John Sterling had been the voice of a generation for Yankees fans and had some of the most memorable home run calls of any local baseball broadcaster who sat behind a microphone.
On Monday, WFAN announced that the legendary broadcaster had died at the age of 87.
Sterling served as the Yankees’ radio play-by-play voice for 36 seasons and, over that time, created some of the most quotable baseball calls and nicknames, ranging from “Ballgame over. Yankees win. Thuuuuugh Yankees win” to “It is high, it is far, it is gone.”
But where Sterling got the most creative was his ability to come up with personalized home run calls for players. That led to Sterling generating 144 personalized home run calls, Pinstripe Alley once tabulated when the play-by-play man retired back in 2024.
The idea of a personalized call was not something that Sterling started to do in baseball, and its origins date back to his time calling games for the Hawks in the NBA. For instance, Sterling would remark, “Dom-in-ique is mag-ni-fique!” when talking about Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins.
Sterling eventually brought it to the Yankees in the 1990s.
“It was never intended for every player because, frankly, I’m not smart enough to do something for every player,” Sterling told reporters back in 2024. “But I did the best I could. It’s amazing that it became so big.”
From “Bern, baby, Bern!” to “All Rise! Here comes the Judge!” here are some of Sterling’s most memorable home run calls:
Bernie Williams – “Bernie goes boom! Bern, baby, Bern!”
Believed to be the call that started it all, “Bern, baby, Bern!” and has stood the test of time as one of Sterling’s most memorable calls. Williams, of course, patrolled the outfield for the Yankees from 1991-2006 and the call itself references lyrics from the 1976 classic, “Disco Inferno” by The Trammps.
Williams told Yankees magazine in 2024 that he was “glad that I was the first.”
Jorge Posada – “Jorgie juiced one!”
Another one of the classic calls for a dynasty-era Yankee. Jorge Posada spent his entire career in the majors with the Yankees, beginning in 1995 and ending in 2011.
“Jorgie juiced one!” got plenty of use during his more than a decade in The Bronx as Posada hit 275 home runs during his Yankee tenure.
Tino Martinez – “The Bam-Tino!”
Sterling had broken out the Babe Ruth “Great Bambino” puns several times during his career – heck, even The Post broke one out for a front page – but “The Bam-Tino” came before he ever declared Jason Giambi as “The Giambino” or Gary Sanchez was “The Sanchino.”
Martinez played for the Yankees from 1996 through 2001 and had hit 44 home runs during his second year in the Big Apple.
Hideki Matsui – “A thrilla by Godzilla!”
Matsui had been nicknamed “Godzilla” from his time with the Yomiuri Giants, so it seemed like a natural fit that Sterling would end up incorporating it into a home run call for the Yankees slugger. Matsui is regarded as one of the greatest sluggers in Japanese baseball history and made an indelible mark during his time with the Yankees.
Robinson Canó – “Robbie Canó, don’t ‘cha know?!”
Sterling mentioned this one when he had been asked about his favorite home run calls over the years back in 2024 and he got to break it out quite a bit during Canó’s time with the Yanks from 2005-2013.
Alex Rodriguez – “It’s an A-Bomb! From A-Rod!”
Another one of Sterling’s favorite calls, and probably one of his most uttered calls during his time behind the microphone. Sterling called every single home run by Rodriguez during his time in a Yankees uniform.
Between this one and his Canó call, Sterling said that “I think those are pretty good.”
Mark Teixeira – “He sends a Tex message!”
What made this one quite hilarious was the fact that Sterling was quite low-tech and yet was referencing a more high-tech kind of way to communicate. Sterling used a flip phone and did not text or have an email account.
Nevertheless, this call was on the Mark, even working in “You’re on the Mark, Teixeira!”
Gleyber Torres – “It’s Gleyber Day! And like a good Gleyber, Torres is there!”
Working in one of the most memorable slogans from a TV ad into your home run call is sure to make it an instant classic. That’s what Sterling did here, putting his own spin on the well-known State Farm jingle.
Giancarlo Stanton – “Giancarlo, non si può de stopparlo!”
Sterling made Yankee fans break out the Duolingo on this one.
Translated from Italian, the call meant, “Giancarlo, you can’t be stopped!” The Sterling call on a Stanton grand slam that he hit against the Blue Jays ended up being the broadcaster’s final game in the radio booth before announcing his swift retirement in April 2024.
Aaron Judge – “All Rise! Here comes the Judge!”
Judge had given the Yankees radio broadcaster plenty of home runs to call over the years and there was the home run chase in 2022 when the Yankee slugger belted 62 home runs to set a new American League record.
After Sterling announced his retirement in 2024, Judge told Newsday that it was just the fans who clamored to know what the home run calls would sound like when the Yankees brought in a new player.
“We’ll be sitting on the bus, and we trade for somebody new, or it’s somebody’s first game, we’d always go back and forth, ‘Hey, what’s John going to come up with this time?’” Judge said.
