5 greatest calls of Howie Rose's Mets broadcasting career

The New York Mets have been blessed with some of the best broadcasters in baseball history during their more than six decades of existence, from Bob Murphy, Ralph Kiner, and Lindsay Nelson from yesteryear to Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling today.

But Howie Rose has often been under the radar with many of the team's highlights over the past 20 years tagged by TV commentary. But Howie Rose remains one of the best New York sportscasters in the business, from his 20+ years covering the Islanders and Rangers on TV and radio to his nearly 30 years of calling Mets games on TV and radio, and has been on the radio full-time since 2004.

Tomorrow, Howie Rose will be inducted, alongside Gary Cohen, Al Leiter, Howard Johnson, and Jay Horwitz into the New York Mets Hall Of Fame. So to celebrate, we are counting down his five best Mets-related calls in his career.

5. Howie Rose beautifully described the pandemonium of the New York Mets winning their fifth National League pennant on October 21, 2015.

The 2015 New York Mets were a team for the ages, given how crazy that season was from the ups and downs to the euphoria of their first World Series trip in 15 years. Howie Rose had not been behind the microphone for any of the first four pennant-clinching moments in the franchise’s history.

And here he was behind the microphone for one of the best moments of the 21st century thus far for the franchise. “Here’s the payoff pitch from [Jeurys] Familia to [Dexter] Fowler on the way. And it’s … in there! Strike three call! The Mets win the pennant!”

Now the call might not be that creative, but it is the tone of jubilation that makes this list after all they went through that season and how stunning a turnaround it was, and how stunning it was that the Mets not only beat a Chicago Cubs team that swept the seven game regular season series, but that the Cubs never really had a chance in any of those games thanks to the Mets’ domination from their starting pitching and Daniel Murphy.

That call is part of the Mets’ soundtrack forever.

4. Howie Rose best encapsulated the New York Mets’ amazing comeback ability from 2022 after Mark Canha’s go-ahead home run vs. the Phillies on August 21.

2022 was a season of insane comebacks for the Mets, and perhaps the best back-and-forth game was in late August at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia against the Phillies. Mark Canha capped off a great road trip with a multi-homer game, in which he hit two home runs in the last three innings of the game.

The first one was a three-run jack that tied the game at 7, and the second one was a go-ahead two-run homer that put the Mets up 9-8 in a game they would win 10-9. And after Canha’s second home run, Howie Rose described what the 2022 Mets were. “This Mets team, wherever they wind up, in 2022, just don’t disappoint. They’ve got drama in their back pockets, night after day after day after night.”

That was the perfect description as the Mets won five games when trailing after eight innings in 2022, the fifth and final one was this game. Three of the five came against the Phillies, and two of them in Philadelphia, with the other one being the ninth inning comeback in which they trailed 7-1.

That was, of course, until their September collapse led to a stunningly early playoff exit, while the Phillies made a surprising World Series appearance.

3. Howie Rose won an award for his commentary on New York Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon’s RBI double on May 31, 2015.

Bartolo Colon was one of the most enjoyable watches for a Mets fan over the past 10 years, from his entertaining plate appearances to that famous home run in San Diego and losing his helmet while he swings.

But Howie Rose’s best and most creative call of Bartolo Colon came in a late May game against the Miami Marlins. Colon laced an RBI double in the bottom of the second, in which he rumbled to second base in humorously slow order, whereas in most cases, it would have been a triple. “They’re timing Colon with a sundial,” said Rose upon Colon’s jog to second base. Rose does an outstanding job here describing the process of the fun nature of a Bartolo Colon at-bat that Mets fans had enjoyed for more than a year, despite being an .084 career hitter.

Entering the 2015 season, he set a goal with hitting coach Kevin Long to get more than three hits (exceeding his total of two from the 2014 season). And the double was his third hit of the season, and he finished with eight hits!

Rose later received an Esurance MLB Award that season for his call of the double.

2. Howie Rose said to put Johan Santana’s no-hitter, the first in New York Mets history, on June 1, 2012, in the history books.

Howie Rose knows the history of the New York Mets from his back pocket, dating back to the losing years in the 1960s, when he grew up in Queens as a die-hard Mets fan. So naturally, their game against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 1, 2012, was like any other baseball game going into it.

The Mets were surprising people amidst year two rebuild, Carlos Beltran returned to New York as a visiting player for the first time since leaving the Mets, and Santana throwing a complete game shutout in his prior start.

But nobody thought Mets history would unfold that night, as the Mets finally no-hit the opposition in the 8,020th game of their existence, and it was Johan Santana who did it, a year removed from major shoulder surgery that kept him out of baseball the year prior. And this how Howie Rose reacted to Santana’s 134th and final pitch of the night. “Put it in the books, in the history books.”

Rose managed to avoid saying the words “no-hitter” during the event and said once about Santana's no-no that he felt “really dirty and slimy,” though he said he’s not a no-hitter jinx.

Gary Cohen said after calling the no-hitter himself on SNY that the first thought in his mind was to hear Howie Rose’s description of the history-making night that nobody thought would ever come, even Cohen and Rose themselves thought the same thing.