I Miss Bob Costas

As I type this, I'm watching Game 6 of the NLCS between the Houston Astros and the St. Louis Cardinals. The fact that this game is happening at all is a surprise to pretty much all baseball fans, considering that the Cards were within a strike of being eliminated in Game 5 before a hit, a walk, and a moon shot home run by Albert Pujols (I love saying that name.... it sounds like "pool holes") gave St. Louis the win. So the game is an important one in an increasingly more interesting series.

And the only thing I'm thinking while watching is that I wish Bob Costas were there.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't putting down the job FOX' announcers are doing; Thom Brennaman, Steve Lyons, and Bob Brenly are doing an OK job, solid but not spectacular (even Salon's King Kaufman, who used to get violent whenever he heard Psycho Lyons, agrees with that assessment), but it would just have been refreshing to hear Costas' thoughtful take on the series, and the season in general, infused with his encyclopedic knowledge of the game.

Costas is one of the few broadcasters that I actually like seeing as an interviewee rather than an interviewer, mainly because he gives such careful consideration and analysis to issues ranging from the wild card to steroids to payrol disparity. I would have liked to hear him talk about the historical context of the Pujols home run, comparing it to other ALCS and NLCS home runs, rather than lump it in with other "greatest postseason home runs" like FOX' pregame show did earlier tonight. Costas wouldn't buy such a conceit; he knows that, while exciting, LCS homers should not be ranked with World Series homers.

The funny thing is, I don't even think Costas is that great of a play-by-play guy. He's not overly compelling to listen to, especially compared to the best amongst his colleagues like ESPN's Jon Miller and the Dodgers' Vin Scully. But when you want someone to go deeper than what's happening on the field, the man you go to is Costas.

(By the way, the last time NBC did baseball, which was I think during the 1999 World Series, he was the only guy to make serial bloviator Joe Morgan bearable. Think about that.)

P.S. I didn't make a mistake with my picture; I found a publicty still of him that was taken during his days broadcasting the ABA's Spirits of St. Louis. So if anyone wanted to know what Costas looked like in the Seventies, now you know. Thank God for Google.