John Sterling retired earlier this year due to health concerns, but the legendary New York Yankees radio announcer will soon be back.
Sterling is coming out of retirement to call Yankees playoff games for WFAN, Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reports.
Sterling will call both home and road games for the Yankees. He had cut down on the number of road games he called prior to stepping away from WFAN in April, and there was talk that the 86-year-old might only want to call home games for the Yankees in the postseason. Marchand said WFAN executives were only open to Sterling returning for the playoffs if he committed to calling all games.
Top Yankee executives last week reportedly signed off on Sterling’s return, and Sterling accepted an offer from WFAN on Thursday. Longtime partner Suzyn Waldman will join Sterling on the postseason radio broadcasts.
Sterling was replaced this season by a rotation of Rickie Ricardo, Justin Shackil and Emmanuel Berbari. Sterling had previously said he would feel badly replacing the trio for the postseason, but he ultimately accepted the offer.
Once the Yankees’ playoff run has come to an end, Sterling is expected to go back into retirement.
Sterling is one of the most recognizable broadcasters in baseball. He has been calling Yankee games on the radio since 1989 and is well-known for his player-specific home run calls and euphoric manner of announcing Yankee victories. Sterling has sometimes been criticized for mischaracterizing certain plays, a habit that some would say has gotten worse in recent years.
Sterling went 30 years without missing a game between 1989 and 2019.
