Boston Red Sox infielder Justin Turner keeps sending foul balls into the Yankees radio booth, and John Sterling would like some answers.
Earlier this season, Sterling took a foul ball off the bat of Turner right to his face when the Red Sox were visiting Yankee Stadium. Thankfully, the damage wasn’t bad, as Sterling returned to the booth the next day with a Band-Aid above his left eye. This past weekend, the Yankees radio booth received another foul ball, and against all odds, it was off Turner’s bat again.
John Sterling avoided the ⚾ this time from Justin Turner
🎥: @PrimeVideo pic.twitter.com/EwnbRGfAeS
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) August 20, 2023
This time, the radio booth’s garbage pail received the brunt of the foul ball. But still, two foul balls into the radio booth? What gives?
UPDATE: Today, Suzyn Waldman gifted Justin Turner with his latest foul ball that found the #Yankees broadcast booth, with a note attached that read, “Why do you hate John Sterling?” #Audio: pic.twitter.com/MJKfEl5UuJ
— Diamond Joe (@ItsDiamondJoe) August 20, 2023
“I’ve never done anything wrong to Justin Turner, and he’s come hunting for me twice,” Sterling said as he wondered whether there was some purpose behind the foul balls.
Last time, Sterling’s broadcast partner Suzyn Waldman took the ball to Turner and asked him to sign it. But after Turner sent another souvenir into the booth, Waldman brought the ball to the Red Sox infielder looking for some answers.
“I took that ball, and I wrote on it, ‘Dear Justin, why do you hate us so much? Love John and Suzyn, New York Yankees radio,’ and I gave it to him before the game,” Waldman said. “Once a series, he hits a ball into the booth.”
Sterling appeared to learn from the first foul ball incident. After absorbing Turner’s screaming foul ball with his face in June, the 85-year-old broadcaster more aptly ducked this time around.
“What’s scary about it is, we don’t get a lot of balls in the booth; it’s so far away,” Sterling added.
Maybe they didn’t used to get many foul balls hit into the broadcast booth, but two in one season certainly qualifies as “a lot.” And two in one season by the same visiting player is bizarre. That’s baseball, Suzyn.
