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Carlos Medina Joining XTRA 106.3’s The Morning XTRA

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Carlos Medina, also known as “Front Office ‘Los”, is joining Tug Cowart and Scott “Rhino” Rheinhold on XTRA 106.3’s The Morning XTRA in Atlanta.

“Carlos’ sports and numbers background make him a great addition to our contemporary and dynamic and entertaining morning show, The Morning XTRA, and will provide insight and entertainment not found on any other Atlanta radio station,” Dickey Broadcasting Company General Manager David Dickey said.

Medina, who earned the nickname “Front Office Los” for his expansion knowledge of sports and statistics, has joined the show immediately. He has also worked as a contributor to Dickey Broadcasting’s 680 The Fan since 2004.

The Morning XTRA airs from 6:00 AM-9:00 AM weekday mornings.

Dan Graca Joining ESPN New York For Nighttime Show

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SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio host Dan Graca is joining ESPN New York as their new night time host.

Graca, who will host a show from 7:00 PM-10:00 PM had been with SiriusXM for the past 12 years. It’s a coming home moment for Graca, who interned at the station.

“I couldn’t be more excited to come back to the place where it all began for me, once upon a time, as a wide-eyed intern,” he said in a tweet announcing the move.

The 7:00 PM-10:00 PM position had previously been held by Chris Carlin, who moved to the national afternoon slot to pair with Chris Canty in April.

In addition to his new nighttime show, Graca will continue as the pre and post-game host for ESPN New York’s coverage of the New York Jets, a position he’s held the past four seasons.

His show is slated to begin on Monday, August 15th.

Mike Lindell Accuses Fox News, Newsmax of Deceiving Viewers

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Entrepreneur and political activist Mike Lindell called out Fox News and Newsmax TV for deceiving viewers by reporting news that doesn’t tell the entire story.

Broadcasting from this weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Lindell used his newly formed Right-Side Broadcasting to blast the competition; the video was published on Mediate.

“All the bad media has went completely Fox on me,” Lindell said. “When they don’t attack me, then you know I’m really over target, right?”

Lindell spread his criticism around, accusing upper-level management in companies like Daily Beast, Business Insider, Yahoo! News, Politico, Huffington Post, and the Washington Post of not writing about him and ignoring his phone calls.

“They don’t want the Foxes and the Newsmax’s of the world anymore because they don’t talk about therapeutics,” said Lindell. “They don’t, they don’t talk about mandates, against mandates. They don’t talk about machines.”

Lindell has been a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump and has defended the narrative of a stolen election.

Even After Radio Hall of Fame Honor, Suzyn Waldman Looks Forward

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Yankees radio broadcaster Suzyn Waldman was at Citi Field on July 26th getting ready to broadcast a Subway Series game between the Yankees and Mets. A day earlier, Waldman was elected to the Radio Hall of Fame and sometimes that type of attention can, admittedly, make her feel a bit uncomfortable.

“At first, I was really embarrassed because I’m not good at this,” said Waldman. “I don’t take compliments well and I don’t take awards well. I just don’t. The first time it got to me…that I actually thought it was pretty cool, there were two little boys at Citi Field…

Those two little boys, with photos of Waldman in hand, saw her on the field and asked her a question.

“They asked me to sign “Suzyn Waldman Radio Hall of Fame 2022” and I did,” said Waldman.  “I just smiled and then more little boys asked me to do that.”  

Waldman, along with “Broadway” Bill Lee, Carol Miller, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, Ellen K, Jeff Smulyan, Lon Helton, Marv Dyson, and Walt “Baby” Love, make up the Class of 2022 for the Radio Hall of Fame and will be inducted at a ceremony on November 1st at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel in Chicago.

Waldman, born in the Boston suburb of Newton, Massachusetts, was the first voice heard on WFAN in New York when the station launched on July 1st, 1987. She started as an update anchor before becoming a beat reporter for the Yankees and Knicks and the co-host of WFAN’s
mid-day talk show. In the mid 1990s, Waldman did some television play-by-play for Yankees games on WPIX and in 2002 she became the clubhouse reporter for Yankees telecasts when the YES Network launched.

