{"id":772650,"date":"2026-05-04T13:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T13:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/772650\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T13:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T13:30:16","slug":"john-sterling-legendary-yankees-broadcaster-dies-at-age-87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/772650\/","title":{"rendered":"John Sterling, legendary Yankees broadcaster, dies at age 87"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Sterling, whose tenure as the New York Yankees\u2019<\/a> radio voice spanned more than three decades and five World Series wins, and whose bombastic delivery and idiosyncratic catchphrases earned him a nomination to the National Baseball Hall of Fame<\/a>, died Monday at the age of 87.<\/p>\n

Sterling\u2019s death was announced by WFAN, which did not say where he died or specify a cause. Sterling had suffered a heart attack in January.<\/p>\n

Sterling became the Yankees\u2019 play-by-play announcer in 1989 and spent 36 years in the position, calling 5,060 consecutive games (plus 211 more in the postseason) until he missed his first game in July of 2019. He called 5,631 Yankees games, including eight World Series appearances. By the time he retired in 2024, he was known as \u201cThe Voice of the Yankees.\u201d<\/p>\n

His run covered one of the Yankees\u2019 greatest eras. He called every single game of Derek Jeter\u2019s 20-year career and every pitch thrown by Mariano Rivera. He emceed the uniform number retirement ceremonies for Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, Bernie Williams and Joe Torre, among others. He was there when Aaron Judge<\/a> crushed his American League single-season record 62nd home run in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s synonymous with those five championships (1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2009),\u201d longtime broadcast partner Michael Kay said. \u201cIf you\u2019re coming into people\u2019s homes, at the beach, the pool or their car, and you\u2019re constantly telling them good news \u2014 it made him part of the Yankee firmament. He became a part of forever, because those championships are never going to go away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sterling was married to Jennifer Sterling for 12 years. They had four children: Abagail and triplets Veronica, Bradford and Derek.<\/p>\n

The job was a childhood dream for Sterling, born John Sloss, who grew up on Manhattan\u2019s Upper East Side as a Yankees fan listening to games on the radio and trying to learn from broadcasters of all types.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a very blessed human being,\u201d Sterling said in a statement announcing his retirement. \u201cI have been able to do what I wanted, broadcasting for 64 years. As a little boy growing up in New York as a Yankees fan, I was able to broadcast the Yankees for 36 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sterling, a member of the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame, featured a distinctive baritone and drew adoration and criticism alike for his eccentricities and his unabashed Yankees fandom that resonated in his broadcasts. He marked victories with a thunderous \u201cThe Yankees win,\u201d perhaps his most popular line. He personalized home run calls for players, starting with \u201cBurn, Baby, Burn!\u201d for Williams. He eventually had calls for every player, including \u201cAn A-bomb from A-Rod\u201d for Alex Rodriguez and \u201cRobbie Cano, don\u2019t you know?\u201d for Robinson Cano.<\/p>\n

Though Sterling was almost exclusively on the radio, nearly every day he would dress as if he were going on TV, wearing a tailored suit, tie and dress shoes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like he gets in that chair and it shoots life through him,\u201d Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. \u201cHe\u2019s at home when he\u2019s in his office. It\u2019s a remarkable career, to be able to do it like that and as long as he did it. He\u2019s left quite a mark on this organization and the game of baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sterling\u2019s peculiar speech patterns included sing-song inflections and the tendency to exaggerate the word \u201cthe.\u201d Before a pitcher delivered the ball, Sterling would say, \u201cThuuhhh pitch.\u201d After the final out of a victory, it was, \u201cThuuhhh Yankees win!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was so witty, smart,\u201d Judge said. \u201cAs a kid, you always heard it. You watch old Yankees games. You hear the old broadcasts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Humble beginnings<\/p>\n

Sterling said he grew up playing sports and wasn\u2019t an exceptional student. Much of his free time revolved around listening to the radio, sometimes mimicking different announcers. He knew early on he had an unusually deep voice and, \u201cI learned I could use it to adapt to different radio styles,\u201d he told The New York Times<\/a> in 2011.<\/p>\n

Sterling studied at Moravian College and Boston University, but when his mother died at 47, he returned to New York City and took classes at Columbia University\u2019s School of General Studies. In 1961, he got his first radio job at a small station in Wellsville, N.Y., approximately 60 miles south of Buffalo, and around that time, he changed his name to Sterling. After a stop to work mornings in Providence, R.I., he went to Baltimore, beginning to blend sports talk into his general show, and getting chances to broadcast games for the Baltimore Colts<\/a> and Bullets.<\/p>\n

