Longtime New York Yankees radio play-by-play announcer John Sterling passed away Monday at the age of 87. Sterling joined Yankees broadcasts in 1989 and called games over 36 seasons, including 5,060 matchups in a row. Over the years, he became known for his distinctive and passionate broadcast style, creating custom home run calls for each Yankees player and enthusiastically announcing team victories.
WFAN announced Sterling’s passing on Monday morning. “We are devastated to hear about the passing of John Sterling, a WFAN and Yankees radio icon whose voice was synonymous with an entire generation of Yankee fandom,” the station wrote in a statement on social media Monday. “Rest in peace, John.”
Sterling called 24 Yankees postseason appearances as the team won championships with “Core 4” superstars Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada. In the latter half of his career, he called a variety of career milestones for current Yankees, most notably OF Aaron Judge breaking the American League single-season home run record in 2022.
“Through his unique style and passionate play-by-play calls, Sterling endeared himself to generations of players and fans as radio voice of the Yankees from 1989 to 2024,” Major League Baseball wrote in a statement on social media Monday. “His signature punctuation of Yankees victories included calling the final out of five World Series championships.”
Sterling suffered a heart attack this past January, but he told WFAN three months ago that he was “very fortunate” and that “all things are good.” During the final years of his broadcasting career, he did not call as many games on the road. Sterling officially retired from the job in April 2024 after being fatigued following the team’s first road trip of the season. The broadcaster, however, returned to the booth towards the end of the regular season and called the team’s run to the World Series.
“The Yankees mourn the loss of legendary broadcaster John Sterling,” the organization wrote in a statement on social media. “Our thoughts are with John’s family, friends and loved ones at this time.”
After initially being paired with Jay Johnstone (1989-90) and Joe Angel (1991) in his first three years on Yankees broadcasts, Sterling worked with current YES Network play-by-play announcer Michael Kay for a decade on WBAC. Kay moved to television prior to the 2002 season, and Sterling subsequently called games with Charley Steiner for three seasons. Sterling then worked with Suzyn Waldman for the remainder of his career, which included the team moving from WCBS to WFAN in 2014.
Prior to calling Yankees games, Sterling worked on several radio stations in the Northeast, the first of which came in Wellsville, N.Y. at 19 years old. Sterling eventually started working on WBCM and broadcasting Baltimore Bullets and Baltimore Colts games, and he moved back to New York City in 1971 to work on WMCA. Sterling called games for the New Jersey Nets and New York Islanders as well before relocating to Atlanta where he hosted a show on WSB in addition to broadcasting Atlanta Braves baseball and Atlanta Hawks basketball.
