Former New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was widely known for his quick trigger in regard to the employment of anyone involved with his beloved ball club. Nearly everyone involved with the club feared losing their job at one point or another. Nearly everyone, outside of radio voice John Sterling.
During an appearance on 95.7 The Game’s The Morning Roast with Bonta Hill and Joe Shasky, Sterling was asked if he ever caught the ire of legendary owner George Steinbrenner.
Sterling called Steinbrenner “mercurial”, but pointed to a story from the early stages of his tenure as the radio play-by-play announcer of the Yankees, as proof that he was never fearful of losing his job.
“Fifth game of the Seattle playoff series in ’95. Great series. The Yankees lost. I finished my postgame, and came down the stairs,” Sterling reminisced. “The only way to get to the bus was to go through the dugout. Standing on the field, kind of in front of the dugout, was George. And the proverbial steam was coming from his ears. I walked past him and he said ‘Don’t worry. There’ll be changes. Not you and Michael (Kay). You guys are great.’
“That was George, in the moment, telling me how great I was. That was the kind of relationship I had with George.”
The 84-year-old Sterling was asked by the San Francisco hosts about his schedule for the upcoming season. He said he’ll call somewhere in the neighborhood of 130-132 games while joking that the schedule for announcers like Bob Uecker — who won’t be traveling to road games in 2023 — was “a dream”.
