NEW YORK — The Yankees will wear patches the rest of the season honoring legendary radio play-by-play announcer John Sterling, who died Monday at age 87. They will also continue to wear hats with “JS” stitched on the back through May 17.
But will the Yankees one day give the ultimate salute to Sterling, whose run spanned 36 years and five World Series wins? Will he get his own plaque in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium?
Many of Sterling’s contemporaries told The Athletic that the Yankees should memorialize him. Actually, they were more emphatic than that.
“Is Mel Allen in Monument Park?” said Suzyn Waldman, Sterling’s longtime broadcast partner. “Is Bob Sheppard in Monument Park? John Sterling is the same as those two. So, to me, yes, he should (be in). Definitely.”
“Heck yeah,” said Dave Sims, who took over as the Yankees’ lead radio play-by-play voice when Sterling retired. “John impacted here in a very large way.”
“(Sterling) will always be remembered and should be in Monument Park without question,” legendary New York City sports broadcaster Marv Albert said. “I don’t see an argument there at all.”
Yet, not everyone agreed.
Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, another big-name New York sports personality, said that the honor should be reserved for players, managers, executives or scouts who “help the team win the games.”
“Sterling didn’t help the Yankees win games, so I wouldn’t put him in,” he said. Russo said he would be fine with the Yankees naming the broadcast booth or the press box after him, though.
Sterling became the Yankees’ play-by-play announcer in 1989, calling 5,060 consecutive games (plus 211 more in the postseason) until he missed his first game in July 2019. In all, he called 5,651 Yankees games, including eight World Series appearances. He was known nationally for his over-the-top, personalized home run calls and for his trademark phrase, “Theeeee Yankees win!” after every victory.
By the time he retired in 2024, he was known as “The Voice of the Yankees.”
“I remember as a kid listening to Mel Allen and Red Barber and Vin Scully with the (Los Angeles) Dodgers,” Albert said, “and with all the years that John did Yankees baseball, you put him in a very special category and a very special group.”
In a statement following Sterling’s death, the Yankees called him “one of their own.”
“(Sterling’s) enthusiasm for the art of broadcasting perfectly complemented our city and our fans,” the club said. “The symmetry between John and his audience was both undeniable and magical, and his signature calls will resonate for as long as we put on pinstripes — especially after every Yankees win.”
Monument Park sits behind the wall in center field, and it’s adorned with shrines, plaques and retired numbers. The Yankees have honored 37 people, from Hall of Famers (Babe Ruth, Derek Jeter and Yogi Berra) to franchise greats (Andy Pettitte, Willie Randolph and Bernie Williams) and to managers (Joe Torre, Miller Huggins, Billy Martin).
Jackie Robinson, who didn’t play for the Yankees but broke baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers, also was given a plaque. CC Sabathia will join them when the team retires his No. 52 in September. Aaron Judge is all but a lock for eventual enshrinement.
Aaron Judge is all but a lock for Monument Park. Should John Sterling be there one day? (Ron Jenkins / Getty Images)
Ultimately, owner Hal Steinbrenner decides who gets into Monument Park. An informal array of Yankees higher-ups discuss potential enshrinement candidates throughout the year, meeting periodically, and if they feel someone stands out, they make a presentation to Steinbrenner, a league source told The Athletic.
There are three men honored in Monument Park for their contributions with their voices. One is longtime stadium announcer Bob Sheppard. The others are broadcasters Phil Rizzuto, who also played 13 years at shortstop for the Yankees and was voted into the Hall of Fame, and Mel Allen, considered the first “Voice of the Yankees” for his play-by-play work from 1939-64, and for parts of the ’70s and ’80s.
Most people whom The Athletic spoke to said the inclusion of Allen and Sheppard should make adding Sterling the obvious move — except for Russo, who acknowledged their presence but said “two wrongs don’t make a right. I still wouldn’t do it.”
“If Mel Allen and Bob Sheppard are there,” longtime New York Mets radio broadcaster Howie Rose said, “then this is the biggest no-brainer going.”
Rick Cerrone was the Yankees’ public relations director when Allen was inducted in 1998 — two years after he died. He called Sterling “the modern era’s Mel Allen.”
Joe Girardi managed the Yankees from 2008-2017, guiding them to their last World Series win in 2009. He said “the older I get, the more I appreciate what (Sterling) did.”
Girardi said he watched in the radio booth as Sterling had his nose in a book 10 minutes before one of the World Series games at Dodger Stadium in 2024 rather than sweating his preparation for it.
“I’d be scrambling over notes, making sure I’m getting everything,” Girardi said, “and to be able to do it as long as he did, and the grind that he went through, he was truly amazing.”
Sterling’s contributions to broadcasting were recognized nationally after his death. Announcers for the Mets, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners gave their own twists — as did Michael Kay on YES Network’s Yankees broadcast — on his calls during their games Monday night.
In Seattle, Mariners lead radio voice Rick Rizzs dressed in a suit and a red tie with a red pocket square in honor of Sterling, who wore a suit to every game.
“What I loved about John most of all (is) that he was uncompromisingly himself,” veteran St. Louis Cardinals play-by-player Chip Caray said. “In a world where so many people want conformity and want to pigeonhole people into what they want them to be, he was unflinchingly himself.”
Derek Jeter said that Sterling “is as much a part of the fabric of the New York Yankees organization as any player.”
“It was a beautiful statement,” Waldman said. “More people knew John Sterling than half the people in that (Yankees) clubhouse.”
