chicago Bulls Play-by-play, WGN-TV
• 1980–1983: NFL on NBC Play-by-play
• 1983–1989: MLB on NBC #2 play-by-play
• 1984–1992, 2006–present: NFL on NBC Studio Host^[26]
• 1988–1994: Later Host^[26]
• 1992–present: Summer Olympics Primetime Host^[26]
• 1994–2000: MLB on NBC Lead play-by-play
• 1997–2000: NBA on NBC Lead play-by-play
• 2001–2009: On the Record with Bob Costas and Costas Now Host^[26]
• 2002–present: Winter Olympics Primetime Host
• 2002–2008: Inside the NFL Host^[26]
• 2008–present: AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic Host^[14]
• 2009–present: MLB Network Studio 42 with Bob Costas Host, Thursday Night Baseball Play-by-play

References[link]

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External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bob Costas

• [2]
• Bob Costas at the Internet Movie Database