Tag: John Sterling

John Sterling had the most relatable reason for why he’s retiring from calling Yankees games

Relatable!

Longtime New York Yankees radio announcer John Sterling has officially retired from his job after multiple decades of calling games.

While appearing on a broadcast of Saturday’s Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays game, Sterling was asked if he’s going to miss calling Yankees games down the road how that he’s officially stepped away.

His blunt answer? “No… I’m exhausted.” Understandable!

“Mel Stottlemyre would say to the pitcher in his last inning, ‘Empty the tank.’ Well, my tank is empty,” Sterling shared on the broadcast, something that anyone who has done a job for a long time can absolutely related with.

Sterling leaves behind a fantastic legacy, as MLB fans poured out tributes to the broadcasting legend when news of his retirement broke.

While Sterling happily said he will still follow along with the Yankees, he does sound like a man who is very ready to just watch the team with the fans instead of broadcast what New York is doing on game days.

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Giants’ John Mara hilariously gifts John Sterling a birthday helmet

New York Giants co-owner John Mara gifted Yankees broadcaster John Sterling a helmet for his 85th birthday to protect against foul balls.

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John Sterling, the long-time New York Yankees play-by-play broadcaster, celebrated his 85th birthday on Tuesday and the New York Giants were among those to honor him.

As Sterling arrived at Yankee Stadium ahead of a series with the Baltimore Orioles, he was treated to a gift from John Mara: A brand new Giants helmet.

Back on June 10, during a game between the Yankees and Boston Red Sox, Sterling took a foul ball right to the face. Mara and the Giants want to ensure that never happens again.

“Swung on, a popped foul, back here,” Sterling said on the broadcast. “Ow! Ow! Ow! It really hit me. I didn’t know it was coming back that far.”

In addition to the helmet from Mara and the Giants, Sterling also received a humorous t-shirt from pitcher Nestor Cortez showing an image of the broadcaster covered in Band-Aids with the caption reading, “Team Player.”

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Yankees radio announcer John Sterling valiantly continued his call after getting hit with a foul ball

“I didn’t know it was coming back that far! So once again it’ll be a 3-2.”

For over three decades, John Sterling has been the radio voice of the New York Yankees. He’s called various championship teams and has had more than his fair share of noteworthy moments.

But I’m not sure Sterling has ever experienced what happened to him on Saturday.

As Justin Turner tried to rally the Boston Red Sox from a 3-1 deficit in the top of the ninth inning, he glanced a foul ball off his bat. That foul ball would travel all the way back toward Sterling’s announcing booth and hit him in the head.

At first, Sterling appeared to be in serious danger, immediately and understandably crying out, “Ow, ow, ow!” on the broadcast. But then, he just called the game as usual on the very next pitch:

I mean, if Sterling was really OK, more power to him for valiantly continuing his announcing after acknowledging what happened. For what it’s worth, the 84-year-old broadcaster appears to be alright.

Sterling told The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty that he took the foul ball to his eyebrow, suffering a bloody cut. And, apparently, he’ll still call the Yankees-Red Sox game on Sunday night. I’m speechless at the turn of events, but credit is due to Sterling for soldiering on.

Alex Verdugo hilariously tricked the Astros TV announcer into a premature HR call

“And you can forget about this one!”

Every baseball broadcaster has a different approach to calling games from the booth. Some are experts at judging the ball off the bat and prefer to keep an eye on the game action in front of them. Others might use the game monitor a bit more, particularly at ballparks with press boxes up high (looking at you, Nationals Park).

But if you’re going to use the monitor, just hope that the camera operator is following the ball.

That didn’t exactly happen during Wednesday’s game in Houston.

With Kevin Eschenfelder on the call, Kyle Tucker drove a fly ball to deep right field against the Red Sox. And by looking at where the camera zoomed, it was easy to expect a home run. Alex Verdugo even climbed the wall as if the ball was heading into the stands. The ball, however, landed in Verdugo’s glove for a fly out in front of the wall.

Unfortunately for Eschenfelder, he didn’t wait for that and already said, “And you can forget about this one!” He corrected himself once Verdugo caught it. But hey, he noticed the mistake quicker than John Sterling normally does even though he did indeed pull a John Sterling.

To be fair, Verdugo’s leap at the wall would have thrown off plenty of broadcasters. I love how he had the time to leap at the wall, land and make a simple standing catch. I’d like to say he did that on purpose as a prank on the announcer, but he almost certainly misread the ball and then recovered.

Well played, nonetheless.

As expected, MLB fans had jokes about the botched call.

Yankees’ John Sterling hilariously botches home run call: ‘It’s gone! but caught.’

This ball was high and far but it was definitely not gone.

It’s not a stretch to say that John Sterling might know Yankees baseball better than anyone alive. The play-by-play radio broadcaster has called over 5,000 games for the Bronx Bombers over the last three-plus decades. There has been no shortage of iconic moments since then.

Sterling was there for Derek Jeter’s flip during the 2001 ALDS against the A’s. Sterling was also there when Alex Rodriguez socked an RBI double to cement a 3-1 World Series lead over the Phillies.

Fast forward to the present day, in Game 6 of the 2022 regular season against the Blue Jays (+100), Giancarlo Stanton rocked a ball into the stratosphere. When that ball eventually fell harmlessly into the glove of Raimel Tapia — Sterling was, still, there.

In a hilarious development, even he couldn’t resist the temptation of a promising fly ball.

Stanton’s fly ball was most certainly high and most certainly far, and it was most certainly not gone. But caught!

That said, listen to the excitement in Sterling’s voice. Hear him shift to resigned defeat on a dime the very moment it’s clear the ball is still in play. What a legend.

Hats off to you, Mr. Sterling. I’m fairly certain that the Yankees will provide baseballs that are actually high, far, and gone in the coming months.

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Yankees radio announcer John Sterling accidentally called a replay of a home run (it wasn’t his fault!)

Don’t blame him!!

John Sterling is a New York Yankees radio legend, mostly known for his very punny and quirky home run calls based on player names and his “THEEEEEEEEEEE YANKEES WIN!” call (known as the Sterling Shake).

But on Wednesday, the spotlight was on Sterling for a gaffe that I’m going to go ahead and say was NOT his fault.

Sterling and longtime radio partner Suzyn Waldman were watching the Yankees play the Seattle Mariners from a monitor since they didn’t travel out West. A replay of an Aaron Judge home run played … and Sterling call it as if it was live.

Oops! He took it in stride though and correctly blamed it on having to watch on a monitor:

Waldman nailed it: “This is a great way to do a game, isn’t it?”

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