John Sterling debuted a new Giancarlo Stanton home run call, and there was singing involved

Giancarlo Stanton finally quieted the boo birds at Yankees Stadium on Friday night with a line-drive two-run home run to right field off Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada. It was a much-needed result for a slugger who has struggled over his first few weeks with the Yankees.

And with Stanton’s first long ball since April 4 came the debut of Yankee radio announcer John Sterling’s new home run call for the outfielder. Having apparently discarded the cumbersome “Giancarlo, non si può stoparlo” call he used earlier this season, Sterling stuck with the Italian language, crooning a version of the 1958 Nat King Cole song “Non Dimeticar.”

“Non dimenticar, that ball sure traveled far,” Sterling sung, before declaring the blast “a Stantonian home run.”

https://twitter.com/JimmyTraina/status/987485268117786624

So what’s the verdict on the new call? Well, it’s probably an improvement on the previous one, which, after much buildup, turned out to be plain confusing. But why is Sterling so committed to the Italian thing? He must have been told by this point that Stanton is not Italian, right?

Non dimenticar translates to, “do not forget,” so Sterling is literally saying, “do not forget, the ball sure traveled far,” which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. But on the bright side, Sterling flashed some pretty impressive pipes.

It’s unclear for now whether Sterling will stick with “non dimenticar,” return to “Giancarlo, non si può stoparlo” or come up with something a little bit more digestible (and less Italian). We’ll find out what his plan is just as soon as Stanton snaps from his early-season funk and starts whacking dingers more regularly.