Ahead of the 2018 season, YES Network analyst Ken Singleton announced that it would be his last one in the Yankees broadcast booth.
Then, in September of 2018, Singleton changed course, saying that he’d decided to come back for 2019, which would be his last year. Now, Singleton will be returning for 2021, though with a more concrete plan to say goodbye and make it his last one. That’s according to a YES Network executive in Andrew Marchand’s New York Post preview of YES’s coverage plans.
Via the Post:
YES president of programming and production John Filippelli has been three-for-three in talking Ken Singleton out of retirement, but Filippelli sounded like this will be it.
Singleton, a YES original, will only do a handful of series this year. The plan is to give Singleton, 73, the proper sendoff by having him call the Yankees’ final series against Tampa in October.
This time, it really, truly sounds like this will be the final season for Singleton, a gentleman of the game.
“If I’m not successful in talking him out of it,” Filippelli said with a chuckle.
In 2018, here’s what we wrote about Singleton’s first retirement announcement, all of which is still pretty applicable to today:
Ken Singleton had a long and distinguished career as a Major Leaguer, being named a 3-time All-Star and winning a World Series title with the Baltimore Orioles in 1983. After his playing days were over, Singleton embarked on an even longer and equally as distinguished career in the broadcast booth.
For more than 20 years, Singleton has served as a broadcaster for the New York Yankees. While he doesn’t get the viral attention that John Sterling or Suzy Waldman or even Michael Kay does, Singelton’s quality and longevity as a broadcaster are certainly to be admired. This week he announced that it would be his last year calling games as he plans to retire from the YES Network at season’s end.
Singleton ended up returning with a reduced schedule, allowing him to still work a few dozen games per year while also giving him more time to spend with his family, which was his main reason for wanting to leave the booth. Now 73, Singleton looks like he’s actually, officially retiring this time, with YES preparing a proper sendoff at the end of the year.
Obviously things could change, and if Singleton does indeed decide to extend his career into 2022, his boss won’t be complaining, and New York fans probably won’t either.