This is Waldman’s 36th season covering the Yankees and her 18th in the radio booth, a run that started in 2005 when she became the first female full-time Major League Baseball broadcaster.

She decided to take a look at the names that are currently in the Hall of Fame, specifically individuals that she will forever be listed next to.

“Some of the W’s are Orson Wells and Walter Winchell…people that changed the industry,” said Waldman. “I get a little embarrassed…I’m not good at this but I’m really happy.”

Waldman has also changed the industry.

She may have smiled when those two little boys asked her to sign those photos, but Waldman can also take a lot of pride in the fact that she has been a trailblazer in the broadcasting business and an inspiration to a lot of young girls who aspire, not only to be sportscasters but those who want to have a career in broadcasting.

Like the young woman who just started working at a New York television station who approached Waldman at the Subway Series and just wanted to meet her.

“She stopped me and was shaking,” said Waldman. “The greatest thing is that all of these young women that are out there.”

Waldman pointed out that there are seven women that she can think of off the top of her head that are currently doing minor league baseball play-by-play and that there have been young female sports writers that have come up to her to share their stories about how she inspired them.

For many years, young boys were inspired to be sportscasters by watching and listening to the likes of Marv Albert, Al Michaels, Vin Scully, Bob Costas, and Joe Buck but now there are female sportscasters, like Waldman, who have broken down barriers and are giving young girls a good reason to follow their dreams.

“When I’ve met them, they’ve said to me I was in my car with my Mom and Dad when I was a very little girl and they were listening to Yankee games and there you were,” said Waldman. “These young women never knew this was something that they couldn’t do because I was there and we’re in the third generation of that now. It’s taken longer than I thought.”

There have certainly been some challenges along the way in terms of women getting opportunities in sports broadcasting.

Waldman thinks back to 1994 when she became the first woman to do a national television baseball broadcast when she did a game for The Baseball Network. With that milestone came a ton of interviews that she had to do with media outlets around the country including Philadelphia.

It was during an interview with a former Philadelphia Eagle on a radio talk show when Waldman received a unique backhanded compliment that she will always remember.

“I’ve listened to you a lot and I don’t like you,” Waldman recalls the former Eagle said. “I don’t like women in sports…I don’t like to listen to you but I was watching the game with my 8-year-old daughter and she was watching and I looked at her and thought this is something she’s never going to know that she cannot do because there you are.”

Throughout her career, Waldman has experienced the highest of highs in broadcasting but has also been on the receiving end of insults and cruel intentions from people who then tend to have a short memory.

And many of these people were co-workers.

“First people laugh at you, then they make your life miserable and then they go ‘oh yeah that’s the way it is’ like it’s always been like that but it’s not always been like this,” said Waldman. 

It hasn’t always been easy for women in broadcasting and as Waldman — along with many others — can attest to nothing is perfect today. But it’s mind-boggling to think about what Waldman had to endure when WFAN went on the air in 1987.

She remembers how badly she was treated by some of her colleagues.

“I think about those first terrible days at ‘FAN,” said Waldman. “I had been in theatre all my life and it was either you get the part or you don’t. They either like you or they don’t.  You don’t have people at your own station backstabbing you and people at your own station changing your tapes to make you look like an idiot.”

There was also this feeling that some players were not all that comfortable with Waldman being in the clubhouse and locker room. That was nothing compared to some of the other nonsense that Waldman had to endure.

“The stuff with players is very overblown,” said Waldman. “It’s much worse when you know that somebody out there is trying to kill you because you have a Boston accent and you’re trying to talk about the New York Yankees. That’s worse and it’s also worse when the people
that you work with don’t talk to you and think that you’re a joke and the people at your own station put you down for years and years and years.”

While all of this was happening, Waldman had one very important person in her corner: Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who passed away in 2010.

The two had a special relationship and he certainly would have relished the moment when Suzyn was elected to the Hall of Fame.

“I think about George Steinbrenner a lot,” said Waldman. “This is something that when I heard that…I remember thinking George would be so proud because he wanted this since ’88.  I just wish he were here.” 

