Legendary New York Yankees baseball play-by-play man John Sterling joins host Tim Hanlon for a cavalcade of career memories from his 50+ year journey in sports broadcasting – including a treasure trove of stops along the way with previously incarnated or otherwise defunct teams (and leagues).
Now celebrating his 30th consecutive season with the Bronx Bombers, Sterling’s unique vocal stylings have become synonymous with some of the Yankees’ most signature moments during that time – including the team’s dominant run of American League and World Series championships across the late 1990s and much of the 2000s.
The path to becoming one of baseball’s marquee team broadcasters was far from direct, however, and we (naturally) obsess over some of Sterling’s more memorable “forgotten” gigs along the way, including:
Falling into radio play-by-play with the NBA Baltimore Bullets as a late fill-in for Jim Karvellas;
Becoming the almost-voice of the ABA Washington Caps (until a hasty move to Virginia to become the Squires);
Hustling to secure radio rights to the upstart WHA New York Raiders for Gotham’s talk powerhouse WMCA - and the irony of later calling games for the NHL Islanders;
The highs of the ABA New York, and lows of the NBA New Jersey Nets;
“Phoning it in” for the World Football League’s short-lived New York Stars; AND
The ahead-of-its-time Enterprise Sports Radio Network.
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Classic John Sterling audio clips courtesy of Eric Paddon; follow him on YouTube here
