PBP: John Sterling's Yankees Contract To Expire

Nearly 4,000 games in the radio booth

NBCSports.com photo

At the end of this season, radio play-by-play man John Sterling's contract with WCBS, and the station's contract with the Yankees, will expire.

According to a story by Mike Sielski at at wsj.com, there are those who can't imagine the Yankees on the radio without hearing Sterling's signature calls ("It is high. It is far. It is gone!") But there has long been a drumbeat from critics who don't like Sterling's approach to calling a game.

Earlier this month, New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick stirred the pot by describing Sterling as a "blowhard" and writing that the broadcaster doesn't seem to know or care what's happening on the field. Sterling said he didn't read the column and had no comment.

The decision about who will call Yankees games next season ultimately rests with the radio station that buys the rights. Representatives for both the Yankees and WCBS declined to comment on contract matters.

Sterling, who will soon call his 3,700th game with the Yankees, sees nothing that would stop him from eclipsing 4,000. He says he has no plans to retire. In a statement, a Yankee spokeswoman said the broadcaster's calls "are Sterling not only in name but in the standard they set. His strong presence and his style have made him an institution in radio."

Sterling has spent more than 22 years cultivating a singular style. He famously stretches the word "the" as if it were warm taffy and sometimes shoehorns show-tune lyrics into his game calls. Sterling said he derived his signature praising phrase for former Yankee centerfielder Bernie Williams ("Bern, baby, Bern") from the infamous rallying cry of Black Panther Party leader H. Rap Brown. He describes every home run the same way, regardless of the drive's distance or trajectory. On some occasions, he has had to cut short his call when the ball wasn't ruled a home run. It's better to be "ahead of the play," Sterling says. "I make a million mistakes. I mean, that's more of the charm."

If broadcasters try to balance two missions—to inform and to entertain—Sterling doesn't apologize for weighting one side of the scale. "You want to make it entertaining," he says.

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