It is high! It is far! It is...

[Michael Echan]

A decent fluff piece about John Sterling. Nice article to pass the time with, but I think Best could have pushed a little harder on the subject of Sterling's gaffes and incorrect calls. But that's just me.

Commence feeding frenzy.

http://www.newsday.com/columnists/neil-best/love-or-hate-him-sterling-has-our-attention-1.1368973

 

[shockey]

just to fill in an oft-discussed topic among yankees fans, as mentioned in the piece sterling refuses to divulge his age. with good reason: i know for a fact he is either 72 or 73.

that said, he still has amazing pipes, energy and endurance.

but it also might help explain why HE JUST CAN'T SEE WELL ANYMORE!!

of course, no explanation for his atrocious, terrible, nauseating pet calls. he sounds like steinbrenner or any other much-hated person of notoriety: they profess to be doing fine because everyone they meet tells 'em so.

no doubt. folks are polite in person, face-to-face, for the most part. but there isn't a yankee fan i know -- and i know plenty-- who doesn't agree the team's radio team is horrendously bad. thank gawd i never have to listen to the radio anymore.

 

[playthrough]

72 or 73, with an 11-year-old daughter and 9-year-old triplets. Mercy. I'd never leave the booth either!

 

[DanOregon]

Apparently, Sterling is just 61, born on the Fourth of July.

 

[shockey]

Apparently, Sterling is just 61, born on the Fourth of July.

i promise you, this wiklipedia date is wrong. he's been lying and/or not disclosing his age for years.

how do i know? glad you asked. i was a 15-year-old h.s. sophomore when i interviewed sterling for a journalism class. the date was 10/24/72, the day jackie robinson died. sterling was a sports radio talk show host in nyc.

anyway, he was only too happy to brag that he'd hit it big at 35. yes, 35. do the math, people.

 

[DanOregon]

So he wasn't 24 when you interviewed him?

 

[shockey]

So he wasn't 24 when you interviewed him?

um, that is correct, sir. for those scoring at home who give a spit.

we are all about accuracy here at SportsJournalists.com. ;D 8)

 

[BYH]

Apparently, Sterling is just 61, born on the Fourth of July.

i promise you, this wiklipedia date is wrong. he's been lying and/or not disclosing his age for years.

how do i know? glad you asked. i was a 15-year-old h.s. sophomore when i interviewed sterling for a journalism class. the date was 10/24/72, the day jackie robinson died. sterling was a sports radio talk show host in nyc.

anyway, he was only too happy to brag that he'd hit it big at 35. yes, 35. do the math, people.

This may be the greatest post in board history. Seriously. The fact John Sterling admitted his age to some kid 37 years ago, only to have said kid actually make it in journalism and retain this information long enough to identify Sterling's age when he absolutely refuses to do so...awesome. Totally awesome!!!

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Apparently, Sterling is just 61, born on the Fourth of July.

i promise you, this wiklipedia date is wrong. he's been lying and/or not disclosing his age for years.

how do i know? glad you asked. i was a 15-year-old h.s. sophomore when i interviewed sterling for a journalism class. the date was 10/24/72, the day jackie robinson died. sterling was a sports radio talk show host in nyc.

anyway, he was only too happy to brag that he'd hit it big at 35. yes, 35. do the math, people.

This may be the greatest post in board history. Seriously. The fact John Sterling admitted his age to some kid 37 years ago, only to have said kid actually make it in journalism and retain this information long enough to identify Sterling's age when he absolutely refuses to do so...awesome. Totally awesome!!!

The man still has one of the great voices in the history of the profession.

But even given that, he should have retired, years ago.

But then, announcing Yankee games has never been about niggling considerations such as
. . . accuracy.

 

[write then drink]

i heard Sterling's Teixeira HR call yesterday

he called it a Tex Message

sterling does get a ton of stuff wrong and his catch phrases are horrifyingly bad. but he's so over the top i get a kick out of him

and "It is high, it is far ...." is actually a very good signature HR call (it's just that the ball doesn't always go out when he does it)

 

[spnited]

And then there are the countless times he yells "it is high ... etc." and comes back to tell you that somebody hit a bullet of a line drive.