Waldman certainly endeared herself to “The Boss” with her reporting but she also was the driving force behind the reconciliation of Steinbrenner and Yankees Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra. George had fired Yogi as Yankees manager 16 games into the 1985 season and the news was delivered to Berra, not by George, but by Steinbrenner advisor Clyde King.

Yogi vowed never to step foot into Yankee Stadium again, but a grudge that lasted almost 14 years ended in 1999 when Waldman facilitated a reunion between the two at the Yogi Berra Museum in New Jersey.

“I’m hoping that my thank you to him was the George and Yogi thing because I know he wanted that very badly,” said Waldman.

“Whatever I did to prove to him that I was serious about this…this is in ’87 and ’88…In 1988, I remember him saying to me ‘Waldman, one of these days I’m going to make a statement about women in sports.  You’re it and I hope you can take it’ (the criticism). He knew what was coming.  I didn’t know. But there was always George who said ‘if you can take it, you’re going to make it’.”

And made it she did.

And she has outlasted every single person on the original WFAN roster.

“I’m keenly aware that I was the first person they tried to fire and I’m the only one left which I think is hysterical actually that I outlived everybody,” said Waldman.

WFAN recently celebrated its 35th anniversary, but that’s not something that Waldman spends too much time reflecting on.

“I don’t think about it at all because once you start looking back, you’re not going forward,” said Waldman. 

Waldman does think about covering the 1989 World Series between the A’s and Giants and her reporting on the earthquake that was a defining moment in her career. She has always been a great reporter and a storyteller, but that’s not how her WFAN career began. She started as an update anchor and she knew that if she was going to have an impact on how WFAN was going to evolve, it was not going to be reading the news…it was going to be going out in the field and reporting the news.

“I was doing updates which I despised and wasn’t very good at,” said Waldman.

She went to the program director at the time and talked about how WFAN had newspaper writers covering the local teams for the station and that it would be a better idea for her to go out and cover games and press conferences.

“Give me a tape recorder and let me go,” is what Waldman told the program director. “I was the first electronic beat writer.  That’s how that started and they said ‘oh, this works’. The writers knew all of a sudden ‘uh oh she can put something on the air at 2 o’clock in the morning and I can’t’.”  

And the rest is history. Radio Hall of Fame history.

But along the way, there was never that moment where she felt that everything was going to be okay.

Because it can all disappear in a New York minute.

“I’ve never had that moment,” said Waldman. “I see things going backward in a lot of ways for women.  I’m very driven and I’m very aware that it can all be taken away in two seconds if some guy says that’s enough.” 

During her storied career, Waldman has covered five Yankees World Series championships and there’s certainly the hope that they can contend for another title this year. She loves her job and the impact that she continues to make on young girls who now have that dream to be the next Suzyn Waldman.

But, is there something in the business that she still hopes to accomplish?

“This is a big world,” said Waldman. “There’s always something to do. Right now I like this a lot and there’s still more to do. There are more little girls…somewhere there’s a little girl out there who is talking into a tape recorder or whatever they use now and her father is telling her or someone is telling her you can’t do that you’re a little girl. That hasn’t stopped. Somewhere out there there’s somebody that needs to hear a female voice on Yankees radio.”

To steal the spirit of a line from Yankees play-by-play voice John Sterling, Suzyn Waldman’s longtime friend, and broadcast partner…“that’s a Radio Hall of Fame career, Suzyn!”

No Winners in Pittsburgh vs Cleveland Radio War of Words

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For nearly 18 months, we’ve known the NFL would eventually have to confront the Deshaun Watson saga in an on-the-field manner, and that day came Monday. After his March trade to the Browns, we also could more than likely deduce another item: Cleveland radio hosts would feel one way, and Pittsburgh hosts would feel another.

If you’re not in tune to the “rivalry” between the two cities, that’s understandable. Both are former industrial cities looking for an identity in a post-industrial Midwest. Each thinks the other is a horrible place to live, with no real reasoning other than “at least we’re not them”. Of course, the folks in Pittsburgh point to six Super Bowl victories as reason for superiority.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when news started to leak that a Watson decision would come down Monday. I was sure, however, that anyone who decided to focus on what the NFL’s decision would mean for Watson and the Browns on the field was in a no-win situation. As a former host on a Cleveland Browns radio affiliate, I always found the situation difficult to talk about. Balancing the very serious allegations with what it means for Watson, the Browns, and the NFL always felt like a tight-rope walk destined for failure.

