Yankees’ Aaron Boone, Aaron Judge Reflects on ‘Iconic’ John Sterling

NEW YORK — For the past few seasons, New York Yankees Manager Aaron Boone celebrated each win with a line familiar to baseball fans.

“I still do it and my coach looks at me like I’m crazy,” Boone said Monday. “I don’t even know if they know what I’m doing. But every time the finals are over and I go up to shake the hands of the players, I say, ‘Ballgame over! The Yankees win! The Yankees win!’ And I’m shaking hands with all my coaches. It makes me sick to think about it.”

John Sterling used the call to punctuate every Yankees victory on the air as the team’s radio voice for parts of 36 seasons to complete a broadcasting career that spanned six decades. It became synonymous with Sterling’s personalized home run calls as well as his eccentric style. Favorite radio play-by-play broadcaster Died on Monday A few months after undergoing heart surgery after suffering a heart attack at a hospital in New Jersey. He was 87 years old.

“A giant of a sport,” Boone said before the Yankees game Baltimore Orioles. “He did it his way. Walked his own beat as much as possible and was really one of a kind. And a sad day, but also one where we can celebrate an iconic figure.”

The Yankees honored Sterling with a moment of silence before Monday’s game. Michael Kay and Suzyne Waldman, Sterling’s broadcast partners for the last 20 seasons, placed bouquets at home plate.

Sterling was on the air for 5,420 regular-season and 211 postseason games before he retired in April 2024 before returning to the World Series Finals in the club’s postseason.

He was at the microphone for 5,060 consecutive games from September 1989 to July 2019. He has called 24 Yankees postseason trips, seven World Series appearances and five World Series titles. He’s been on call for monumental milestones, from Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit to Alex Rodriguez’s 500th home run. Aaron is the judgeRecord-breaking 62nd home run in 2022.

“I will remember that he brought New York theater into the ballpark,” Judge said Monday. “I think that’s the best way to describe it. He just brings such enthusiasm. He’s almost a child on the air.”

As Judge went deep in the first inning, Kay paid tribute to Sterling with his home run call: “That’s high! That’s far! That’s gone! Aaron Judge! A Judge blast! Here comes Judge!”

Boone wrote one of the few memorable moments Sterling didn’t call when he sent the Yankees to the World Series with a walk-off home run. Boston Red Sox in Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series. Sterling’s partner at the time, Charlie Steiner, was on the microphone during the extra innings. Years later, when Boone was a broadcaster for ESPN, Waldman gave Boone a tape of Sterling making the call.

“Whatever John,” Boone chuckled.

Boone said his fondest memories of Sterling off the field were the “sweet, funny, encouraging” comments he made while the team was traveling, by bus or plane, and working through a rough patch. He recalled Sterling’s “boyish” reaction to being hit by a foul ball while in the air during a game at Yankee Stadium in 2023.

He recalls Sterling’s booming voice serving as the summer soundtrack for generations of fans.

“He was on his own,” Boone said. “He was an original. There’s never been, probably no one else, the way he did it. And I appreciate that. And I ate it. I loved it.”