As a fish-out-of-water Yankee fan on the west coast, it wasn’t until the dawn of the internet that I began listening to Yankee games on the radio. It was the spring of 1998, and Major League Baseball had not yet realized the potential value of their audio and video properties. New York’s WFAN was streaming all of their content 24 hours a day, and that included broadcasts of Yankee games. I still remember the joy when I discovered this.
I was at a crossroads that spring, living alone in an apartment, unsettled in my career, and generally disconnected. I wasn’t spiraling, but I was treading water and could see the vortex in the distance. It was the Yankees that kept me afloat. I’d get home from school each afternoon by 3:45 or so and immediately log into AOL (“You’ve got mail!”) to catch up with old college friends and then click over to WFAN for the game.
Sharing the play-by-play duties back then were John Sterling and Michael Kay. I had never heard of either of them. ESPN hadn’t yet picked up on Sterling’s trademark victory celebration or the home run calls, so it was all new to me, and I loved every bit of it. It helped that the Yankees were winning at a pace we’d never seen before, but Sterling and Kay were a huge part of the draw for me. That small apartment never felt like home to me; some of my boxes were never even unpacked. But when I listened to Sterling and Kay calling a Yankee game, I was home.
By the All-Star break I had fallen in love with my wife-to-be, by August I had moved out, and those daily radio games became a thing of the past. Eventually Baseball took those games away from the radio affiliates, but a couple decades later I found myself listening again, and I didn’t mind paying a few dollars a month for the privilege. Michael Kay had moved on to the YES Network, so now it was John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman, and even though there were times when I cursed Sterling for launching into his home run call on a ball that found a fielder’s mitt a few steps shy of the warning track, I could never bring myself to quit them. Sterling was a connection back to 1998 for me, that summer that changed my life forever (and not just because those Yankees were the best team I’ve ever seen).
John Sterling passed away this morning, but that connection remains for me. The tandem of John and Suzyn, or Ma and Pa Kettle as they were often called, was comfort food at its finest. I felt like I was listening to the game with my parents, if my parents had been Yankee fans. Whenever I found myself in the car while the Yankees were playing and I clicked on SiriusXM to find the game, those two voices were just what I was looking for, even more than the score of the game. Those two voices brought me home.
Sorry I didn't get this up sooner, everybody. There are some nice memories shared on the previous thread, so be sure to check them out.
By 1989. I had already graduated college and was working upstate. I could only occasionally catch the Yankees on WPIX. Next year I lit out for Oregon for law school (and then library school.) Then jobs in VA, SC, and Ohio. So I very rarely listened to Ma & Pa.
Hank, that was quite a summer for you.
For me, John (and eventually Suzyn) was both a way for me to connect to my ancestral home (my dad grew up in the Bronx, my mom in Morningside Heights, and I on East 90th St) and a common bond with my brother, who had also moved away from NY. We'd share both admiration and laughs over him and his calls. And there was an indirect connection: my mom's cousin was a close friend of Stirling's. So he felt like one of the family.
I think radio does that more than tv.
I want a sweep, best way to honor Sterling
All rise! Way to go Aaron
Pretty nice touch that Michael Kay gave the full Sterling call for Judge’s home run.
[6] Yeah that made my eyes well up a little, tbh.
Hah, I was just thinking, "it would be so wasteful if Judge homered with Trent on third..."
The Orioles agree that would not be good.
Dag! I just found out. RIP, Mr. Sterling. If there was a Yankee game playing over the last 25 years and I had to drive somwehere, I always found the game first. He will be missed.
I was thinking maybe PH Rice for McMahon, but I guess the three-run lead means it's low leverage.
And no PH necessary!
Feels like the Yankees have scored more than ten two-out runs in this series.
Look. I don’t care if McMahon hits .200 or not. (And he looks a lot better recently.) If he fields like this, he’s my third baseman.
[1] great post, Hank.
I posted this on the other thread, but am adding it here.
The first time I remember hearing John Sterling was on July 4, 1985, when the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets played 18 innings through multiple rain delays on his birthday. The game went on until around 4:00 AM. For some reason, I stayed up and watched the entire thing between episodes of old sitcoms. He called pitcher Rick Camp’s 17th-inning 2-out game-tying homer like the Braves had just won the World Series. Unfortunately, they were still the Braves and managed to blow it the next inning.
As a Yankee announcer, I always thought he was the tops, and I loved all his home run calls and how he announced a Yankees’ win. I can recall so many driveway moments, like one night when Jorge juiced a grand slam to win a game (maybe in 2006 or 2007). And my wife and I regularly listened to him, and Suzyn Waldman, who brought the game to us on our front porch in the evenings until he retired. I’m confident that he would tell her about the news of his passing, “Well, Suzyn, that’s baseball.”
(And I loved the fan yelling that tonight and she loved it on the broadcast).
RIP, Mr. Sterling.
I have no objection to this piling on the runs thing.
That’s six more two-out runs. Yikes.
More double digits!
Aw.
Very nice. Classy.
39- 10 in a four game series.
That ending brought me to tears. For John, of course. Dang.
So the TV stayed on after the broadcast and YES cued up Michael Kay’s Center Stage episode with John Sterling. I’d never seen it before, but it’s pretty great. Highly recommend.
Summer of 1998 I was in college, and worked maintenance for a big retirement community, so most of my workday involved driving around on a Gator and cleaning/fixing/mowing.
The other summer help was also a huge Yankee fan, and had also done an internship at 104.3 or 102.7, so we listened to classic rock unless the Yankees were on. It sure feels like they had a lot more day games back then, or I am reorganizing my memories around that summer that the Yankees beat everyone’s ass on the regular.
That’s the first thing I’ll always think of about John Sterling.
Rodon should be back next week
All things considered "only" three runs is not too bad.
[24] Turns out it wasn't!
I was bummed, though -- with the bases loaded and nobody out, I was thinking, "I bet we get out of this with just one run scored... nope, well, two..."
Just back from walking the terrorists. Tied up!
Oh I forgot Krazy Kyle is on the Rangers!
Hell yeah.
That's it. Walk Judge. Keep it up, losers.
Three more two-out runs for the Yankees tonight, so I looked it up. They’re currently tied with Detroit for the most such runs in baseball this season — 79.
Wow, big K from Bednar.
Now let's just keep the Rangers from racking up some two-out runs.
Yep, that'll do!
Nice finish.
I'm liking McMahon a lot now.
Another win. Not getting tired
I realize it’s pretty foolish to be scoreboard watching in early May, but how do the Rays keep winning?
Here's a fun baseball fact:
Every team in the NL Central is above .500, and every team in the AL Central is below .500.
[35]
Er [35] Damn Yankees
Nerts
Meh, Warren is entitled to a bad start.
Suddenly the Yankee depth is going to be tested…
Here’s a stat I need — when was the last time the Yankees had two standup triples in the same inning? I’m guessing never, or at least not since the fences were moved in front of the monuments.
That’s three more two-out runs. There’s so much to love about this offense.
The Yankee depth passes the test.
Although I don't really understand why Caballero wasn't starting, given that he's obviously not hurt.
But, fine, give him .78 of a game off.
Joe G. says Beck pitched well. He did not. But the rest of this patched-together start sure did.
There's another 2-out rbi for Hank.
Spencer Jones is up. Can’t imagine they’d sit him
Yeah, have to believe Jones is in the starting lineup tomorrow. Giddy up.
Been looking forward to this game all day. This isn’t what I had in mind.
Missed it. But will watch today.