John Sterling Returns to the Yankees Broadcast Booth
Image Courtesy of KGET.com
By Zachary Lichter
As New York Yankee fans drove home from work, they were probably shocked to hear the low, booming voice of the Yankees long-time radio announcer, John Sterling. He returned to the broadcast booth on September 24 after being retired for five months.
Sterling grew up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan as a Yankee fan before making his mark with the Yankees.
Before working for the Yankees, he was a radio talk show host from 1971-1978 on WMCA. He was the radio announcer for the New Jersey Nets from 1975-1980 and the New York Islanders from 1975-1978. Sterling called games for both teams on “WVNJ, WWOR-TV and SportsChannel.”
He also was the radio announcer for the Atlanta Hawks from 1981-1989 and joined the Yankees in 1989.
John Sterling has been calling Yankee games on the radio for 36 years. Yankee fans know him for some of his memorable catchphrases, like his home run call, “It is high! It is far! It is gone!”
He created a callout for each Yankee batter whenever they hit a home run. For example, his callout for Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge is “A Judgian blast! All Rise! Here comes the Judge!”
He also has a catchphrase for when the Yankees win: “Ballgame over! Yankees win! The Yankees win!” John Sterling is a one-of-a-kind announcer, and Yankee fans are thrilled that he came out of retirement so they could turn their radios to WFAN and hear him call some memorable games that the Yankees will play this season, such as the American League Division Series they currently have with the Kansas City Royals.
While calling these games, his most memorable partners were Michael Kay, who he called games with from 1992-2001, and Suzyn Waldman, who he called games with from 2005 up until April 7, when he retired. Sterling refers to Waldman as his “compañera.”
During his tenure with the Yankees, he called 5,420 regular-season games. From September 1989 to July 2019, he never missed a game. He also called 211 postseason games, where he watched them go to the World Series seven times and win five World Series titles.
As the 2024 MLB season was underway, traveling became challenging for him. The Yankees started their season in Houston with a four-game set against the Astros and then headed to Phoenix for a three-game set against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He began to feel tired and then decided to call all home games and select away games. But then, on April 7, he decided to call his last game for the Yankees as they played the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium but did not announce his retirement.
The news of Sterling’s retirement came with unexpected sadness and shock. No one knew it was coming. He made his retirement official on April 15 of this year when the Yankees played the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre in Toronto. After the saddening news of his retirement, it was only fair to honor him, which is exactly what they did when he came into the booth during a game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Baseball fans might wonder why he suddenly returned if he had already retired. It is because he knew that this postseason would be the last postseason he would ever call for the Yankees, and it felt right for him that this was how he would sign off on the air.
