In the Summer of 2003, I went to visit my aunt in Baltimore. Her significant other, Jim, was the Orioles' official scorer and he arranged for me to get a credential and sit in the press box during the game. As we were having dinner in the press box, he introduced me to John Sterling. Jim mentioned that I was a communications major, so Sterling invited me to sit in the Yankees' radio booth...where I sat for the entire game.
Roger Clemens started and Aaron Boone (yes, THAT Aaron Boone) hit the go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth. After he hit the homer, the producer, who I'd been sitting next to the entire time, checked out my credential and got angry. Thinking I'd worn out my welcome, I went to quietly make my exit. A couple minutes later, he came back into the booth with a member of the Yankees' PR staff.
The reason he was annoyed wasn't because I was no longer welcome. It was because he wanted me to go down to the field with a microphone so they could interview Boone (this was pre-Suzyn, too), and I didn't have field access. So, he brought the PR staffer in to escort me down to the field. Here I am, this 21-year-old college kid walking through the Yankees' clubhouse (Don Zimmer walked right past me), then out on the field at Camden Yards helping them get the postgame interview with the player of the game. And it was all because of John Sterling.
Afterwards, I wrote him a letter to thank him. He actually responded! This all happened more than 20 years ago, and I still remember it like it was yesterday. It's something I'll never forget. It left that big of an impression on me. That's the type of person John Sterling was. A truly gracious gentleman to everyone, even if it was the only time in your life he'd ever meet you and vice versa.
I know I've told that story before, so I'm sorry if you've already heard it. (I must've told it about 10 times at Jim's wake last year.) But I think it's only appropriate to tell it again today. Because John Sterling deserves it. It's only fitting that the Yankees were playing the Orioles today, too. The perfect synergy between John and Jim and a moment that wouldn't have happened without either one of them.
Not everyone was lucky enough to have a personal story about John Sterling like that. If they did, I'm sure they'd remember it just as fondly as I do mine. But that doesn't change the sense of loss that so many Yankees fans feel. Like Mel Allen and Phil Rizzuto before him, he was the voice of the Yankees for a generation of fans. His ironman streak was twice as long as Cal Ripken's (another Oriole!). Without fail, for 162 games a year plus however many in the playoffs, John Sterling was there to guide you through the action.
Yankee haters, of course, found him irritating. And accused him of being a homer. One time, he talked about that on the air and had the perfect response, "of course I'm a homer!" He then explained why wouldn't he be? Why wouldn't he want to see the team that employed him, he traveled with and whose games he broadcast win? And what local broadcaster isn't a homer to certain extent? If they aren't, you can tell.
But the same things that made him so irritating to non-Yankees fans made him so beloved in the Bronx. And, love him or hate him, you had your John Sterling impression. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. And who doesn't do their imitation of a John Sterling catchphrase? At the end of every game, I still go "Ballgame over! Yankees win! Theeeeeeeeeeeee Yankees win!" (Or the less fun "Yankees lose! Theeeeeeeeeee Yankees lose!" variation.) And I'm not the only one!
His game-ending celebration was only part of it. There was also the signature home run call: "It is high. It is far. It is gone!," followed by an individual one for each player. Everyone loved it...including the players! Whenever somebody joined the Yankees, the first thing they wanted to know was what their home run call would be. Those individual calls weren't schtick, even if it might've seemed like that. They were merely expressions of joy with a little personal flair!
Sterling was known just as much for those individual home run calls as anything else. The very first one, "Bern Baby Bern" for Bernie Williams. Jason Giambi was the "Giambino." We got "A-bombs from A-Rod." Aaron Judge hit "Judgian blasts." That mangled Italian phrase for Giancarlo Stanton. "You're on the Mark, Teixeira" every time he sent a "Tex Message." Everybody got one. And everybody had a favorite.
You can only imagine what he would've come up with for some of the players who've become Yankees since he retired. Jazz Chisholm didn't get traded to the Yankees until July 2024. Both he and Sterling lamented the fact that there would be no "And All That Jazz" references from the musical Chicago. And you know it would've been something good for Ben Rice! (It's as if he knew which ones he'd say the most, so he made sure those were particularly catchy.)
To say that John Sterling was "beloved" among Yankee fans would be an incredible understatement. The Yankees don't have a mascot, of course, but you could argue that it was unofficially John Sterling. In the team store, they sold t-shirts with cartoon versions of John and longtime broadcast partner Suzyn Waldman that featured another of his trademark sayings: "That's baseball, Suzyn." There was also a John & Suzyn talking bobblehead giveaway once!
WFAN eventually installed a "Sterling Cam" so that they could post social media clips of him in the booth. It captured more than just his excited "Sterling shake" at the end of victories. Late in his career, Justin Turner of the Red Sox hit a foul ball into the booth that hit him in the head. They captured the moment, complete with John saying, "Ow! That really hurt!," then continuing to call the action as if nothing had happened. The next day, Turner sent him a signed ball with a band-aid on it. Sterling had that kind of rapport even with opposing players!
While he was best known for his three-and-a-half decades with the Yankees, he actually did TV for the Atlanta Braves in the 80s. It was during that time that he called one of the most famous games in baseball history, a 19-inning marathon between the Braves and Mets in 1985 that started on the 4th of July (which, incidentally, was both his and George Steinbrenner's birthday) and didn't end until the wee hours of the morning on July 5. It's now known affectionately as the "Rick Camp Game." Yet another highlight in a career full of them.
Through it all, John Sterling won 12 Sports Emmys and called eight World Series, including five Yankees championships. Even though he retired early in the 2024 season, the Yankees coaxed him back for the stretch run and postseason. Because of that, he got to call one last World Series. The Yankees ended up losing to the Dodgers. But, had they won, it wouldn't have felt right to hear anybody other than John Sterling call the final out.
As the tributes came pouring in, they all had a common theme. There's never been anyone like John Sterling before, and there never will be again. He was truly a special individual. He left a permanent mark on the Yankees, their fans, and anyone he ever met. Just like his signature phrases (of which there were many), John Sterling will never be forgotten.
