John Sterling

John Sterling was the voice of New York — a broadcaster of singular style, bottomless passion, and unshakeable joy who spent 64 years doing precisely what he always dreamed of doing. Born John Sloss on July 4, 1938, on Manhattan's Upper East Side, he grew up on the radio broadcasts of America's pastime, captivated not by the players but by the men describing them. He briefly attended Moravian College, Boston University, and Columbia University's School of General Studies before following his instincts into a broadcast booth in Wellsville, New York, where he called high school sports at WLSV and quietly changed his surname from Sloss to Sterling — a name that would one day echo from every transistor radio in the five boroughs. Sterling's career unfolded across basketball courts and hockey rinks before baseball claimed him entirely. He voiced the Baltimore Bullets, the New York Islanders, and the Nets through the 1970s, then spent the 1980s at Turner Sports in Atlanta calling Braves baseball and Hawks basketball. But his destiny was waiting in New York. In 1989, at age 50, Sterling received an unexpected phone call asking if he'd like to call Yankees games on WABC radio. He never auditioned. He simply said yes — and spent the next 36 years making the assignment his masterpiece. What followed was one of the longest and most beloved runs in American sports broadcasting. Sterling called 5,651 Yankees games, including 225 postseason contests and five World Series championships. From September 1989 to July 2019, he never missed a single broadcast — 5,060 consecutive games over 30 uninterrupted years. He was at the microphone for every game of Derek Jeter's Hall of Fame career, and for every pitch Mariano Rivera ever threw in pinstripes. His signature calls became the language of Yankees fandom: the theatrical "Theeee Yankees win!" boomed across Yankee Stadium after every home victory, and his personalized home run calls — "An A-bomb from A-Rod!," "Bern, baby, Bern!," "A thrilla from Godzilla!" — gave each era its own soundtrack. Always the showman, he arrived at every broadcast in a Brooks Brothers suit and tie, immaculate on a medium that never showed his face. Sterling retired in April 2024, then returned to call the full World Series that fall — his final broadcast on October 30, 2024. In January 2026 he suffered a major heart attack at his home in Englewood, New Jersey. Though his heart recovered, his mobility did not, and he spent his final months sharp and engaged, following sports closely from home. He died from heart failure on June 4, 2026, at age 87. He is survived by his four children: daughter Abigail and triplets Veronica, Bradford, and Derek — the "trips" he adored.