As WFAN and the New York Yankees search for their heir apparent to John Sterling, they’ve tried numerous things in the booth. And if that includes giving Craig Carton play-by-play duties for a series, then so be it.
Wait, what?
You read that correctly. The former WFAN host, who left his afternoon drive show with Evan Roberts after three years to focus on his Fox Sports show, is returning to the network. But it won’t be to host a show, instead, he’ll be alongside Suzyn Waldman taking over the radio play-by-play duties for the team’s series against the Texas Rangers from August 9-11.
Carton revealed the news on Monday afternoon while calling Evan & Tiki with Roberts and former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber.
“It’s a great honor,” he said, according to The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty. “It’s a great privilege.
A revolving door of announcers has filled the play-by-play seat since Sterling’s retirement. Justin Shackil, Ryan Ruocco, Brendan Burke, Rickie Ricardo and Emmanuel Berbari shared the booth with Waldman, the Yankees’ longtime color commentator.
Despite what figures to be an exhaustive search, a permanent replacement for Sterling remains a mystery. Notably, Sterling has distanced himself from the selection process, and Carton’s temporary stint doesn’t suggest much. He’ll almost certainly not be the next radio voice of the New York Yankees, but that hasn’t prevented WFAN from trying to have some fun in the dog days of summer.
Per Kuty, WFAN plans to leverage the remaining games to evaluate various play-by-play announcers. They’ll likely decide on Sterling’s permanent successor during the offseason.
But those remaining games won’t likely include Aug. 9-11.
That’s baseball, Suzyn.
[WFAN, The Athletic]
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.