John Sterling

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If you’re not a fan of the Yankees, have never lived in the New York City area, or listened to one of their local radio broadcasts you probably have no idea who John Sterling was. It doesn’t matter. John Sterling became an iconic voice of the Yankees for a long, long time. How about 36 years. And how about working 5,060 consecutive games over a 30-year span. He hung up his microphone a couple of years ago after announcing a lot more games, returned for a few cameo appearances, and won 12 Emmys, for excellence in his field.

John died last week at the age of 87, and his passing provoked memories for me that had an impact.

John and I were close friends for a while in the 70’s. We would have dinner Monday night at a restaurant named Adam’s Rib and enjoyed what else but prime rib, maybe a martini, and talked sports and our business. We both went to our apartments to watch Monday Night Football, would talk on the phone and make fun of Howard Cosell. At that time John was broadcasting Islander hockey, and I was doing Red Sox TV in the spring and summer and doing CBS pre and post-game NFL and reporting work and HBO sports shows the rest of the year. We had different approaches to our play-by-play work. I was more traditional and John was anything but.

When the Islanders scored a goal he would shout, “Islander goal, Islander goal, Islander goal” about a million times. The listeners loved it. As many who have heard him know, he had several patented sayings that stuck with him forever. When a Yankee would hit a deep fly ball, he would declare, “it is high….it is far….it is gone!”

The fact is, he would often use that phrase even if the ball might be foul, or caught, or off the wall. It didn’t matter. This is no knock on John, but a salute to the fact that Yankee fans adored and worshipped him. Especially, when after every victory and there were many, John would pronounce, “The Yankees win, thuuugh Yankees win, dragging out the first word to the amusement of many, and the eye-rolling of others. It didn’t matter. My friend John was one of a kind. He had to bring attention to himself in every broadcast he did. And you know what? It worked like a charm for him. He had the full support of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and the stations that carried the games. The great thing about local radio broadcasters is despite the fact that  national networks come on the scene when the playoffs begin through the World Series, they continue to do the games till the very end. That means when the Yankees were in the World Series during his many decades, John was at the mike, and that includes eight World Series, and five championships.

We’ve dealt with announcers who talk too much, those who really don’t know the game, and others who talk less and are more straightforward, but John Sterling was unique in his style, while having tremendous knowledge and feel for all sports. There was no one like him. In fact, during the time he did a radio talk show in New York, and even during Yankee broadcasts, his knowledge and love of the theater would emerge in his commentary. He knew Broadway like the back of his hand, and the music that went with it. He would say what he wanted, when he wanted to say it. I wish we had kept in touch through the years, but it didn’t work out.

When he passed last week, I thought of the times we spent during those years about 50 years ago, and how he made his style for delivering a broadcast made him so popular.  John Sterling was one of a kind.

I think that says enough.

Sterling at the Stadium

John with Yankee’s slugger Aaron Judge

A lot of broadcasts for my friend