St. Louis Cardinals: A call to add Bob Costas to the FSMW broadcast

Bob Costas and NBC formally announced last week that they were parting ways. Now for the first time in 40 years, Costas is a free agent. Fox Sports Midwest should add the St. Louis based broadcaster to their St. Louis Cardinals broadcasts?

In the season of free agents, a different kind has entered the market that may be of interest to the St. Louis Cardinals. Bob Costas and NBC formally announced their ‘parting of the waters’ last week, allowing the 66-year old broadcaster to pursue other opportunities.

The only gig Costas currently has on his plate is calling 20 games for MLB Network in 2019. Seems like he’s a little under used, doesn’t it?  Hmm, what else could he do to fill up his available time? Golf? Fishing? Bungee Jumping?

After a Twitter exchange with Cardinal 70 (@C70), a thought arose.  Why doesn’t Fox Sports MIdwest hire Costas as a part-time play-by-play announcer/studio host for their Cardinals broadcast? Is this too obvious? Or am I missing something here? It seems apparent that Costas and the St. Louis Cardinals are a natural fit.

I don’t need to tell everyone reading this how good of broadcaster Costas is. All of us who pay any attention at all to any sports, already knows this. Bringing the Baseball Hall of Fame broadcaster on board would be like bringing back Jack Buck to the broadcast. Yes, you know he is that good.

With that being said, let’s look how the KMOX alumni could energize the current FSMW Cardinals broadcast.

The current state of the FSMW broadcast

The current FSMW lineup is not bad and I’m not complaining too much. However, my personal opinion, they could add a little spark to the team. FSMW and the Cardinals must agree with me, since Jim Edmonds and Brad Thompson have been added recently to the studio and as game analyst portion of the broadcasts. Al Hrabosky has been moved out as a game analyst and into the studio.

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I really like Jim Edmonds on the pregame show and he is my favorite game analyst on the broadcast. Also, there isn’t a better play-by-play broadcaster than Dan McLaughlin. Jim Hayes’ interviews are the gold standard for regional cable journalism. However, adding Bob Costas would, no doubt, improve both the pregame show and the game broadcast.

The other game analyst are Thompson, Rick Horton, and Tim McCarver. Each bring strengths and weaknesses to the broadcast, and McLaughlin works well with each. However, sometimes the banter gets a little stale.

Scott Warmann is the primary host of the pregame and postgame shows, with Jim Hayes filling in on occasion. Erica Weston fills in for Hayes with interviews when he is in the studio or taking the game off. Once again both Warmann and Weston do a credible job, but sometimes the studio show seems to get stagnant.

FSMW, add Bob Costas

To start, I think Costas would add some needed energy and quality to the current pregame show. Costas could do the same for the game broadcast. As stated earlier, I think Dan McLaughlin does a great job as the play-by-play voice, but adding Bob Costas on a part-time basis would be tremendous for the broadcast.

I’m not advocating replacing any of the current on-air personalities. They all have their place on the broadcast. What I am advocating is bring on Bob Costas as an addition to the current slate of FSMW on-air talent.

Costas could be added for 20 games a year, splitting those games as a studio pregame and post game host, and as a play-by-play announcer. I think Costas would probably only be interested in a part-time gig with FSMW, thus giving him time to pursue his other post NBC passions.

It could be FSMW and the Cardinals have already come up with this idea and are pursuing it. I certainly hope so. The St. Louis Cardinals and Bob Costas are a natural fit. Make it happen FSMW!