Mike Francesa misses covering the ‘big event’ on radio, like ‘when somebody dies’

Mike Francesa was the undisputed king of New York sports radio for more than three decades, but rarely was he lauded for his ability to deliver a proper eulogy.

Francesa recently joined two of his former apprentices, Sal Licata and John Jastremski, on SNY to preview the Subway Series matchup between the New York Mets and New York Yankees. During the segment, Licata, who now hosts middays on WFAN, asked Francesa if he misses being a daily radio host.

“What I miss is the big event, the big story and not being able to have a real big podium, a big forum for those kinds of things,” the 69-year-old Francesa said.

Those kinds of things would presumably be a team making a significant acquisition like Aaron Rodgers, playing in an important game, maybe even a championship victory or ticker-tape parade. But in a city starved for a title, that’s not what Francesa referenced in missing the big event.

“When somebody dies,” Francesa said as his lone example of the big event. “That’s where you need on the radio, somebody who saw these guys play. It’s hard for you guys when somebody dies who played in the ‘60s who was legendary, and you haven’t seen him play and you don’t have any perspective on him.”

Let’s take a look back at some of Francesa’s famous eulogies to give the younger radio host some perspective on how it should be done. There was the time a listener called Francesa and asked for his thoughts on the passing of famed comic book writer Stan Lee. “Who cares,” Francesa said.

How about the time when longtime Yankees infielder Horace Clarke died? “Horace Clarke was the symbol of the Yankees’ fall from grace post-1964. He was mediocre just like the Bombers ’65 through ’74. RIP,” Francesa tweeted.

And when legendary baseball player Hank Aaron died at 86 years old, Francesa was there to remind fans he “didn’t have the explosive magic of Mantle of the charisma of Mays,” before calling the former home run king a “true hero.”

But the lure of covering someone’s death isn’t enough to get Francesa back into the daily grind of radio. Francesa said he enjoyed having the flexibility to watch his children play sports in recent years, noting one of his sons will be playing football on scholarship at Hamilton College in the fall.

Licata reminded Francesa that he has an open invite to his new WFAN midday show with co-host Brandon Tierney. To which Francesa hilariously stated WFAN can’t afford him. “Did you look at the stock? You can’t afford me,” Francesa said, referencing the stock price of WFAN’s parent company Audacy, which dipped below a nickel before executing a reverse stock split a couple months ago.

Francesa continues to host a podcast for BetRivers about three or four times a week, with episodes typically ranging between 25-45min.

[SNY, h/t Gregg Giannotti]