In 1971, he returned to New York City as a full-timer at WMCA.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would hang up on people and berate them: \u2018You don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about!\u2019\u201d said Jim Rosenhaus, a Cleveland Guardians<\/a> radio broadcaster. \u201cIt was awesome. We\u2019d go to school the next day (and say), \u2018Did you hear what John Sterling said last night?\u2019 There was barely any sports talk back then, but he\u2019d get on and just shred people.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also began working New Jersey Nets<\/a> and New York Islanders games and started honing his unique style, giving on-air nicknames to players (Bernard King was \u201cB.B. King\u201d) and creating catchphrases (\u201cGoal! Islanders goal! Islanders goal!\u201d).<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you didn\u2019t know first names on the team,\u201d Rosenhaus said, \u201cyou had no idea what he was talking about. Going back to the ABA days, their teams were phenomenal, led by Dr. J. His play-by-play was, \u2018Doc\u2019 has it at the top of the key, down low to \u2018The Whopper,\u2019 outside to \u2018Super John,\u2019 the \u2018BT Express\u2019 has it now.\u2019 \u2026 If you didn\u2019t know who these guys were, then you were lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Sterling moved to Atlanta in 1981, he joined TBS and WSB Radio and began broadcasting for the Atlanta Braves<\/a> and the Hawks. He became known for punctuating Dominique Wilkins\u2019 dunks with flair: \u201cDominique is Magnifique!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Yankees years<\/p>\n

In 1989, Sterling took over as the Yankees\u2019 play-by-play broadcaster for WABC. His stint began auspiciously with an encounter with the late owner George Steinbrenner in a hotel elevator in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Steinbrenner lifted a finger and pointed it at Sterling\u2019s chest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just the two of us,\u201d Sterling said, \u201cand George said to me, the way he talks, \u2018I just want you to know that I always wanted you to do Yankees games.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

That started Sterling\u2019s streak, which astounded his peers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never once turned on the radio and said, \u2018Boy, John sounds tired.\u2019 He always brought his \u2018A\u2019 game,\u201d Blue Jays<\/a> and ESPN broadcaster Dan Shulman told Yankees magazine<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cShowing up to perform virtually every single day since 1989, he was a pillar for Yankees fans who relied on the comfort and familiarity of his voice to be the soundtrack of their spring, summer and fall,\u201d the Yankees said in a statement upon his retirement. \u201cGiven the tremendous care he had for the team and his performance on the air, it\u2019s not a stretch to believe that our fans live and die with every pitch because John Sterling did the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over that time, Sterling spent 10 seasons in the booth working alongside Kay. In 2005, Suzyn Waldman took over as his color analyst and remains in the position. The best-friends dynamic between Sterling and Waldman became an instant obsession for Yankees fans, who, in addition to hearing details about the game, would get their inside jokes and references to Broadway musicals or old-time movies.<\/p>\n

Occasionally, Sterling would draw the ire of listeners and critics for starting home run calls too soon, only for them to become long fly-ball outs or have wrong details due to deteriorating hearing and eyesight.<\/p>\n

He was also known for refusing to adapt to the times. He didn\u2019t have a smartphone or use the internet. On the road, he would seek out that city\u2019s newspaper in the morning and travel with books, typically suspense or crime novels. He had several TVs mounted on the walls of his apartment in Edgewater, N.J., and he would sometimes watch several games at a time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of a kind,\u201d Waldman said. \u201cThere will never be another person like that, to have that kind of love for a team and that kind of love for his fan base.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sterling\u2019s streak ended on July 4, 2019, when he fell ill and missed three games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about that,\u201d Mets broadcaster Howie Rose said at the time. \u201cSome Yankees fans have never heard anyone but John\u2019s voice for the entirety of their life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even players were astounded by Sterling\u2019s commitment. In 2000, Sterling\u2019s wife gave birth to their triplets before Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. Early in the day, Sterling was at the hospital in New Jersey to witness their birth. Later that night, he called the Yankees\u2019 victory over the Seattle Mariners<\/a> and boarded the team\u2019s charter to Washington. On the jet, third baseman Scott Brosius saw Sterling. He was baffled.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn,\u201d Brosius said, \u201cdidn\u2019t you just have triplets? Why are you on the flight?\u201d<\/p>\n

Sterling shrugged.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing more I can do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sterling\u2019s health would begin to falter later in his career. In 2020, he missed games while recovering from a blood infection. Soon after, his workload would begin to lighten, and traveling would take a toll on him. In 2023, a foul ball zipped over the netting behind the plate and struck Sterling in the broadcast booth, caroming off his table and leaving a cut over his eyebrow. Sterling continued to call the game.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Sterling retired \u2014 twice. In early April, Sterling felt run-down after the Yankees opened the season with trips to the Houston Astros<\/a> and the Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a>. He abruptly ended his career on April 15 of that year, and the team held an on-field, pregame ceremony in his honor about a week later.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate packing, unpacking, traveling, getting to places, et cetera, et cetera,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the games themselves, they\u2019re as easy for me to do as anything I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Sterling returned to the Yankees\u2019 booth for the final week of the regular season and the playoffs until the Yankees lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> in Game 5 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium. He then hosted a weekly radio show on WABC throughout much of 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow lucky can you be, for people to celebrate what you do for a living?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Sterling, whose tenure as the New York Yankees\u2019 radio voice spanned more than three decades and five…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":772651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1280,3119,3124,1266,2228,62,222,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-772650","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-atlanta-braves","9":"tag-atlanta-hawks","10":"tag-brooklyn-nets","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-new-york-yankees","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-sports-business","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116516554476142787","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}