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John Sterling Retirement News Conference Sat. 4/20/2024

P

pjc1961

Edited due to breaking story:

The radio voice of the NY Yankees has planned a news conference
on Friday 4/19/2024 Saturday 4/20/2024 to announce plans on his future.
It is speculated now confirmed he might will announce his immediate retirement due to health concerns.

The Yankees are in Toronto facing the Blue Jays on Mon.-Wed. 4/15-17/2024
and return home Friday evening 4/19 to play the Tampa Bay Rays.

Sterling had cut back his schedule to doing mostly home games only,
although he did make this year's opening week road trip to Houston and Phoenix.

Should Since John will immediately retire, his place will be taken up by current fill-ins
Justin Shackil, 37, and Emmanuel Berbari, 24, both alumni of Fordham University.

barrettsportsmedia.com

Justin Shackil, Emmanuel Berbari to Call 25 Yankees Games in John Sterling's Absence

Sterling plans to call around 112 of the 162 games for the Bronx Bombers in 2024.
barrettsportsmedia.com barrettsportsmedia.com

Andrew Marchand of The Athletic broke the news on X:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1779960879431180701

Statement fom NY Yankees:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1779974913664725012

Separate pages of Yankees / John Sterling Statement that can be enlarged for easier reading:


 
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85 years old, retiring abruptly. Doesn't sound good.

He's had some crazy things happen in his life. He lost his home, and everything in it, in a massive fire that wiped out the Avalon condo complex he resided at in New Jersey in 2015. Then he got rescued from his sinking car by Rickie Ricardo after he got trapped in flash flooding caused by Hurricane Ida in 2021.

But he will long be remembered for his distinctive PBP style that a good many fans will always associate with the Yankees.

Hopefully he has enough good fortune left to be able to enjoy his retirement for a while.
 
The guys who ran the beer stand at my hometown's minor league park would always have Yankee broadcasts on the radio, and you'd hear them down the concourse. I'm a Sox fan, but his voice has been in my life forever.

Fare thee well, John.
 
According to a piece in TheAthletic.com by Brendan Kuty written on the date of the Yankees home opener vs. the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday 4/4/2024 (published on Sat. 4/5/2024), John has had a driver pick him up for the past few years.
theathletic.com

Inside the booth with Yankees legend John Sterling for his 36th home opener: 'I'm near the end'

Now 85, Sterling has been on the mic for every Yankees home opener since the 1989 season.
theathletic.com theathletic.com

(This article hinted that Sterling was not long for the Yankees job; he broadcasted that weekend's 3 games then decide on Sat. 4/12/2024 to leave.)

John may have requested the driver (or had one assigned to him) after a harrowing experience on Wed. 9/1/2021 with his car being caught on a flooded-out River Rd. in Edgewater, NJ (Hurricane Ida remnants). He was saved by Yankees Spanish-language broadcaster Rickie Ricardo:
nypost.com

Yankees announcer saved John Sterling from flooded car

The Spanish-Language radio voice for the Yankees helped fellow announcer John Sterling out of a flooded car Wednesday night as the remnants of Hurricane Ida wallopped the area. Rickie Ricardo appea…
nypost.com nypost.com
 
I agree with those who think there is more to it than John just deciding to retire. There seems to be a sense of urgency to it, he leaves immediately and fades into Yankee history on Saturday. Why not work the homestand or at least the weekend series, with the team scheduling a day for him a littler later on in the season.
 
So will they get a big name to replace him next season. I can’t listen to the guys they have on now.

I can’t do some kid who sounds like he’s doing a college radio game.
 
JMC7982 said:
I agree with those who think there is more to it than John just deciding to retire. There seems to be a sense of urgency to it, he leaves immediately and fades into Yankee history on Saturday. Why not work the homestand or at least the weekend series, with the team scheduling a day for him a littler later on in the season.
Click to expand...
Even if his health isn't an immediate concern, he is 86 years old. Best to honor him as soon as possible so as not to risk having him unable to attend a game three or four months from now. The Yankees knew he was fine with coming to the Stadium today, so everything worked out fine.
 
Usually after the Indians.......oops, Guardians win a game they zing right to commercial. Today [Saturday 4/20] Tom Hamilton implored listeners to not run off after the game, stick around for a tribute to John Sterling. So they played a few minutes of John Sterling's "Greatest Hits" from him calling a few games. Pretty classy thing to do. Hopefully other broadcast teams did the same thing.
 
Yabadabado1 said:
Usually after the Indians.......oops, Guardians win a game they zing right to commercial. Today [Saturday 4/20] Tom Hamilton implored listeners to not run off after the game, stick around for a tribute to John Sterling. So they played a few minutes of John Sterling's "Greatest Hits" from him calling a few games. Pretty classy thing to do. Hopefully other broadcast teams did the same thing.
Click to expand...
I happened to be watching a random minor league game tonight (I get MILB.TV as part of my MLB.TV subscription) and heard the play-by-play announcer for the Lake Elsinore Storm of the California League say "The Storm wins! The Stoooorrrrrrm wins!" after the final out. He should have stretched out the "the" rather than the "storm," but his heart was in the right place! And yes, he did say he was doing that as a tribute to Sterling.
 
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The person who may miss John Sterling the most is Suzyn. I was listening tonight, and so much dead air, so many promos for upcoming games, really nothing to talk about. John always made it entertaining.
 
Don CT said:
So will they get a big name to replace him next season. I can’t listen to the guys they have on now.

I can’t do some kid who sounds like he’s doing a college radio game.
Click to expand...
Bob Raissman's thoughts on the matter:
www.nydailynews.com

Bob Raissman: Voices vying for permanent Yankees radio gig deserve your patience

If the Yankees continue cruising through the regular season into a playoff berth, the only intrigue surrounding the organization could be the broadcast booth competition to identify the team’s next…
www.nydailynews.com www.nydailynews.com
 
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