Yankees Birthday of the Day: John Sterling
· Yahoo Sports
Just as there are players who define eras for teams across major sports, there are also those who help make their moments even more unforgettable from high atop a stadium or arena. Names such as Gary Thorne, Vin Scully, Al Michaels, Bob Costas, Doc Emrick, and many others help add to these pieces of history through their voice, mannerisms, and iconic sayings. And for modern Yankees fans, there is no one more iconic and no one who has helped make more memorable moments than John Sterling.
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The best part about Sterling being not just a member of the Yankees family, but a key ingredient to every Yankees game, is that he provided a feeling of warmth to every listener. He brought everyone listening on their radio or watching on their televisions at home into the ballpark, and he treated every Yankees fan, player, coach, and team member with the utmost respect. He was a man who not only received tons of awards and recognition, but he deserved them, and he accepted them with grace and humility.
Today, we celebrate the birth of not just an incredible broadcaster and Yankees icon, but the birth of a man who left an impact on hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people. We miss him dearly.
John (Sloss) Sterling
Born: July 4, 1938 (New York, NY)
Died: May 4, 2026 (Englewood, NJ)
Yankees Tenure: 1989-2024 (radio play-by-play announcer)
Sterling was born in New York and grew up on the Upper East Side. He was up a Yankees fan and listened to original “Voice of the Yankees” Mel Allen call games on the radio, which helped him develop his interest not just in baseball but in becoming a sports broadcaster. After his high school days, he briefly attended Moravian College and Boston University, but returned to New York following his mother’s passing and transferred to the Columbia University School of General Studies. Following his time there, he began his broadcasting career in Wellsville, New York, working at WLSV, where he called football, baseball, and basketball games for the local Wellsville High School.
Sterling then moved to Providence, Rhode Island, before taking a job in Baltimore to broadcast for the NBA’s Baltimore Bullets in 1970-71. In 1971, he returned to WMCA as a full-time employee. He hosted a talk show and also worked calling games for the New York Islanders and New Jersey Nets. He held that play-by-play position from 1970 to 1980, while his talk show—during which he often got to interview the legendary Allen—ended in 1978.
Sterling headed south to Atlanta in 1981 to work for TBS and WSB Radio, where he broadcast games for the Atlanta Hawks and the Atlanta Braves while also hosting a sports talk show through 1989. By that time, his boyhood team got in touch, and his Yankee years began.
From a moment in an elevator in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where Yankees former owner George Steinbrenner—another memorable July 4th birthday—said to Sterling that he was the person he wanted calling Yankees games, Sterling would go down in history. And it was not just for being part of some incredible Yankees title runs and around some of the best teams in MLB history (including the best team in baseball history by record in 1998), but also for his consistency in the booth. Sterling would sit in the radio booth calling Yankees games for the next 35 seasons.
Over those 35 seasons at the helm of the Yankees broadcast booth, Sterling shared it with a handful of announcing partners. Former major leaguer Jay Johnstone, was his first for the 1989 and 1990 seasons, and broadcaster Joe Angel stepped in for 1991. Then came in a young and spry Michael Kay, the current Yankees TV play-by-play announcer for the YES Network, from 1992 to 2001. Formerly a beat writer, Kay attributes much of his success behind the mic to the lessons he learned in the booth with Sterling, and he would often host Yankees events in the present day with his former mentor, including Old-Timers’ Day.
SportsCenter alum Charley Steiner was his next partner from 2002 to 2004 before Steiner moved on to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and in 2005, in came Suzyn Waldman, who is a legend in her own right. They were on the call together the longest, until his (somewhat) abrupt retirement in 2024. Sterling and Waldman became a dynamic duo in the booth and, most importantly, they became the best of friends, which every fan tuning in could hear and see. They told incredible stories together, both about their individual and joint experiences off the field and, of course, about their experiences together in the depths of major league ballparks, talking to players, coaches, managers, and staff members of yesteryear teams. Their bond grew over time, giving every Yankees fan a way to feel included in their adventures as well.
All in all, Sterling ended up calling 5,060 consecutive Yankees games, which included every game of the entirety of Derek Jeter’s 20-year career, before the streak ended seven years ago today on July 4, 2019. He fell ill and missed three games the Yankees played against the Tampa Bay Rays, but it gave everyone a chance to see just how incredible Sterling had been for so long.
Over his time calling the Yankees (and even dating back to his early days in New York calling the Islanders and then with the Hawks in Atlanta), Sterling was best known for his catchphrases, particularly after home runs. He’d start every home run call with “It is high! It is far! It is gone!” And then he would lead into a signature tagline for every player. Older fans of the Yankees will remember, “An A-bomb for A-Rod!” “Bern, baby, Bern!” and so many others, while newer fans could hear, “A Judgian Blast,” “Gio Urshela, the most happy fella,” “Yes, inDidi,” through recent years.
Everyone knew it was coming, but every time seemed to feel like the first.
A successful day for the Yankees wasn’t over until Sterling belted “Yankees win! Theeeeeee Yankees win!”
Sterling began the 2024 season in his familiar spot, but he quickly regretted his decision not to step away at last. The travel over half a year was just too much to bear for someone in his eighties. So on April 15th, he announced his retirement, effective immediately. New York then honored Sterling in a pregame ceremony on April 20th. He then called two innings of a game on August 20th against Cleveland, which was due to a t-shirt giveaway celebrating the 20th anniversary of Sterling and Waldman working together in the radio booth. The day was planned before Sterling’s departure from the booth months prior, so he felt it was only right to come back and call a bit of the contest.
Perhaps that sparked a desire for a mini-comeback. The following Thursday, it was revealed that Sterling was discussing a potential postseason return before a final retirement. And it happened! On September 5th, Sterling confirmed he would return to the booth for the final homestand and the playoffs, including up to the 2024 World Series — where he would broadcast for the last time. It was a wonderful treat to have him on the call again, especially in big moments like Juan Soto’s pennant-winning homer in Cleveland.
View LinkSterling made his final broadcast on October 30, 2024, in Game 5 of the World Series, when the Yankees lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers and he officially signed off for the final time. He occasionally popped back on the air for radio specials, but aside from that, his long career was over.
Sterling’s legacy amongst baseball and the Yankees earned him a lifetime of awards, including 12 sports Emmys (two for a biography-style television program called Yankeeography), multiple nominations for the Ford C. Frick Award by the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and he was awarded the Pride of the Yankees Award at the team’s annual Welcome Home dinner. It’s a true shame that Sterling won’t be around to see it, but hopefully he’ll one day get a plaque in Monument Park as well, just like Allen.
The number of incredible baseball moments that Sterling called over his tenured career seems incalcuble. He was a one-of-a-kind broadcaster with a one-of-a-kind spirit both for life and for baseball. He passed away on May 4, 2026, but he continues to be honored by Yankees and baseball fans alike inside and outside of the broadcast booth. His work will live on forever in the hearts and minds of everyone around the game, and the baseball world was blessed to have him be a part of such important pieces of the game’s history.
Happy birthday, Mr. Sterling! The first birthday after someone’s passing is always hard, and we send our best to his family on this day.
See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.