Great stuff around MLB:
Those around the league quickly honored that legacy during Monday
night’s slate of games. Tributes rolled in from across the league,
with various play-by-play announcers deviating from their typical
routines to give a nod to Sterling’s distinct style.It started with the Yankees and TV man Michael Kay, who called
Aaron Judge’s first-inning home run exactly as Sterling would
have: “It is high, it is far, it is gone!” Kay said, continuing:
“Aaron Judge, a Judgian blast! Here comes the Judge!”The Yankees also tipped the cap to Sterling by playing a recording
of his iconic post-win call over the loudspeakers in Yankee
Stadium once New York wrapped up a 12-1 win over the Orioles — “Yankees win, theeee Yankees win!” — something Judge and
manager Aaron Boone each said they hoped could continue to be
done moving forward.
The Yankees will wear a commemorative patch for the remainder of the season. I’ve got my beefs with Hal Steinbrenner, but the organization still knows how to do stuff like this right.
Sterling called 5,426 regular-season Yankees games and 225 postseason games. According to this tally, there are only three teams that have even played in at least 225 postseason games in franchise history. He called 5,060 consecutive games from September 1989 to July 2019 — a span that included every at-bat of Derek Jeter’s career and every inning of Mariano Rivera’s. He called five seasons for the Atlanta Braves before getting a real job.
To put that longevity in perspective, how’s this for a factoid:
John Sterling called nearly 3.0% of all games in MLB history — this includes all games, for all teams, even those prior to the
first ever radio broadcast of a ballgame on Aug. 5, 1921.
(Vin Scully, the best there ever was, called over 4 percent of all MLB games ever played.)
I listened to Sterling call a lot of games. He never once made it boring.
