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

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

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

The Athletic was first to report Costas’ baseball play-by-play retirement. Costas plans to discuss his decision at a later date.

Baseball has always been Costas’ favorite sport. He hosted games on NBC from 1982 to 1989 and again from 1994 to 2000. He was one of the announcers for the 1995 World Series and then the main play-by-play voice of the Fall Classic in 1997 and 1999.

He joined TBS in 2021 to serve as studio host for coverage of the National League Championship Series and then hosted games the past three seasons. Since 2022, TBS has had a package of Tuesday night regular season games to coincide with its postseason coverage.

Costas has also done games for the MLB Network since its start in 2009. He will continue to work for the network on major events, including the Baseball Hall of Fame announcement.

In 2018, he received the Ford C. Frick Award for Broadcasting Excellence from the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Costas is also known as the primetime host of NBC’s coverage of the Olympics from 1992 to 2016 and has appeared as a sports commentator on CNN.