Since 1989, John Sterling has been the radio voice of the New York Yankees, calling 5,000-plus straight games with the team before taking a week off in July 2019.
Sterling has been with the Yankees through the highs and lows of the past 35 years, though there have been many more successes than failures for the club in that time.
On Monday, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported that Sterling would be holding a news conference this Friday to “announce plans on his future,” which the longtime announcer confirmed.
The 85-year-old Sterling stopped short of confirming he would be retiring, only telling Marchand, “We are going to have a press conference to do everything on Friday.”
However, Zach Miller of NorthJersey.com reported shortly later on Monday that Sterling does, in fact, plan to retire. And the Yankees later confirmed that, and added that Sterling will be recognized in a pregame ceremony Saturday and will visit the WFAN booth during that game.
Like other aging broadcasters such as Bob Uecker with the Milwaukee Brewers or Vin Scully in his final few years with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sterling has already cut back on his schedule, doing Yankees home games and nearby road games.
Marchand notes that Sterling’s retirement will go into effect immediately. The play-by-play role will likely be filled by Justin Shackil and Emmanuel Berbari, who already have been replacing Sterling for road games alongside longtime Yankees radio color commentator Suzyn Waldman.
[The Athletic, NorthJersey.com]
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