NEW YORK (AP) — John Sterling, the New York Yankees theatrical broadcaster known for his extravagant, individualized home run calls, has died, the team and radio station WFAN announced Monday. He was 87.
Sterling had heart bypass surgery this winter, and afterward the procedure was witnessed by health care workers at his home in Edgewater, New Jersey. The team said he died at a hospital in New Jersey.
He had called 5,631 games (5,420 regular season plus 211 postseason) when he retired April 2024 right after the start of the season, citing fatigue. Sterling broadcast 5,060 consecutive games from September 1989 through July 2019 after starting with the Yankees as a pregame host. He came out of retirement to broadcast Yankees games during the 2024 postseason.
Sterling’s call for a player’s home run became as valuable a part of the Yankees’ identity as a first set of pinstripes or a championship ring. As rookies prepared for their debuts and former opponents arrived in return, fans speculated how he would call the newcomer’s first longball.
From “Bernie goes boom! Bern, baby, Bern!” for Bernie Williams, to “It’s a Jeter shock!” for Derek to “It’s an A-bomb from A-Rod!” for Alex Rodriguez, “The Giambino!” for Jason Giambi and “A thriller from Godzilla!” for Hideki Matsui, Sterling created personal stamps that resonated from the clubhouse to the stands.
“It wasn’t intentional. I just happened to be doing something for Bernie Williams. He hit a home run and I said, ‘Bern, baby, Bern!’ And from then on it just mushroomed,” Sterling said upon his retirement. “But it was never meant for every player because, to be honest, I’m not smart enough to do something for every player. But I did my best and it’s amazing what started out as – became so big.”
“I did say, ‘A bomb from A-Rod!’ when he hit a home run and I said, ‘Robbie Canó, don’t you know,’ and I think those were pretty good,” Sterling said of the call-ups for Rodriguez and Robinson Canó.
Born Josh Sloss on July 4, 1938, Sterling grew up in Manhattan and left college to work for radio stations. He wanted to be a broadcaster ever since he heard “The Eddie Bracken Show” in the 1940s.
“I didn’t want to be Eddie Bracken. I wanted to be the guy who says, ‘Live from Hollywood!'” Sterling said. “And I knew that maybe a year or two later, but before puberty I knew I was going to be on the air. And it really helped me because I didn’t worry about school, because I knew what I was going to do. And it was a good thing, because I was a terrible student – terrible.”
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He began his radio career in 1960 at a station in Wellsville, New York.
“I’ve been preparing for this all my life. It was easy,” he said. “I could always open my mouth and talk.”
Sterling cited Mel Allen, Russ Hodges and Jim Karvellas as influences. He joined Allen in the history of memorable Yankees broadcasters, along with Red Barber, Phil Rizzuto, Bill White and Frank Messer.
Sterling announced the NBA’s Washington Bullets and Morgan State Football in his early years and gained fame for shouting “Islanders goal! Islanders goal!” during the 1975-78 hockey team’s games, along with the NBA’s Nets from 1975-80.
Sterling’s first connection with the Yankees was on WMCA pregame radio talk shows from 1971-78. He moved to Atlanta and worked for the Braves from 1982-87 and Hawks from 1981-89 before moving to the Yankees, where he replaced Hank Greenwald.
Sterling was rarely in the clubhouse and dressed in Brooks Brothers suits, even when he was on the radio.
He worked with Jay Johnstone (1989-90), Joe Angel (1991), Michael Kay (1992-2001), Charley Steiner (2002-04) and Suzyn Waldman (since 2005). Sterling and Waldman were inducted into the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2016.
Sterling took pride in his unique style.
“Harry Caray told me a few years ago,” he recalled in 2024 of the famed Chicago Cubs and White Sox broadcaster, “and he says, ‘John, all the guys are great. We just have different styles.’ And no one has a more different style than me.”
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