He did it with a Damon HR the other ...actually said, "That ball got out so fast I almost didn't have time to make the call."

Self-serving jackass... and just as pompous away from the broadcast booth.

 

[shockey]

exactly, spnited. "it is high, it is far..." is far too often a line drive, sometimes not a home run and too frequently both.

listen, he couldn't have been nicer to me as a 15-year-old dork with a big, clumsy tape recorder. it was a huge moment for me and the buddy who accompanied me (it was his recorder).

john hadn't yet become the blowhard he developed into. wasn't even yet doing any play-by-play in n.y., just the talk show.

but he eventually became incredibly short and rude to callers, his ego beginning to run amok. believe me, i take no delight in running him down.

 

[slappy4428]

Read the first two grafs and turned away...

I remember when Ernie Harwell was eased -- OK shoved -- out in the waning days of the Monaghan regime. One of the WJR sports guys -- and not Frank Beckmann -- would complain that Harwelll couldnt see the ball either. A long fly ball was a popup, a popup was a homer.
"He's still got the pipes," compained the uptight broadcaster, "but he just can;t see the ball any more."
Harwell retired 10 years later, legend intact. And ego is one thing that Harwell doesn't have.
I'd listen to Harwell now in his 90s and cant see than Sterling in his 70s and cant see.

 

[spaceman]

he stood like a house on the side of the road and watched it go by.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Self-serving jackass... and just as pompous away from the broadcast booth.

. . . making him a perfect Yankee employee . . .

 

[novelist_wannabe]

Check that ...

My fave Harwell line: "He's out for excessive window shopping."

 

[Boom_70]

And then there are the countless times he yells "it is high ... etc." and comes back to tell you that somebody hit a bullet of a line drive.

He did it with a Damon HR the other ...actually said, "That ball got out so fast I almost didn't have time to make the call."

Self-serving jackass... and just as pompous away from the broadcast booth.

He is the real life Ted Knight. I've listened to him for all of his 21 years doing the Yankees and there was a time when he was not such a pompous jackass. It seems like only the last 5 or 6 years that he added too much to his act such as the personalized HR calls ( abomb for a rod) . Suzyn Waldman does not help. His best years were with Michael Kay.

 

[Lugnuts]

i promise you, this wiklipedia date is wrong. he's been lying and/or not disclosing his age for years.

how do i know? glad you asked. i was a 15-year-old h.s. sophomore when i interviewed sterling for a journalism class. the date was 10/24/72, the day jackie robinson died. sterling was a sports radio talk show host in nyc.

anyway, he was only too happy to brag that he'd hit it big at 35. yes, 35. do the math, people.

Love it.

I so badly want to approach him and ask him to do "Dominique... Mag-ni-FIQUE!"

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Does anyone here know ANYONE
who goes out of their way to listen to Yanqui games on the
wireless because Mr. Self-Reverential Douchebag is
doing the game?

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Does anyone here know ANYONE
who goes out of their way to listen to Yanqui games on the
wireless because Mr. Self-Reverential Douchebag is
doing the game?

Depends what the mix is on TV, even on YES. But if it's a choice between a sometimes annoying local announcer who handles the coverage every day and listening to Fox or ESPN announcers who are unfamiliar with the team and repeat anecdotes I've already heard/read during the week, you bet your ass I'm picking Sterling, warts and all.

My philosophy on broadcasters is:

1.) I don't consider them journalists, so I don't set the bar very high for them informing me. There is no real harm if, for four seconds, I am misled into believing someone has hit a home run. I've also been known to misjudge whether a ball is going out when observing with my own eyes, much closer to the action than the broadcast booth.

2.) They are not the perfectly grilled steak, they are the undercooked baked potato. I'm not going to judge the overall experience on whether I enjoy the announcers, even on radio. Baseball is still the entree and I won't let any announcer ruin it for me.

3.) I don't think most of us have a huge frame of reference with broadcasters around the country, at least not on an everyday basis. I've lived/worked in four MLB markets and found most of them annoying, at least sometimes, when I listen to them enough.