John Sterling has been calling New York Yankees games on the radio for 36 seasons. However, his professional broadcasting career stretches way back before that, including stints calling games for the Baltimore Bullets, New York Islanders, and New Jersey Nets.
At 85 years of age and over 60 years of broadcasting behind him, the Voice of the Yankees knows that there are only so many magical home run calls left ahead of him.
“Not very,” the WFAN play-by-play announcer told The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty recently. “Obviously, I’m near the end. I’ve been on the air 64 years and I’m so tired of traveling. The games are fine. They’re easy.”
Sterling did make it clear that he doesn’t have a specific date in mind.
“I don’t know the date,” he said. “Depends on how I’m doing and how I feel.”
In 2022, Sterling announced that he would start working on a reduced schedule in the second half of the MLB season and has continued to do so, usually only traveling for road games in the Northeast.
Sterling missed several games last season due to illness and even took a foul ball off the noggin in one game but returned to broadcast with a bandage on his head. A late September series between the Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates marked the first time that either Sterling or analyst Suzyn Waldman weren’t in the booth since 1989.
While Sterling might know that his storied broadcasting career is in its final chapters, he says he still feels good enough to keep going, however long that is.
“When I start doing the game,” he said, “it’s the easiest thing that I do. By far. Everything else is tough for me at this age — and being alone and having to do everything myself.”
