Costas retiring from baseball play-by-play after 42 years

NEWS+NOTES

Bob Costas broadcasts from the field for Thursday Night Football before a game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Atlanta Falcons in Tampa, Fla., in November of 2016. PHELAN M. EBENHACK — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE

Image

NEW YORK >> After 42 seasons, Bob Costas is retiring from baseball play-by-play.

Costas had done games the past couple seasons for MLB Network and TBS Sports. His final games were the American League Division Series between the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals.

Costas’ contract with TBS expired at the end of the season, but his plans to retire from baseball play-by-play had been in the works for over a year.

The Athletic was the first to report on Costas’ baseball play-by-play retirement. Costas plans to address his decision at a future date.

Baseball has always been Costas’ favorite sport. He called games on NBC from 1982-89 and again from 1994-2000. He was one of the announcers for the 1995 World Series and then the main play-by-play voice for the Fall Classic in 1997 and ‘99.

Mets make first move of offseason, agreeing to 1-year contract with pitcher Covey >> The Mets made their first move of the offseason, agreeing Thursday to a one-year contract with 33-year-old right-hander Dylan Covey.

He gets an $850,000 salary while in the major leagues and $350,000 while in the minors.

The A’s are scheduled for 60 night games during first season playing in Sacramento >> The A’s are scheduled to play 60 night games as they relocate from Oakland to Sacramento beginning next season.

That would match the franchise record for most night games in a season with the 1968 club. Sacramento typically has far hotter temperatures than the Bay Area, and the schedule released Thursday features 25 of 28 home games played at night during the heat of June and July.

The A’s first game at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento is set for the night of March 31 against the Cubs.

Fisher pledges $1 billion to construction of A’s stadium in Las Vegas >> A’s owner John Fisher and his family will invest $1 billion into the construction of a stadium in Las Vegas and U.S. Bank and Goldman Sachs will offer a $300 million loan, club executive Sandy Dean said.

Dean made his remarks to a special meeting of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority board.

Tennis

Humbert knocks out Alcaraz to join Zverev and Tsitsipas in Paris Masters quarterfinals >> Frenchman Ugo Humbert harnessed the energy of the home crowd and produced one of his best career performances in beating Carlos Alcaraz 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters.

A flurry of forehand and backhand winners had Alcaraz 5-0 down in a first set so one-sided that Alcaraz — a four-time Grand Slam winner — ironically waved his racket and grinned to the crowd after holding in the sixth game.

Later Thursday, eighth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov needed to beat Arthur Rinderknech to have an outside chance of reaching the season-ending ATP Finals. Dimitrov is in 10th race and must reach Sunday’s final in Paris. The Bulgarian veteran was runner-up here last year to Novak Djokovic.

Earlier, Alexander Zverev won the serving battle and silenced the raucous home crowd, beating French prospect Arthur Fils 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Golf

Wakimoto of Japan shoots 9-under 63 to lead after the first round of LPGA’s Toto Classic >> Hana Wakimoto of Japan shot a bogey-free 9-under 63 to lead by two shots after the first round of the LPGA’s Toto Classic in Japan.

Jin Young Ko of South Korea was two off the pace after a 65 at Seta Golf Course. Four players carded 66s to be within three shots of Wakimoto: Linn Grant, Ayake Furue, Hyo Joo Kim, and Jenny Shin.

Wakimoto’s score tied the Seta course record and was the best round of her career.

NBA

Ball gets spooked by mechanical clown on Halloween, responds by knocking its head off >> LaMelo Ball isn’t afraid of anything when he steps on the basketball floor.

But the Charlotte Hornets point guard apparently still gets a little spooked by clowns.

In a Halloween video that has gone viral on social media, Ball is seen singing as he walks through a doorway following Thursday’s practice at the Spectrum Center when a hidden mechanical clown begins to move its arms, causing the 23-year-old to jump and scream.

Ball responds by slapping the clown across the head.

As he starts to walk up the stairs, Ball doubles back and slaps the clown again, knocking its head completely off its body.