00:00But long-time New York Yankees play-by-play announcer and a man who's caricatured from
00:06coast to coast because of his legendary home run calls. The great John Sterling has sadly passed
00:11away at 87 years young. I had the privilege of knowing John and working with John. I even
00:18filled in for John a couple of seasons ago when he was ill through a couple Yankee games on the
00:24radio and if there is a legacy that a broadcaster could have that we all kind of strive for it
00:31is
00:31longevity. It is being so good at your job that you're truly irreplaceable and while John Sterling
00:38was the most mocked play-by-play broadcaster in this country I believe he was also the most revered.
00:44Here's a guy that over 30 plus years never missed an inning never missed a ball or strike call and
00:53never missed a game. So come sicknesses and deaths in the family and kids birthdays and all the things
01:00that are important to us outside of our jobs. John Sterling treated his job with the New York Yankees
01:07as more important than anything else in his life and he has a beautiful family. He was divorced from
01:12his wife and did live alone and adored his children who are now adults. But John Sterling is and was
01:19the voice of the New York Yankees for multiple generations much like Phil Rizzuto was before him
01:27and John Sterling again while mocked probably more than any other radio broadcaster I think rightfully
01:33so is also the most revered amongst all broadcasters. And when you start taking note of how a local radio
01:41guy can transcend all the other broadcasters that do games that are affiliated with obviously the
01:48greatest baseball franchise of all time and their 27 championships the New York Yankees he lived the
01:55life of a legend he is a legend and his voice will always be synonymous with Yankee baseball much like
02:01Harry Callis was for you guys in Philadelphia that when you thought Phillies you thought Harry when we
02:08thought Yankees we really thought of John Sterling. Yeah it's incredible the amount even that I the
02:14amount of calls I remember being not from New York originally working in New York now how many calls
02:20that I remember and I almost think that in hindsight he was underappreciated you laid out a guy that's
02:28there all the time like that almost becomes like a warm blanket where he's part of your family when
02:33you're listening to those games and baseball still more than any other sport is the best radio game
02:38of them all sure as him is doing the radio calls for so long he's like a warm blanket and
02:43the other
02:44part was I think he probably deserved a little bit more grace as he got older in hindsight. Yeah I
02:48think
02:48he got more later because yeah look I work at the radio station that John worked at for the last
02:52you know
02:5315 years WFN in New York and they put a camera in his studio that only happened a few years
02:58ago
02:58because now he's an older man right and you want to see him with this famous Yankee Yankees win
03:04all those things that we kind of mock him for were his signature calls and one of the one of
03:10the great
03:11things amongst broadcasters is being unique you could say the same thing about life that not to be a copy
03:18of somebody else be you be unapologetically you and John Sterling was and again we made fun of John
03:26and he took that with uh with great with great grace all right we applauded John for his calls
03:33and he loved it he loved being noticed he loved people were playing his calls obviously he invented
03:38home run calls individualized home run calls for every Yankee and we waited to hear when a Yankee a
03:45new guy became a Yankee the first thing we said was John what's the home run call gonna be like
03:50when A-Rod joined I remember the A-Bod he was an A-Rod by A-Bod an A-Bod
03:55by A-Bod yeah so I think
03:57sadly like the last radio interview the last radio interview he did to my knowledge was February 24th
04:04with me and my partner uh WFN Chris McMonigle and I'll probably play that at some point later this
04:10afternoon but John always showed up no matter who you were no matter when your show was on
04:17John loved to show up I'll never forget someone put out there today I didn't even think about this
04:22he called every single pitch of every single game that Derek Jeter ever played wow for the New York
04:32Yankees wow he I'd let that sink in for a second every pitch he didn't miss an inning he wasn't
04:40late
04:40for a game he showed up with the sniffles he showed up with bronchitis whatever it was he showed up
04:47his
04:47voice was always great every pitch of Derek Jeter's career
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