Mets fans chant Howie Rose’s name as the longtime broadcaster calls his final game

Howie Rose worked his final New York Mets game on Sunday, signing off from the radio booth in Flushing, Queens, and closing out a career on the team’s broadcasts that stretches back to 1987.

The 72-year-old told fans when the season opened that this year would be his last. Rose became one of the club’s regular voices in 1995, after first joining its broadcasts in a different role.

Howie Rose’s last Mets game in Flushing

A ceremony meant to honor him was postponed, and rain showed up in the forecast. Even so, the first pitch went out on time and play never stopped. When the Beatles’ “Hello, Goodbye” rang through the ballpark in the eighth inning, the 33,611 fans in the stands responded with cheers and chants of his name.

After the final out, Mets players came up out of the dugout and tipped their caps toward the booth.

His farewell to Mets fans on the radio

Rose, clearly moved, gave his goodbye in the ninth inning and spoke directly to the people listening. Many of them he had never met, he said, yet after so many years together it felt like everyone was on a first-name basis. He described fans tuning in from the car, from the beach and from backyard barbecues, and some kids hiding under the covers with a radio or a phone so their parents would not catch them staying up for late West Coast games.

More than anything, Rose said, he valued the hours they shared following the team they all love. He ended with the same words he had used to sign off the previous day: “thank you, and I love you all.”