So I felt for 92.3 The Fan’s Ken Carman and Anthony Lima Monday morning, knowing they were in a delicate spot. They seemed to allude to similar feelings. “You’re putting me in an awkward situation here,” Carman told a caller after that caller chanted “Super Bowl! Super Browns!” moments after the suspension length was announced.

Naturally, 93.7 The Fan’s Andrew Fillipponi happened to turn on the radio just as that call happened. A nearly week-long war of words ensued between the two Audacy-owned stations.

Fillipponi used the opportunity to slam Cleveland callers and used it as justification to say the NFL was clearly in the wrong. Carman and Lima pointed out Fillipponi had tweeted three days earlier about how much love the city of Pittsburgh had for Ben Roethlisberger, a player with past sexual assault allegations in his own right.

Later in the week, the Cleveland duo defended fans from criticism they viewed as unfair from the national media. In response, Dorin Dickerson and Adam Crowley of the Pittsburgh morning show criticized Carman and Lima for taking that stance.

Keeping up?

As an impartial observer, there’s one main takeaway I couldn’t shake. Both sides are wrong. Both sides are right. No one left the week looking good.

Let’s pretend the Pittsburgh Steelers had traded for Deshaun Watson on March 19th, and not the Browns. Can you envision a scenario where Cleveland radio hosts would defend the NFL for the “fairness” of the investigation and disciplinary process if he was only suspended for six games? Of course, you can’t, because that would be preposterous. At the same time, would Fillipponi, Dickerson, and other Pittsburgh hosts be criticizing their fans for wanting Watson’s autograph? Of course, you can’t, because that would be preposterous.

When you’re discussing “my team versus your team” or “my coach versus your coach” etc…, it’s ok to throw ration and logic to the side for the sake of entertaining radio. But when you’re dealing with an incredibly serious matter, in this case, an investigation into whether an NFL quarterback is a serial sexual predator, I don’t believe there’s room to throw ration and logic to the wind. The criticism of Carman and Lima from the Pittsburgh station is fair and frankly warranted. They tried their best, in my opinion, to be sensitive to a topic that warranted it, but fell short.

On the flip side, Carman and Lima are correct. Ben Roethlisberger was credibly accused of sexual assault. Twice. And their criticism of Fillipponi and Steelers fans is valid and frankly warranted.

You will often hear me say “it can be both” because so often today people try to make every situation black and white. In reality, there’s an awful lot of gray in our world. But, in this case, it can’t be both. It can’t be Deshaun Watson, and Browns fans by proxy, are horrible, awful, no good, downright rotten people, and Ben Roethlisberger is a beloved figure.

Pot, meet kettle.

I don’t know what Andrew Fillipponi said about Ben Roethlisberger’s sexual assault allegations in 2010. And if I’m wrong, I’ll be the first to admit it, but I’m guessing he sounded much more like Carman and Lima did this week, rather than the person criticizing hosts in another market for their lack of moral fiber. Judging by the tweet Carman and Lima used to point out Fillipponi’s hypocrisy, I have a hard time believing the Pittsburgh host had strong outrage about the Steelers bringing back the franchise QB.

Real courage comes from saying things your listeners might find unpopular. It’s also where real connections with your listeners are built. At the current time in our hyper-polarized climate, having the ability to say something someone might disagree with is a lost art. But it’s also the key to keeping credibility and building a reputation that you’ll say whatever you truly believe that endears you to your audience.

And in this case, on a day the NFL announced they now employ a player who — in the league’s view — is a serial sexual assaulter, to hear hosts describe a six-game suspension as “reasonable” felt unreasonable. As talk radio hosts, we often try to hold the moral high ground and if you’re going to hold that position, I can’t help but feel integrity has to outweigh popularity.

