John Sterling retiring from Yankees immediately due to health concerns

MLB

By Greg Joyce

TORONTO — John Sterling, the longtime and legendary radio voice of the Yankees, has called his final game.

The Yankees announced Monday that Sterling is retiring, effective immediately, after 36 seasons of being synonymous with the franchise.

Known for his iconic voice, colorful personality, unique home run calls and announcing Yankees wins in a way only he could, the 85-year-old Sterling will be honored in a pregame ceremony Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

“I’m bummed out about it, sad about it, but certainly just want him to be in a good spot and healthy moving forward,” manager Aaron Boone said before the Yankees opened a series against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. “Know this is the right time and the best thing for John. He’ll be forever — forever — connected to the Yankees and a voice for generations. There’s so many amazing calls.

“He’s gonna be missed. Looking forward to hopefully celebrating him properly this weekend. But what an amazing life and career he’s had. Hopefully now he can have a good quality of life moving forward.”

Sterling had scaled down his workload in recent seasons and had planned to only make a few road trips this season, as how to handle his time moving forward had been a topic of discussion in recent years.

But after making the season-opening road trip through Houston and Arizona, and then calling the first three home games, Sterling decided it was the right time to step away.

“I guess if I was smarter and I’m not, if I was smarter I would have done this March 1 or March 31,” Sterling said Monday on WFAN. “I’m the greatest sports fan in history and I got TVs all over the joint and I should have stopped then. I just don’t want to do any more work. I’ve worked for 64 years and in July I’ll be 86, so let’s face it, my time has come.

“I guess I could just do the home games, but you know what’s true, fellas? I don’t want to get up in the afternoon and have to go somewhere,” Sterling added. “I will be very happy in my retirement.”

Sterling, a native New Yorker, called 5,420 regular-season Yankees games and 211 postseason Yankees games.

That included a stretch of 5,060 consecutive games from September 1989 to July 2019.

“Nothing will ever be the same. It can’t be,” said Suzyn Waldman, Sterling’s radio partner on WFAN since 2005. “Life goes on and we all go on, but nothing will ever be the same.”

Waldman, who called Monday’s game with Justin Shackil — who, along with Emmanuel Berbari, had been filling in on play-by-play duties for Sterling on the games he missed since last season — said she knew this day was going to come but was emotional to see it become official.

“I think this is the greatest way you can go out, is to make the decision on your own,” Waldman said. “Be really clear and happy about it. He knows what he’s done in this industry and he knows that most people just love him because there will never be another.”

Boone spent most of his pregame session with reporters talking about Sterling, imitating his calls at times and also remembering the times when Sterling would stop by the manager’s seat on the team bus or charter late at night and offer his thoughts and kind words.

“There’s a youthful exuberance to the way he goes about things that is uniquely John and unapologetically John,” Boone said. “I appreciate that about him. But I would say his kindness to me over the years and words of encouragement from time to time, I’ll always be appreciative of.”

That sentiment was felt inside the Yankees clubhouse as well.

“I was saddened [about the news],” Aaron Judge said. “What John’s meant to Yankee baseball all around the country and to the broadcasting — it’s tough to put into words. My parents, they listen to the radio, they love Suzyn and John going back and forth. Even going back and listening to some historic homers or big moments in Yankees history, hearing John.

“We’re going to miss John. He means so much to this team, this city, this organization. We wish him the best.”

And for Anthony Volpe, a New York native, there was the thrill of having Sterling announce his games after listening to him and Waldman growing up.

“He was a mouthpiece for the games to the fans,” Volpe said. “A lot of people and fans can attribute how much they love the team and how much they enjoy listening to the games because of him. I thank him a lot for all the stuff he did and I’m sure a lot of Yankees fans would do the same.”