NEW YORK -- To some extent, baseball’s most famous broadcasters are forever linked to their most celebrated subjects. Russ Hodges and Bobby Thompson. Vin Scully and Kirk Gibson. And, yes, Howie Rose and Pete Alonso. 

“He’s just been doing it for such a long time where people don’t know him as anything else but the voice of the Mets,” Alonso said this week during his return to Citi Field. “What he means is really special to a lot of people. The retirement is deserved. I know in the sports industry, a lot of times you don’t necessarily get to end it on your own terms. But for him to kind of end it on his own terms and have the retirement and the appreciation that he’s had is really cool.”

This Sunday, Rose will call one last game in a four-decade career, putting his final words in the books while the Mets fete him for the occasion. Once most famous for his “Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!” call of the New York Rangers’ Game 7 win in the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals, Rose offered Mets fans a similar memory when he called Alonso’s home run in Game 3 of the 2024 Wild Card Series against the Brewers: “It’s gone! He did it! He did it! Pete Alonso with the most memorable home run of his career!” 

“He’s done so much in the sports world,” Alonso said. “Just to be a part of it, a small part of it, I feel really special.”

In some sense, Rose is the last of his kind; the circumstances of his career were unique enough that no one will ever quite be able to take his place. Born in Queens in 1954, Rose became a Mets fan when the franchise was founded eight years later. The summer of ’69 kindled that love into what it remains today. 

“I was 15, which I contend is the perfect age for a team that you’re emotionally invested in to win a championship,” Rose said, smiling at the memories of that time.

“You can manage school. You’re really too young to be chasing girls -- we did, but I didn’t catch any. It was all about playing ball and watching the game.” 

Rose often brings up that summer because when he starts feeling emotional about the end of his journey, that’s naturally where his mind goes -- specifically Section 1, Row 1 of the upper deck at Shea Stadium, right behind home plate. It was there that Rose’s feelings about the Mets blossomed from childhood flirtation into lifelong romance. 

He broke into the broadcasting field six years later as one of the original voices of Sports Phone, a call-in service providing scores and information to New York City fans. Later, Rose became the sports director of WHN radio before pivoting his career mostly to hockey until the late 1980s, when he began hosting the “Mets Extra” pregame and postgame shows.

Since 1995, in some form or fashion, Rose has been a voice of the Mets, creating an unbroken lineage between himself, Bob Murphy and Lindsey Nelson. For all 65 seasons of Mets history, at least one of those three has been in the radio booth almost every night. 

Whoever replaces Rose cannot match his sense of history, his type of institutional knowledge. They probably won’t ever have stepped foot into Section 1, Row 1 at Shea. They won’t often drift into Yiddish in the booth. 

“Obviously I haven’t seen every game or heard every game, but I’ve been aware of every game that they’ve ever played,” Rose said. “There aren’t that many of us left.” 

Chatting before a recent game, Rose casually dropped the names of writers and broadcasters long since gone, as well as old team employees and obscure players. He can watch nine innings in 2026 and have them instantly evoke something relevant from the 1980s, the ‘70s, the ‘60s. In those ways, Rose is unique. 

He knows that, taking pride in the threads that tie him to Murphy, Nelson and the early days of the franchise. While Rose’s modesty stops him from considering his historical importance from a wider scope, the truth is that his impact on the franchise goes well beyond the broadcast booth. Few people are as beloved by those who know them well. 

Three years ago, the Mets inducted Rose into their Hall of Fame. He is typically the one who stands on the field to emcee the most important events in Mets history. 

On Saturday, someone else will perform those honors for him. It will be the first time Rose’s absence will feel conspicuous -- but certainly not the last.