00:00Not much like baseball on the radio.
00:02Charlie Slows, Dave Jagler on the call,
00:05describing everything for you deep into the evening.
00:08Speaking of baseball on the radio, Danny,
00:10it was a sad day in Major League Baseball yesterday
00:13as the longtime legendary voice of the New York Yankees,
00:18John Sterling, passed away.
00:20I could not believe this, and I'm sure I know
00:22because I'm sure we've looked it up at different points over the years.
00:25John Sterling was 87 years old.
00:2787.
00:28He was just calling games.
00:30A year ago.
00:31Not every day, necessarily, but two years ago he certainly was.
00:35Still doing his calls and his over-the-top shtick
00:38and bringing all of the references to life with every home run.
00:44Susan!
00:45Talking to Susan Waldman.
00:46He was one of the most unique broadcasters ever.
00:49And it is true that in his mid-80s,
00:51I know you and I at different points would play clips
00:53and chuckle about how he thought it was a home run.
00:55Oh!
00:56Pop fly to second base.
00:58Oh!
00:58Yeah, he got hit with a ball.
00:59What did I do wrong?
01:01That was incredible.
01:02And so there have been some blooper moments along the way here recently.
01:05And as you get older and you're...
01:06Look, we'd all be very lucky to still be sharp enough
01:09to do the thing that we do in our mid-80s,
01:11which is what he was doing.
01:13So I will point that out.
01:14But I got to say, Danny, we're in an era now,
01:18and I'm guilty of this, we all are,
01:19where everyone's very cynical.
01:20And so nobody wants you to be overly unique
01:22or to have this crazy personality.
01:24Just call the game.
01:26You don't have to be a caricature,
01:28which is kind of what he was.
01:29But he was one of the last of a dying breed.
01:31I was going to say grandfathered in.
01:33Yes.
01:34And not to...
01:34I don't have a better word than that,
01:36but that's what it was.
01:36I mean, if he came up now...
01:39We talked about this yesterday with pitchers,
01:40like a guy throwing 85 with a bunch of movement,
01:42nobody cares, you've got to throw 100.
01:44If you came up now that way,
01:46you wouldn't have a John Sterling.
01:48And there's something sad about that.
01:49You know, it's from a different time.
01:51Like the storyteller,
01:52the guy that is, as you said, a bit over the top.
01:56So let's listen to a compilation of Sterling,
01:58and I got some thoughts on what made him so unique.
02:00But this is something my dad threw together here.
02:021-0 Seattle, bottom of the eighth.
02:04One out, no one on.
02:06Here's Bernie.
02:06It'll be a 3-2.
02:08Swung on and hit high in the air
02:09to deep right.
02:10That ball is high.
02:12It is far.
02:13It is good!
02:15Bernie goes boom!
02:17He drills a home run the short way
02:20in the right field seats.
02:22Burn, baby, burn!
02:23And the Yankees tie the ball game at one.
02:27We're tied at one,
02:28and this place has gone nuts.
02:30Two away, and the Yankees down to their last out.
02:32And here's Chino.
02:34One on, two out.
02:34Pitch is swung on and drilled.
02:36To deep right center.
02:37It is high.
02:38It is far.
02:39It is gone!
02:41The Bantino with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
02:46He drills a game-tying two-run home run.
02:50Oh, the Bantino delivers big time.
02:53And the Yankees on the precipice of defeat tie the game at three.
02:58Posada is the base runner, so Brocious, of course, the tying run
03:01with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
03:04Now, Kim, 1-0.
03:07Swung on and hit in the air!
03:08To deep left!
03:09That ball's high!
03:10It is far!
03:11It is gone!
03:12I don't believe it!
03:15Once again, deja vu!
03:19A two-out, game-tying two-run home run by Scott Brocious.
03:25Probably!
03:25So those are some of the highlights along the way.
03:28But, so here's what I'll say.
03:30I always found his calls to be shticky.
03:34Because I grew up in an era where, like, my philosophy and my enjoyment of calls oftentimes,
03:40I don't need bits.
03:42Just call the play, right?
03:43If you're launching into this, every home run sounds the same.
03:46It is high!
03:47It is far!
03:49It is gone!
03:50Was it the left field?
03:50Was it the right field?
03:51Did you pull it?
03:52Is it center field?
03:52I can't picture it.
03:53It's the radio.
03:54I'd love to be able to.
03:55But I gotta say, especially listening to that compilation, if you grew up with him, I'm
03:59sure it was the coolest thing in the world.
04:00All my teammates are Yankees fans.
04:02Swear by it, yeah.
04:03The energy that he has in those calls, like older John Sterling, you know, further back,
04:08not just the last few years, is, again, you're in your 80s doing it, which is an incredible
04:12accomplishment.
04:13He was awesome at just calling games, the energy, and it was also funny.
04:19Like, I can't tell you how many segments I spent on my national baseball show, playing
04:23a clip and laughing and, like, whatever he'd come up with for the new Yankee.
04:26So Curtis Granderson, the grandy man can, and he would, like, sing the song with A-bomb.
04:33And A-bomb for A-Rod.
04:35All rise for Aaron Judge.
04:37And it's like, ugh.
04:39It's a lot.
04:40Yeah.
04:40But some of them are really good.
04:41My favorite one ever, this is a deep cut, but the Yankees had a player named Shelly
04:46Duncan, okay?
04:47And Shelly Duncan's dad, Dave, is the longtime pitching coach for the Cardinals, which is
04:51not important.
