Suzyn Waldman will never forget the day she met John Sterling.
It was 1987 — the year WFAN had made its debut as the world’s first 24-hour sports talk radio station. Waldman worked providing news updates during the afternoon show, which was supposed to have been hosted by Pete Franklin, but Franklin had a heart attack. The station cycled in weekly guests in his absence.
One Monday, Sterling showed up to host. After polite hellos, Sterling walked to the microphone, and did something Waldman found peculiar. Instead of sitting in front of the mic, he grabbed it, raised it to his mouth, and with his right hand cupping his right ear, he did the entire show standing up.
All four hours. On his feet. Cupping his ear.
“I said to myself, ‘What an interesting man this must be,’” Waldman recalled this week.
The pair had instant chemistry.
“He was talking to me, and we did updates, and as the week went on, we saw that we knew the same sports references, the same Broadway shows,” she said.
These days, there may be nobody closer to Sterling than Waldman, who was both saddened but heartened by the 85-year-old New York City legend’s decision to retire, which he announced Monday. The pair were in their 20th season together in the Yankees booth with Waldman serving as analyst. They were friends long before that.
Waldman — a legend in her own right as a trailblazer for women in sports — had known for days that Sterling was calling it quits after 36 years as the Yankees’ primary play-by-player, a run highlighted by five World Series wins, dozens of quotable home run calls and his exclamation mark following every victory: “Thaaaaa Yankees win!
But that didn’t make it any easier for her.
“Nothing can be the same,” she said. “Life goes on. We all go on. But nothing will ever be the same.”
On Saturday afternoon, the Yankees will honor Sterling with a pregame ceremony at Yankee Stadium.
The Athletic asked some of those who know Sterling well for their fondest memories with the iconic broadcaster:
John Sterling (left) and Michael Kay (right) at Old Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium last September. (Rich Graessle / Icon Sportswire via Associated Press)
Michael Kay, YES Network play-by-play announcer
- Sterling liked to sleep late on the road. So Kay was surprised when he walked to breakfast in the lobby of The Westin Seattle to not just see Sterling, but for him to be dressed in a full tracksuit, carrying three dozen roses and rushing across the lobby. It was the mid-1990s.
“John,” Kay, who called games with Sterling for a decade on the radio before moving into TV, said, “What are you doing?”
Sterling didn’t hesitate.
“I’ve met the girl I’m going to marry, my boy!” Sterling said.
He was on the way to see his future wife, Jennifer. The pair were married for 12 years. They had four children.
Then there was Game 2 of the 2000 American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners. Early in the day, Sterling was at the hospital to witness the birth of his triplets — two girls and a boy. Later that night, the Yankees won, 7-1, and boarded the team’s charter to Washington.
On the jet, third baseman Scott Brosius saw Sterling. He was baffled.
“John,” Brosius said, “didn’t you just have triplets? Why are you on the flight?”
Sterling shrugged.
“Nothing more I can do.”
Sweeny Murti, former WFAN producer and reporter (1993-2022):
Murti was producing a Sunday morning show for Mike Francesa the day after the 1996 World Series ended. It was football season but because the Yankees had won their first title in 18 years, most of the talk and phone calls centered on the Yankees.
Murti remembers a father calling in saying his two-year-old son did a Sterling impression. He was hesitant to have a toddler go on the air with Francesa.
“He puts his kid on the phone and he does it for me. I laughed. It’s pretty good,” Murti said. “I told Mike during a commercial and left it up to him. He said, ‘Let’s put him on.’ Mike was in a good mood because the Yankees won the World Series.
“I remember vividly his name was Nate, and this perfect little voice said, ‘It is high! It is far! It is gone!’ Mike is cackling laughing on the air. The kid hit it perfectly.”
What sticks with Murti is Nate is now 30 years old. If he grew up to be a Yankees fan like his father, Sterling has been the soundtrack of his entire life.
“I think about the idea that John’s calls are imitated by a lot of people,” Murti said. “That is such a wonderful tribute and form of flattery. I think of it this way. Vin Scully is the greatest baseball broadcaster of all time, but I would find it hard to believe that you had kids in the backyard or in the playground doing Vin Scully calls as they were playing wiffleball. It’s almost impossible to be like him. Can you imagine how many kids grew up playing backyard wiffleball screaming, ‘It is high! It is far! It is gone!’?”
From 2014 to 2022, Murti sat next to Sterling in the ninth inning as he waited to give his postgame report. In any big moment at the end of games, Sterling leans back in his chair then leans forward, puts his finger to his earpiece and lives and dies with every moment.
Sterling loves theater. This wasn’t just a radio gig to him; the booth was his stage.
“The man walks into the press box in a suit to broadcast the game on the radio, but he’s better dressed than most of the TV people,” Murti said. “This is a performance. He’s not just talking on the radio. He’s performing. I think he just lived that. He knows this is entertainment for us. He was performing it for us just like any great stage actor would.”
In Judge’s first at-bat in the major leagues, he crushed a solo home run. It was Aug. 13, 2016. Judge’s parents, Wayne and Patty, were in the stands to see their son’s blast travel an estimated 416 feet and smash off the batter’s eye in center field.
Seeing it once wasn’t enough for Wayne.
“I know my dad replayed it over and over again” on YouTube, Judge said. Each time, it was Sterling’s call of the home run, Judge said.
“My parents, they listen to the radio and they love Suzyn and John going back and forth, even going back and listening to some historic homers and big moments in Yankees history,” Judge said. “With John, he’s going to be missed.”
