Gary Cohen
Gary Cohen (born April 29,1958 in Queens, New York) is an American sportscaster, best known as a radio and television play-by-play announcer for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball.
Cohen joined the Mets' broadcast team in 1989, after stints as the voice of the minor league Durham Bulls and Pawtucket Red Sox. He also called ice hockey and basketball games for Providence College, and football for Brown University. Along with his work with the Mets, Cohen has also called postseason MLB games for ESPN Radio.
In addition to his baseball duties Cohen has called men's college basketball games for many years, starting with his duties with St. John's on WFAN and, following WFAN's loss of the radio rights to St. John's games, Seton Hall on both WABC and WEPN which he continues to do as of 2008. He also served as a backup announcer on New York Rangers radio broadcasts as well as calling Olympic hockey and NCAA tournament games for Westwood One on multiple occasions. Cohen graduated with a political science degree from Columbia University, where he began his broadcasting career with WKCR Sports.
Radio
Cohen's signature radio phrases included "A pleasant good afternoon/evening everybody", used at the start of every game; "Back to talk about it in a moment" at the conclusion of each game; "Swing and a miss, he struck him out!" (shortened to "Struck him out!" in recent years) after a meaningful strikeout; "It's outta here!'" when a player hits a home run; and ending the game by describing the final play and finishing with "...and the ball game is over!" He is known for his vivid and succinct description of the game action, his silky, yet delicately smooth baritone voice, corny joking with former broadcast partner Howie Rose, and his sometimes biting, but always well-informed baseball commentary. In 2003, Cohen became the Mets' lead radio voice following the retirement of Bob Murphy. In October 2006, during the Mets' postseason run, Cohen returned to the WFAN booth with Rose and newcomer Tom McCarthy for a couple of innings each game. Cohen has also called several National League Division Series for ESPN Radio.
Television
It was announced on November 9, 2005 that Cohen would become the play-by-play announcer for the new Mets cable television network, SportsNet New York (SNY). As part of the agreement, Cohen also calls about 25 Mets games per year on WPIX along with analysts (and former Mets) Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez.
Because of their popularity, Gary along with Keith and Ron have created a website www.pitchinforagoodcause.org where the net profit from the merchandise sold by the website goes to charity specifically, the Cobble Hill Health Center, Juvenile Diabetes Research Center, and The Danbury Women's Center.
Family
Cohen is married to Lynn Cohen and has five children, Jess, Jaclyn, Trevor, Kira and Zach. He lives in Ridgefield, Connecticut.[1]