Longtime Nationals broadcaster Bob Carpenter announces retirement following 2025 season

Following a career that spans 20 years with the Washington Nationals, more than 40 in Major League Baseball and nearly 50 in the profession, Bob Carpenter is hanging up his microphone. 

Carpenter announced at the start of today’s MASN telecast that 2025 will be his final season as a regular in the broadcast booth.

“This is totally a family decision, and is the most difficult one I’ve ever had to make,” Carpenter said. “These 19 seasons with the Nationals have been the greatest thrill of my career, and I value the lifelong friends I’ve made in D.C. Debbie and I want to thank Ted, Annette, and Mark Lerner, Alan Gottlieb and the entire Nationals family for making this midwestern boy feel very welcome far from home. Thanks to MASN as well, as they have always been professional and respectful to us. But, it’s Nats fans I will miss the most. You have welcomed me into your homes, and I hope I’ve been a worthy visitor. Through good winning championship times and tough losing ones, you have been so wonderful to me, and I will be forever grateful. I truly do hope to ‘See! You! Later!’”

Known for his signature scorebooks – the gold standard across baseball – and recognizable home run call, Carpenter joined MASN as the Nationals’ television play-by-play voice in 2006 after spending 10 years on television and radio with the St. Louis Cardinals and 16 seasons calling MLB on ESPN.

“Bob has become a wonderful friend to all of us and has been a valued member of our team since the very early days of our organization,” said Washington Nationals Managing Principal Owner Mark D. Lerner. “He has been the voice of baseball for a generation of fans in Washington, D.C., and we’re certainly going to miss having him around every day. We wish Bob an enjoyable and well-earned retirement with his wife, Debbie, and their children and grandchildren, and look forward to welcoming him back whenever he’d like to pay us a visit.”

Carpenter called college basketball games for 40 years across several networks, including ESPN and USA, retiring from the sport in 2017 after spending 16 seasons behind the microphone for the University of Oklahoma. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in March of 2017.

A native of St. Louis and a graduate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Carpenter received his Major League call-up in 1984 with Cardinals baseball on Sports Time Cable Network and returned in 1995 with KPLR-TV and KMOX Radio. He provided play-by-play for MLB games on television throughout the 1980s and 1990s with the Rangers, Mets and Twins, and from 1988-2005, called MLB, college basketball and college football with ESPN. Carpenter broadcast multiple MLB division clinchers, seven no-hitters, five Triple-A All-Star Games, NCAA and NIT tournaments and college football bowl games. His studio work includes “College Gameday” and “College Football Scoreboard,” and in 2005, he called NCAA Final Four games in his hometown of St. Louis for NCAA International TV.

Before joining ESPN, Carpenter called a variety of sports for USA Network, including professional soccer, college basketball, college football, PGA Golf (including The Masters) and professional tennis (including the U.S. Open). He was on the call for a number of matches during the 1994 FIFA World Cup, including several at RFK Stadium.

While calling Cardinals games, Carpenter was nominated for four St. Louis/Mid-America Emmy Awards, winning in 1996 and 1997. He also earned a National Capital/Chesapeake Bay Emmy nomination in 2008 for his Nationals’ play-by-play work and was named co-D.C. Sportscaster of the Year in 2014 by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriter Association.