Judge added that Yankees players love discussing how Sterling will craft a home run call whenever someone new joins the team. Judge said he remembers teammates debating what Sterling might create for them next.
“He was so witty, smart,” Judge said. “The home run calls he comes up with.”
The players never guess it right.
“He always outsmarts us,” Judge said. “He comes up with something great the fans love, and that we love as players. John’s a big part of this family.”
Well before Sterling became famous for all of his zany home run calls, he was just as eccentric when he broadcasted New York Nets games in the ABA.
“As funny as he is on the Yankees, it was awesome. We loved him. He was our guy,” Rosenhaus said. “If you didn’t know first names on the team, you had no idea what he was talking about. Going back to the ABA days, their teams were phenomenal, led by Dr. J. His play-by-play was, ‘Doc has it at the top of the key, down low to the Whopper, outside to Super John, the BT Express has it now …’ If you didn’t know who these guys were, then you were lost. He just assumed everyone knew these guys’ nicknames. He was absolutely hilarious and we loved him.”
Midway through high school, Rosenhaus, who joined Cleveland’s broadcasting team in 2007, decided he wanted to follow in Sterling’s footsteps. He finally got to thank Sterling for being a guidepost when the Yankees first played the then-Indians that season. Sterling, of course, had stories to share about his Nets days.
“He used to talk about, ‘Well I was down at practice today and they needed an extra, so I was playing.’” Rosenhaus said. “He would somehow work that into the broadcast. It was nuts. When they joined the NBA, they had to sell Dr. J to the Sixers because the entry fee into the NBA was way too much for the guy who owned the team. They were a 20-win team in the NBA for their first several years, but John Sterling made them sound like they were just on the doorstep of the playoffs. They had these monster losing streaks and were terrible, but he made them fun.”
Sterling also had fun with his sports talk show on WMCA beginning in 1971.
“He would hang up on people and berate them: ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about!’” Rosenhaus recalled. “It was awesome. We’d go to school the next day, ‘Did you hear what John Sterling said last night?’ There was barely any sports talk back then, but he’d get on and just shred people.”
Aaron Boone, Yankees manager
Though Boone spent a half-season with the Yankees in 2003, he didn’t get to know Sterling well until he took over as manager six years ago. On the team bus or jet, Sterling would often sidle up to Boone. He’d offer “words of encouragement or kindness or just give his thoughts,” Boone said.
“He was so gracious with me,” the manager said.
Boone’s father, Bob, played 15 years in the majors. His grandfather, Ray, played 13 seasons in the bigs. He grew up as a baseball-obsessed kid in a baseball-obsessed family. He said he would go to sleep with the Philadelphia Phillies radio broadcast playing next to his bed.
“I have a romantic relationship with baseball on the radio,” he said.
Boone especially loved listening to Sterling as they became friends. He would find himself searching social media after games to hear how Sterling called certain home runs or big moments.
“His voice is legendary,” Boone said.
But Boone’s favorite moment came in a dubious moment for Sterling. Boone laughed reminiscing about when a foul ball zipped into the booth and hit Sterling in the head, bloodying his forehead, as he called a Yankees-Red Sox game at Yankee Stadium last June. Sterling stayed in to call the game.
“Ow! Ow! Ow! It really hit me,” Sterling said at the moment. “I didn’t know it was coming back that far.”
Boone loved it.
“That is John,” the manager said. “There’s a youthful exuberance to the way he goes about things that is uniquely John and unapologetically John and I appreciate that about him.”
Steve Holman, Hawks radio broadcaster
One of Sterling’s closest friends is Holman. The two have known each other since they worked side by side calling Hawks games in the 80s. Holman became the team’s primary radio broadcaster in 1989 after Sterling left for the Yankees gig, a job he actually didn’t audition for.
John Sterling and Steve Holman have been the only play-by-play announcers for the Atlanta Hawks since 1981. (Courtesy of Steve Holman)
There are so many memories Holman can recall over the years with Sterling. Steve’s late son, Steve Jr., would take his wagon up the hill in Alpharetta, Ga. to fetch beers for the pair as they lounged at the neighborhood pool. Any time the Hawks are in New York to play the Knicks or Nets, Holman and Sterling are sure to be found at a steakhouse — Sterling loves Keene’s — or any classic Italian spot.
“After all of these years, he’s still one of my best friends,” Holman said. “He calls me or I call him at least once a week. I just love him. He’s my closest friend I’ve ever had in this business. We only worked together for 3 1/2 years in Atlanta but we’ve stayed close all of these years. My kids refer to him as Uncle John. He told me the other day, ‘We can now go out anytime!’”
If there’s anyone who knows about the grind, it’s Holman. He’s called 2,999 straight games after taking over for Sterling in 1989. The grind became too much for Sterling over the past few years. He can live at his own pace now.
“He’s legitimately happy,” Holman said of Sterling. “A piano is off his back. The traveling, having to get up and shower, getting to the ballpark at 2:30 or 3, it’s a lot. He got all of his kids through college, which is what he wanted to do. I’m glad he’s being celebrated while he’s alive. I think all of us could hope for that. That’s my favorite thing that he’s able to get all of this attention. I’m happy that he’s happy.”
— The Athletic’s Zack Meisel contributed reporting to this story.
(Top photo of Sterling and Waldman in January 2020: Mike Stobe / Getty Images)
Daniel Miller is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. His coverage spans from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis for sports enthusiasts.