Will Cain Calls Out the Inflation Shell Game

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If anyone doubted the ability of Will Cain to jump from sports media back into news, the past two years have laid those questions aside. 

The Fox News host has fully hit his stride and shown the versatility network executives knew they were getting when they brought him to the network roughly two years ago.

Cain filled in for Tucker Carlson on Friday evening’s Tucker Carlson Tonight, and, as is his style, he wasted exactly zero minutes making his opinions known.

“If you want to know what is in a bill in Congress and what it’s actually going to do, take a good look at the name of the bill. Whatever it is, you can be sure the legislation will do the exact opposite,” Cain began. “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, for example. It led to the worst economic recovery this country had seen since World War 2.”

Cain referred to the “Marketplace Fairness Act,” which he said is nothing more than an internet sales tax that helps more prominent players “price out smaller competitors.”

“So we should all be very nervous. Very, very concerned that Congress just passed something called the ‘Inflation Reduction Act.’ It mandates hundreds of millions of new dollars in spending that will increase the money supply in this country,” Cain told his viewers. “That will, in turn, devalue the currency. And that, in turn, will cause more inflation. That’s basic supply and demand.” 

Relying on the basics, Cain believes the real-world results matter far more than any fancy title, a talking point, or political spin. More money printing equals more inflation. Two-quarters of negative GDP equals a recession. Higher gas prices equal less money left over in Americans’ pockets.

“Life is already so expensive in this country that we literally have bread lines in major cities,” he said, cutting to a segment where Camden, New Jersey, residents said they couldn’t even afford rice and beans. “That’s America. And that’s happening all across America, and you have to wonder, why then is the Biden Administration devaluing money when we have bread lines?”

True enough, political leaders of both parties have fired up the money printer to go Brrrrrrr for decades, and there is plenty of blame to be shared by any politician unwilling to make the necessary but tough choices. In this instance, however, many feel it is ridiculous to cite global warming as the impetus for heaping more economic pain on middle and lower-income Americans.

“Well, their justification for the bill is that it will stop the climate from changing. That’s why the bill includes 50 billion dollars in subsidies for electric vehicle purchases, which by the way, will lead manufacturers to jack up the price of electric vehicles. We’ve learned that lesson from healthcare subsidies and subsidies for college tuition,” Cain pointed out. “There’s also billions of dollars for the postal service to buy new mail trucks that don’t pollute as much. And of course, there’s 100 billion dollars for the so-called renewable industry.”

Cain then explained how China, while at the forefront of the “renewables” industry, continues to see annual carbon dioxide emissions increase. At the same time, the United States has experienced a steady decline in such emissions over the past couple decades. In his opinion, “China wants the rest of the world to run on so-called renewables but China doesn’t want renewables for themselves.” He pointed out the financial and strategic benefits to China when Western countries “sabotage their own energy supply in the name of protecting the climate.” 

“Like any good dealer, they don’t get high on their own supply, and most Americans recognize that,” Cain said, referring then to a recent poll by Rasmussen. “People in this country care about, of course, things like inflation, the economy, crime, immigration. By contrast, most Americans recognize the media is far more interested in pushing false narratives about climate change.”

Cain asks, where is the media drumbeat against China or India for their world-leading levels of emissions?

“Instead, the media blames Americans,” Cain said, leading into footage of cable media hosts and analysts downplaying the pain caused by higher prices and monetary inflation. 

Cain briefly highlighted the 80 billion dollars in the bill designated to grow the IRS, and wondered aloud “why do we need to make the IRS even more powerful, exactly?” He noted that the bill keeps the carried interest loophole, benefiting “wealthy individuals and institutions, in particular,” along with “hedge fund managers, who are some of the Democratic party’s biggest donors.”

Will Cain believes inflation is real, and it is painful for most everyday Americans.

He also seems to believe the media, and their Democrat partners in Washington, don’t seem to care or have any interest in leveling with citizens.

“What do Americans get out of the deal?” Cain asked. “Probably a lot more inflation, and a lot more audits.”

Joe Benigno Returns to WFAN

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On Friday’s Carton and Roberts, the show teased a major announcement and they delivered. Joe Benigno, a fixture at WFAN for 25 years, was returning to the station.

