Earlier this month, it was announced that recently retired New York Yankees radio play-by-play broadcaster John Sterling would return to call the team’s postseason games on WFAN. Perhaps the person most excited about his return is his longtime broadcast partner, Suzyn Waldman.
Waldman, who has worked alongside Sterling on Yankees broadcasts as a color analyst since 2005, has had several partners on the call of Yankees games since Sterling’s retirement. The likes of Justin Shackil, Rickie Ricardo, Emmanuel Berbari, and even Brandon Tierney and Craig Carton have shared taking over radio play-by-play duties since Sterling’s departure.
Sterling’s retirement came as a shock to most given the abrupt nature of it at the very beginning of the 2024 season without much of a sendoff. But now, Sterling will get the end to his broadcasting career that he deserves calling the most important games of the season for the Yankees. Waldman is quite happy about this, which she shared during an appearance on The Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata Show Wednesday.
“Well I am,” said Waldman when asked by Licata about her excitement. “We were in Chicago. I’m not exaggerating, I had hundreds of people coming up to me saying ‘This is gonna be great, John is coming back are you happy?’ I mean, people yelling from the upper decks. It’s an event.
“I’m really glad for him because I know they had the ceremony and all that stuff. But he didn’t get to broadcast and go out the way he wanted to. And I’m glad for him that he’s gonna have this time. And you know, playoffs for however long it is. I think this team can beat anybody, but they also can lose to anybody as we’ve seen. So I have no idea what is going to happen. But it makes it like a special event doesn’t it?”
Suzyn Waldman talks with @BrandonTierney and @sal_licata about reuniting with John Sterling in the booth for the Yankees’ stretch run: pic.twitter.com/rBvyD9ps0Y
— WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) September 11, 2024
Sterling is seemingly just as happy to be returning to work with Waldman. Upon announcing his intention to return for the postseason, he said that the biggest thing he missed during his brief absence from the broadcast booth was his time with her.
Waldman hit the nail on the head when it comes to Sterling’s return. The ceremony earlier this year was a great moment. But someone like Sterling always should have ended his career by calling a Yankees playoff game. And now, he will get his chance to do exactly that.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.