Michael Kay seriously doubts he’ll still be calling Yankees games in his 80s

Michael Kay doesn’t expect to be calling Yankees games in his 80s, and he isn’t sure he’ll be around to find out either way.

Asked during a recent appearance on the Awful Announcing Podcast whether he could see himself calling Yankees games into his mid-80s, the way John Sterling did, Kay doesn’t envision his career extending quite that far.

“You know what? I always use this line,” Kay told host Brandon Contes during a recent appearance on the Awful Announcing Podcast. “I think that Vin Scully used that; that’s where I got it from.  God laughs at those that make plans. I very seriously doubt I’ll be living in my 80s. I’m just amazed that John made it as long as he did. I don’t think I would be, but you never rule anything out.”

Sterling is an obvious reference point for Kay. He called Yankees games on the radio for 36 seasons before retiring in 2024 at 86, and Kay was among those who tried to convince him not to walk away. Now, at 65 himself, Kay is starting to get more questions about how much longer he plans to remain in the YES Network booth, even if he’s not ready to put a date on it.

“I never was asked these questions at 63 or 64, but 65 seems to be a magic number. And I’ve actually been thinking about the end. When do you walk away? When is it the right time? Because of my children’s ages, it’s kind of awkward,” he said. “My son’s 11, my daughter’s 13. You want to be there for them. I’m there all the time in the winter, every single day, because the radio station, four days a week, allows me to do the radio show at home. But then when Callie goes to college in five years, and Charlie goes to college in seven years, what am I going to do if I retire? It’s an awkward time. I don’t see myself being alive in my 80s. And if I was, I don’t see myself doing the games, but I guess you can’t rule anything out.”

Kay ended his 22-year radio partnership with Don La Greca at the end of 2024, concluding an afternoon drive show that aired on ESPN New York and was simulcast on YES Network for a decade. Kay moved to a solo two-hour show from 1 to 3 p.m. starting that January, while La Greca stayed in afternoon drive alongside Peter Rosenberg and a newly added Alan Hahn. He has since said the new format has meaningfully improved his quality of life, largely because it eliminated the daily race from his radio show to the Yankees’ booth.

“When the show was until 6:30, we did the show at Yankee Stadium in the loading dock in a shipping container,” Kay earlier this year. “I would literally run from the loading dock, which is located in centerfield, all the way to the press box, do an open, get my stuff together, and then chow down three chicken fingers for dinner. That’s not a long-term solution for a long life.”

Kay had already reached a point where he was convinced he couldn’t keep up the old schedule, but the shorter format changed his mind.

“I had told so many people the last year I did the afternoon drive that that was it. I just couldn’t do it anymore,” Kay said. “It was wearing me out mentally and physically. August, which we’re in right now, I was dead. Just dead. To do a four-hour radio show and then have like a half hour between that and doing the game, I was fried. And then when Good Karma, who runs the radio side for ESPN, said, ‘Would you be interested in a shorter show?’ I kind of tilted my head. I said, ‘A shorter show?’ They said, ‘Would you do a solo show maybe for two hours?’ I said, ‘What time are you thinking?’ And they said, ‘How about 1 to 3?’ I’ll tell you what, I thought I was so done, and I just love doing the show so much.

“Who knows when it’s going to end, but it’s really enjoyable, and the reaction, and the fact that the calls are there every single day, and we get good guests, and I get to give my opinions and all that stuff. I’m not sure when that’s going to end, but I thought it was going to end two or three years ago.”

For someone talking about scaling back, Kay’s actual workload is moving in the opposite direction this season. He’s calling 136 Yankees games in 2026, more than he’s done in any of the last five years, even as he says the travel “really does get to you” and being away from his family “gets to it as well.”

But as he told The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, he had trepidation as he enters his “twilight years” because he doesn’t play tennis and doesn’t play golf.

“I’m not sure what I’d do,” he said then.

On one thing, at least, Kay sounded considerably more sure. He doesn’t expect to make it into his 80s. And even if he does, he can’t envision still calling Yankees games.

“And if I was,” he added, “I don’t see myself doing the games, but I guess you can’t rule anything out.”