Alexander Wilson
There are certain voices that become inseparable from a sport, from a team, from a generation of fans. John Sterling was that voice for the New York Yankees, and on Monday morning, WFAN announced that he passed away at 87 years old. Baseball lost something irreplaceable today.
Sterling joined the Yankees radio booth in 1989 and spent 36 seasons as the soundtrack to pinstripe baseball. He called 5,420 regular-season games and 211 postseason games. From 1989 to 2019, he called 5,060 consecutive games without missing one, a streak that deserves its own place in the record books. The Iron Man of the booth.
What He Gave Yankees Fans
If you grew up listening to Yankees baseball on the radio, John Sterling’s voice is woven into some of your best memories. The home run calls were their own art form. “Bern Baby Bern” for Bernie Williams. “A-bombs from A-Rod” for Alex Rodriguez. “Here comes the Judge” for Aaron Judge. Every player got their own moment, their own phrase, their own piece of Sterling’s vocabulary.
And then there was the call that defined everything: “It is high, it is far, it is gone.” Followed by the voice rising, the pause, the unmistakable delivery of “Theeeeeee Yankees win!” If you heard that call enough times, you never forgot it. Millions of fans heard it thousands of times and still got chills every time.
He was there for the dynasty years in the late 1990s. He was there for the 2009 championship. He was there when Aaron Judge hit his 62nd home run in 2022 to break the American League record. He was there for all of it.
The End of an Era
Sterling retired in April 2024 after 64 years in broadcasting, citing the fatigue of travel. He came back to call the 2024 postseason because of course he did. That was always who he was. He suffered a heart attack in January and was said to be in good spirits. “And as far as sports are concerned, isn’t it great to be a sports fan?” he told a colleague during his recovery. Even then, he was still Sterling.
WFAN said it perfectly: “a WFAN and Yankees radio icon whose voice was synonymous with an entire generation of Yankee fandom.” That generation includes a lot of us.
Rest easy, John. Theeeeeee Yankees win.
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