Benigno, who announced his retirement in October of 2020, is back in a more limited capacity than what was his previous afternoon timeslot. It was announced that Benigno would have a weekly call with WFAN midday show Tiki and Tierney every Monday during the football season. Also, he would be hosting both solo and with former partner Evan Roberts on the weekends.

“I think it was time to do something, and the opportunity to arose to be with my guy,” Benigno said. “Just doing it one day a week. I’m not looking to be back every day, but one day a week, a couple days a week, filling in, whatever. I’m ready to go. The opportunity to work with Evan once a week, I couldn’t pass it up.”

Benigno had been doing his own podcast, Oh the Pain, since last September. Benigno;s return will commence on Saturday, September 10.

John Rooney Offers to Let Dan McLaughlin Call St. Louis Cardinals Postseason Action

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When the Major League Baseball season ends and the sport switches to the postseason, national television takes complete control of the television product. No more regional sports networks. That’s not the case with radio calls, however, and it’s because of that the St. Louis Cardinals have the potential for a really special broadcasting moment.

The Cardinals are in a good position to make the playoffs and if they do, the team’s radio play-by-play voice John Rooney will step aside for the Cardinals’ television play-by-play voice to participate.

“This is all John Rooney and the radio side,” Dan McLaughlin said. “He never had to do that. Ever. I was floored. I had no idea. I was emotional. All I ever wanted to do is call Cardinals postseason baseball.”

Rooney said he was considering the idea after Cardinals president Bill DeWitt III brought it up to Dan Farrell, the man in charge of the team’s broadcast operations. Rooney then discussed it with the other on-air members of the radio crew.

“It was (unanimous) in thinking it was a great idea,” Rooney said. “Now is the time to do it.”

McLaughlin said that he was floored when the idea came up. “In a business that is so territorial, he had the ultimate class to ask me to join them,” McLaughlin said. “I will be forever indebted to John and the rest of the radio crew. They have been so good to me.”

Rooney said he will be glad to step aside a bit in the playoffs if the Cards get there.

“I’ve worked so much postseason over the years,” he said. “He needs to experience that.”

The idea came from the city’s hockey run to the Stanley Cup championship in 2019. Then, Chris Kerber (the St. Louis Blues’ radio voice) allowed John Kelly (the Blues’ the team’s television voice) to take over the play-by-play duties for the second period of the contests in the Finals.

Rece Davis Remembers Where He Was When the News of Him Hosting College GameDay Got Out

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Rece Davis has been the host of ESPN’s College GameDay since 2015 when he took over for Chris Fowler. Fowler moved into the broadcast booth alongside Kirk Herbstreit for the ABC/ESPN Primetime Game of the Week. The timing leading up to the switch was an interesting one for Davis.

Davis joined The Press Box podcast with Bryan Curtis and talked about how he had entered some talks with CBS before getting the GameDay spot, but was never really close because ESPN called him and told him they would take care of him. Over the next year, he and his agent negotiated for one of the most prominent spots in college football broadcasting.

While Davis doesn’t remember the moment he signed, he does remember the moment the news finally got out.

“I was calling a basketball game in Ann Arbor (February 5, 2015). I had my iPad out and I was doing a SportsCenter hit about the game,” Davis recalled. “I look over, and my phone and iPad are at the broadcaster’s position, and they are exploding. Bzz, zz, zzz. I’m like ‘what in the world?’ I go ahead and do my hit. I don’t have any inkling that it’s gotten out yet. Obviously it had. I thought ‘okay, who’s going to be ticked off at me that I didn’t let them know it was coming.

Yankees Announce John Sterling/Suzyn Waldman Talking Bobblehead Giveaway Night

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On Friday, the New York Yankees announced a bobblehead giveaway that will honor the two radio legends that voice the team’s games. On Friday, August 19th the first 10,000 fans that get to the Yankees game against the Toronto Blue Jays will receive a bobblehead featuring John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman, the two longtime Yankees broadcasters.

The team made the presentation in a thirty second promotional video in which you see both John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman in the booth, listening to their talking bobblehead.