A night at Citi Field may be headlined by the players on the field, but one of the stars of the show can be found in the excelsior level behind home plate. Following in the footsteps of a media icon, Mets public address announcer Colin Cosell lends his voice to thousands of fans’ nights at the ballpark.
Cosell joined the organization in 2018 alongside Marysol Castro. He’s well adapted to life in the booth, and it’s not lost on him that he bears a responsibility on game days.
“The first thing I do when I come to the ballpark, and I kid you not, is I gawk,” Cosell told amNewYork. “I pull in and I gawk at this ballpark, because the excitement is never wasted on me that my voice fills a major league ballpark. There are 30 of these on the planet, and only 30, and my voice fills one of them.”
Cosell’s PA work began as early as his high school’s homecoming football game at The King’s School in Stamford, CT, in a penalty fest that almost got him into trouble with the referees. After getting his first break with the New York Empire of the Ultimate Frisbee Association, he’s gone on to PA games for Army football, Long Island University, and the former New York Riptide of the National Lacrosse League.
Cosell worked in commentary and sideline reporting before his current role, but he enjoys being a PA announcer because he can take in the event he’s covering.
“It’s a lot less pressure and a lot more enjoy-the-game while you’re there,” he said.
Cosell’s work in sports media runs in the family; his grandfather was sports broadcasting icon Howard Cosell. The former voice of Monday Night Football, the World Series, and more gave Colin his first taste of being behind the microphone, an air check in Howard’s summer home in the Hamptons as a five-year-old. While Colin may be traveling down a different branch of the sports media tree, both of them made major steps in their careers through the organization.
“When my grandfather was trying to make it, when he left his legal practice to go into sports broadcasting, he got his first big break covering this brand new ball team in 1962 called the New York Mets,” Cosell said. “That was when he got his break as a reporter, and 56 years later, that’s when I got my breakthrough as an announcer.”
Cosell’s first night on the microphone for the Mets was June 2, 2018, a 7-1, 14-inning loss against the Chicago Cubs. It was a game that Cosell labeled as a “baptism by fire” between extra innings and several double switches by Chicago manager Joe Maddon.
He has since lent his voice to several historic nights in Queens.
Later in that 2018 season, Cosell introduced David Wright to the plate for his final two big league games. In recent years, he was in the booth for parts of the Mets’ last two postseason appearances in 2022 and ‘24, including Jacob deGrom’s final start against the San Diego Padres in the National League Wild Card Series.
Cosell grew up a Mets fan starting in 1986 when the team won the World Series, supporting the team through the ups and downs. However, with Cosell now a member of a contending organization, the dream of being there for the elusive championship victory is what makes him excited for the future.
“I don’t know how to anticipate what it’s going to be like when we make the World Series, not if, but when we make the World Series, what that excitement is going to be like, what is going to be going on inside my own brain or inside my own body, announcing the starting lineups for a World Series game, but I am 100% here for it,” Cosell said. “It means the world to me to have this job, but the icing on the cake, obviously, would be a championship run, but to be a part of it and be a part of the organization during these exciting, expectant years, it’s off the charts.”
