John Sterling 'I Leave Very, Very Happy"

John Sterling, Yankees Radio Voice for 36-Years

A few days ago, John Sterling told broadcasting partney Suzyn Waldman he had called his final New York Yankees game.

But, reports The Athletic,  it became real Monday when the 85-year-old announced via a press release that he was ending his legendary run as the Yankees’ primary play-by-play announcer.

“As a little boy growing up in New York as a Yankees fan,” he said, “I was able to broadcast the Yankees for 36 years. It’s all to my benefit, and I leave very, very happy.”

The Yankees plan to honor Sterling at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.

The finality of Sterling’s decision hit Waldman hard. She has been his broadcast partner since 2004. They have been friends since 1987, when Waldman did news updates on WFAN.

“Nothing can be the same,” she said. “Life goes on. We all go on. But nothing will ever be the same.”

Suzyn Waldman pays tribute to John Sterling during Monday's pregame show: pic.twitter.com/Vo1lqHmtif

— WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) April 16, 2024

A sampling of his resume includes calling five Yankees World Series titles and two perfect games. He called 5,420 Yankees regular-season games, including 5,060 consecutive games from September 1989 to July 2019. He also called 211 postseason games. And that’s just with the Yankees. Sterling spent 64 years in broadcasting, including stints calling games for the Atlanta Hawks and Atlanta Braves.

YES Network play-by-play man Michael Kay called games for a decade with Sterling as his partner. On his show on ESPN Radio on Monday, Kay said Sterling broke the news of his retirement to him Saturday. Kay described the phone call as “emotional.”

“His voice does not sound like an 85-year-old man,” Kay said. “He sounds like he did when I started working with him when he was 50.”

Kay said Sterling told him he wasn’t retiring for health reasons, but because “I just don’t enjoy doing it anymore.”

Aaron Boone served as an ESPN analyst from 2010 until 2017. He became the Yankees’ manager in 2018. He said Sterling has an “amazing, classic voice with so many calls.”