On April 15, New York Yankees play-by-play announcer John Sterling announced his retirement, effective immediately. He had been behind a microphone for 65 years and as it turns out, he didn’t go a full month without coming back on the air. While not calling a Yankees game, he did do a 90-minute call-in show over the weekend and led WFAN up to its pregame baseball coverage.
“Live From the ‘Evan and Tiki Studio‘ here at WFAN, this is John Sterling and I’m here for an hour and a half before the Yankee game, how noteworthy,” Sterling said as the show began.
“Now, some of you know that I am retired,” he continued. “So, what am I doing here? The General Manager Chris Oliviero…he thought I should come in because some people didn’t have a chance to say goodbye and I’m all for it. But I’m also for, you know I watch every game. Being retired is fabulous. I see every Yankee game every Met game, I listen to every Yankee game and Met game, and then the Knicks and the Rangers and the rest of the basketball and hockey playoffs. Anyway, I don’t miss a game.”
Then he gave out the phone number and the calls poured in.
Sterling, it seemed, would have much preferred to talk Yankees baseball or about the basketball and hockey playoffs. But, as one could imagine, everybody who called in wanted to thank Sterling for his years calling games and many were emotional speaking to him as they shared their thoughts, memories and well-wishes.
One caller asked Sterling what retirement has been like and he said, “Basically living a very easy life…I’ve had a wonderful time. Dinners with friends and family…It’s been wonderful and it’s going to stay wonderful too.”
The show was filled with great memories from both those that called in as well as Sterling.
“I guess it’s time to hit the road jack, huh?” Sterling said as the show wrapped up. “I loved being here. I loved it as much as you can imagine. Think of how lucky I am to hear all these wonderful things for the last hour and a half. Upcoming is Yankee baseball as the Yankees try to make it two in a row against Tampa. And who knows where we will meet each other next but you know what, we are going to meet each other next, I don’t know where, I don’t know when, but I believe it. This is John Sterling. Thank you so much for listening. I am a very lucky person and I wish you all the very, very best.”
