After acquiring slugger Juan Soto in a trade with the San Diego Padres over the offseason, there has been one question on the minds of fans of the New York Yankees. No, it’s not whether or not Soto can finally lead the pinstripes back to the World Series. It’s what John Sterling’s home run call would be for him.
Thankfully for Yankees fans, they didn’t have to wait long.
Soto hit his first home fun in the third game of the season on Saturday in a 5-3 Yankees win in Houston against the Astros, their third straight win to start the season.
Sterling didn’t have much time to build up the drama as Soto hit a rope to the opposite field that barely cleared the wall into the Crawford Boxes. But once it left the yard, Sterling was ready with his newest personalized home run call that have become one of his trademarks over the years.
“It’s a Soto Photo! He is Juanderful! Marvelous!”
The John Sterling HR call for Juan Soto pic.twitter.com/VvXAQsBGgt
— Gershon Rabinowitz (@GershOnline) March 31, 2024
“It’s gone! It went over the high wall! Juan Soto’s first home run as a Yankee. A flyball down the left field line. There is a Soto Photo – a home run in the left field seats. He’s Juanderful, marvelous. And the Yankees have now taken a 4-3 lead.”
As far as John Sterling home run calls go, we’ll rate this one a B+. “Soto Photo” rhymes well but doesn’t pack a lot of punch. However, it’s the singing of “S’Wonderful,” which is a song composed by George Gershwin from the 1927 musical Funny Face that gives it high marks.
Because that’s what we want and need from John Sterling in a home run call – pop culture references from 97 years ago. Let’s treasure this for however much longer we have it, folks.
