John Sterling, whose booming calls and signature flair defined generations of New York Yankees broadcasts, has died at 87, the team’s longtime radio home announced Monday.
Sterling, who spent parts of 36 seasons behind the microphone, became synonymous with Yankees baseball, delivering thousands of calls that echoed across the Bronx and beyond.
He joined the Yankees’ radio booth in 1989 and went on to call 5,420 regular-season games and 211 postseason contests before retiring in April 2024. His remarkable durability was underscored by a streak of 5,060 consecutive games called from September 1989 to July 2019.
“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 said in a statement.
Over his career, Sterling was on the call for 24 postseason appearances, including seven World Series and five championship runs. His enthusiastic delivery and creativity became a hallmark of Yankees broadcasts, most notably his emphatic “The Yankees win!” call that punctuated victories.
For the final two decades of his career, Sterling partnered with Suzyn Waldman, forming one of baseball’s most recognizable radio duos.
A native of New York, Sterling’s voice became a constant for fans, bridging eras of Yankees baseball and leaving an imprint on the franchise’s modern history.
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