Editing Bob Costas (section)

===Love of baseball===
Costas is a devoted baseball fan. He's been suggested as a potential [[Commissioner of Baseball|commissioner]] and wrote ''Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball'' in [[2000 in literature|2000]]. For his 40th birthday, then [[Oakland Athletics]] manager [[Tony La Russa]] allowed Costas to manage the club during a spring training game. The first time Costas visited baseball legend [[Stan Musial]]'s St. Louis eatery, he left a $3.31 tip on a ten dollar tab in homage to Musial's lifetime batting average (.331). Costas delivered the eulogy at [[Mickey Mantle]]'s funeral. In eulogizing Mantle, Costas described the baseball legend as ''"a fragile hero to whom we had an emotional attachment so strong and lasting that it defied logic".'' Costas has even carried a [[1958 New York Yankees season|1958]] Mickey Mantle [[baseball card]] in his wallet. Costas also delivered the eulogy for Musial after his death in early 2013.

Costas was outspoken about his disdain for Major League Baseball instituting a playoff [[Wild card (sports)#Major League Baseball|wild card]]. Costas believed it diminishes the significance and drama of winning a divisional championship. He prefers a system in which winning the wild card puts a team at some sort of disadvantage, as opposed to an equal level with teams who outplayed them over a 162-game season. Or, as explained in his book ''Fair Ball'', have only the three division winners in each league go to the postseason, with the team with the best record receiving a bye to the League Championship Series. Once, on the air on [[HBO]]'s ''[[Inside the NFL]]'', he mentioned that the NFL regular season counted for something, but baseball's was beginning to lose significance. With the advent of the second wild card, Costas has said he feels the format has improved, since there is now a greater premium placed on finishing first. He has suggested a further tweak: Make the wild card round a best two of three, instead of a single game, with all three games, if necessary, on the homefield of the wild card of the better record.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gaines |first=Cork |title='The Costas Plan' is an ingenious way to shorten the MLB season and fix the playoffs |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/bob-costas-154-game-season-playoffs-2016-10 |access-date=2024-11-04 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}}</ref>

He also has disdained the [[Designated Hitter]] rule, saying baseball would be a better game without it.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Is It Time to Get Rid of the Designated Hitter…or Expand It to the National League? |url=https://jugssports.com/blog/is-it-time-to-get-rid-of-the-designated-hitteror-expand-it-to-the-national-league/ |access-date=2024-11-04 |website=Jugs Sports |language=en}}</ref>

Costas serves as a member of the advisory board of the [[Baseball Assistance Team]], a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to helping former Major League, Minor League, and Negro league players through financial and medical difficulties.