04:51But Shelly Duncan was with the Yankees, and he had some power, and his call for Shelly
04:56Duncan was, the Yankees, run on Duncan!
05:00Boom.
05:01And it was just, like, a really fun, cute little wordplay.
05:05So if you're a broadcaster today, don't do this.
05:08Like, if you're coming up in AA, this is not what you should be doing.
05:11You should be calling plays.
05:13You should be doing it.
05:14Just try to call the game.
05:16You know what I mean?
05:16You don't have to be...
05:17What was the guy's name we had on the show?
05:19Joey Zamboni, or Joey...
05:21I can't remember that guy's name.
05:22It's something like that.
05:23But it was like, you know, he would...
05:25Seems like a great guy.
05:26But he would do these calls where he's just like, swung on and missed strike three.
05:30Ow!
05:31My nipples!
05:31Or, like, whatever the show is, or the movie is, or whatever.
05:33He would just say some wacky thing.
05:35Don't do that.
05:36That's not what you need to be doing.
05:37But your grandfather in a Sterling, and you get to have a little bit of both worlds where
05:42he can call the game, and he's, you know, we're used to it, and he's one of us.
05:45The proverbial balls and strikes, right?
05:47Exactly.
05:47You can do that.
05:48But then when it's Chris Berman shtick time, you can do that, too.
05:50But the other thing I loved was, there is a...
05:54People sleep on this.
05:55There is a fraternity to play-by-play broadcast that I really admire and appreciate.
06:01And, as an example, if you're a play-by-play person, man or woman, on one of these booths
06:06in the big leagues, every city you go to, you get to spend the time with the other broadcasters,
06:11and you get to know each other a little bit.
06:12So last night, there were actual, you know, tributes being paid to Sterling.
06:17And I thought it was really, really cool.
06:19Starting with, play Michael Kaye on Aaron Judge last night.
06:22Kaye, who never does this, used the John Sterling line for the Aaron Judge home run.
06:27You just knew, by the way, Judge was going to go big fly.
06:31Had to be a script, yeah.
06:31In that Sterling night.
06:33And the pitch.
06:35High drive.
06:36Right center field.
06:37Going back to Barris.
06:38It is high.
06:39It is four.
06:40It is gone.
06:43Aaron Judge.
06:44A Judgeian blast.
06:46Here comes the Judge.
06:49Perfect.
06:51And, you know, on the night when he passes to do that, how about this call from Len Casper
06:57on White Sox radio as Munitaka Murakami also hit his 14th home run, tying for the big league
07:03lead last night.
07:032-2.
07:04A swing and a fly ball out in the center.
07:08It is high.
07:09It is far.
07:11It is gone.
07:14A moonshot for Mooney.
07:18Very cool.
07:19And then Rick Riz, who calls Mariners games after their win, did the famous Sterling call.
07:24The thing he is most known for is the Yankees win.
07:28The Yankees win.
07:30And if it was like a huge game, that would just go for it.
07:32You got so many.
07:35We'll take a deep breath in the middle, like, oh, yeah.
07:38Again, was never my favorite thing, but if I was a Yankees fan, I would mark out for
07:43it.
07:43And I thought this was cool last night after Mariners got a win.
07:46And the big right-handers, 1-2 to Baldwin, swinging a ground ball to Young at second.
07:50He's got it to throw to first, and it's over.
07:53The Mariners win.
07:55The Mariners win.
08:01So all over baseball last night, paying tribute to John Sterling within the fraternity, pretty
08:07touching.
08:08But you have to say this, Danny, one of the most unique, different broadcasters in the
08:16industry gone.
08:17So it reminds me, of course, of Vin Scully, who passed away now, gosh, what was that, a
08:22handful of years ago, kind of a similar thing.
08:24This is just from a different time, and your direct link to that different time has now
08:29passed, right?
08:31Where it just, time marches on.
08:33It is what it is.
08:33It's undefeated, you know, by the time is.
08:35But you think back to those delivery methods for the sport that you love from vehicles like
08:43John Sterling, right?
08:44They brought you the game.
08:46They brought you this thing.
08:47The players change.
08:49You know, everybody, think of the list of first basemen for the New York Yankees.
08:52There's 50 guys that have played over the course of his career broadcasting.
08:56But the guy that broadcasted, each one of those 50 guys was the same dude.
09:00So you fall in love with it.
09:01And as you said, it is touching, and it's hard to think about, because we're all so much
09:06older, and as time passes, it kind of marks the day where, as you said, that era, we're
09:12in an era of cynicism now.
09:13That era is over.
09:14If John Sterling came up today, he wouldn't make it.
09:16And there's a sadness to that to me.
09:17Yeah, I think broadcasters always want catchphrases, too, because guys like Sterling have them.
09:23And it's one of those things where if it comes naturally, great.
09:25But, like, give me Dave Jagler.
09:27There's no catchphrase.
09:28There's no thing he says after every home run, you know, after every strikeout.
09:32He's too busy telling you what just happened.
09:35And every home run is a little bit different.
09:37Did it get dropped by a fan?
09:38Did it land back on the warning track?
09:40Did it hit off the flower bed?
09:42You know, that's good description.
09:43That's good broadcasting.
09:44But, yeah, I loved seeing that last night all over baseball that everybody was honoring
09:48John Sterling for the way he did it for so long.
09:51He's Danny.
09:52I'm Grant.
09:52You're listening to The Fan.
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