John Sterling (sportscaster)

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John Sterling

Born	July 4, 1938 (1938-07-04) (age 69)^{[citation needed]}
Station(s)	WCBS-AM

John Sterling (born on July 4, 1948^{[citation needed]}) is an American sportscaster and the radio play-by-play announcer of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees. He has announced Yankees games since 1989, calling 162 games a year, plus pre-season and post-season, without missing one. His Yankee broadcasts have been carried on the strong-signalled WABC and, since 2002, WCBS, in addition to a variety of stations across the northeastern United States and elsewhere that make up the Yankees Radio Network.

Since 2005, Sterling has paired with Suzyn Waldman on Yankee broadcasts. Past partners have included Charley Steiner (2002–2004), Michael Kay (1992–2001), Joe Angel (1991), and Jay Johnstone (1989–1990). Between 1991 and 2004, Sterling shared play-by-play duties with his partners.

His signature home run call is "It is high, it is far, it is gone!"

In addition to his radio duties, Sterling hosts the YES Network's Yankeeography series and introduces and concludes Yankees Classics games. During the baseball offseason, Sterling occasionally appears as a host on WFAN and has done play-by-play for Ivy League sports, currently being the play-by-play voice for YES's coverage of Ivy League football with Howard Cross as his color analyst. In the past, Sterling also worked as a baseball analyst for ESPN Radio, as well as calling Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Hawks games for TBS (which he sometimes references in his Yankee broadcasts).

Sterling is particularly loved by Yankees fans for his signature radio remark following the final out of a Yankees victory, at which point he exclaims, "Ball game over! Yankees win! Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Yankees win!" The length of the word "the" is usually held longer and is more pronounced after dramatic victories, as well as after victories resulting in championships (which Sterling also punctuates by saying the name of whatever series is over). It has been played over the public address system at Yankee Stadium after every Yankees victory for the past several seasons, right before Frank Sinatra's cover of "Theme from New York, New York" is played.

The phrase evolved from Sterling's call of Mel Hall's game-winning three-run homer in the ninth inning on May 27, 1991, to give the Yankees a win over the arch-rival Boston Red Sox. "The Yankees win! The Yankees win!", shouted Sterling.

Sterling's radio play calling style is not without controversy. Critics say his canned comments, like his home run call, "It's high, it's far, it's gone," for example, deny fans a true description of the game and are more self-promotional than informative.

In March 2007, it was reported that Sterling and Suzyn Waldman had signed contracts to continue as the Yankees' radio announcers through the 2011 season. ([1])

[edit] Player nicknames

Some of Sterling's nicknames (often, but not always, heard after a Yankee home run):

Current Yankees

Bobby Abreu: "El Comedulce!" and "Bobby Abreu as sweet as candy..."
Wilson Betemit: "You can bet on Betemit!"
Melky Cabrera: "The Melk Man delivers!", "It's the Melky Way!", and "The Melk Man always knocks twice!"
Robinson Cano: "(Robbie) Cano! Don't you know?", "Cano can do!", and "A Ribbie for Robbie!"
Joba Chamberlain: "Great joba by Joba!"
Johnny Damon: "Positively Damonic!" and "Johnny on the Spot!"
Shelley Duncan: "Duncan, dunked one!", "Shelley Duncan...Hines, cooks one up!" and "The Yankees run on Duncan!"
Jason Giambi: "The Giambino!"
Derek Jeter: "El Capitan!", "a Jeterian swing...", and "a Jeter jolt"
Hideki Matsui: "A thrilla from Godzilla!", "Hideki, lower-decki!", and "An Upper-Decki by Hideki!"
Jorge Posada: "Jorgie juiced one!" and "Jorgie jacks one!"
Alex Rodriguez: "An A-Bomb from A-Rod!" and "Alexander the Great conquers again!"

Notable former Yankees

Tino Martinez: "The Bam-Tino!"
Gary Sheffield: "The Master Sheff!" and "A Sheff Special!"
Bernie Williams: "Bernie goes boom!" and "Bern baby Bern!"

[edit] Previous assignments

Moskowitz began his New York career as a talk show host with WMCA in the early 1970s. He later served as the radio voice for the WHA's New York Raiders, the WFL's New York Stars, the NHL's New York Islanders, and the ABA/NBA's New York Nets. Sterling also did a stretch with the Yankees as pre-game host on WMCA and WINS radio, as well as co-host on cable segments with Mel Allen.

Sterling was in the WINS radio booth on Old Timers' Day in 1978 when public address announcer Bob Sheppard announced the rehiring of Billy Martin as manager for the 1980 season, despite Martin's having been fired from the same job five days beforehand. Having an inkling of the dramatics about to come, Sterling told the WINS listeners, "Now I'm telling you radio fans out there, listen - listen closely, you're going to be very surprised. Very surprised."

Sterling then spent nine years in Atlanta, working for Ted Turner and covering the Braves and Hawks before he and Jay Johnstone replaced Hank Greenwald and Tommy Hutton as the Yankees radio announcers.