Mike Francesa credits Chris Russo for instigating John Sterling’s iconic home run calls

One of John Sterling’s favorite duos reunited Monday afternoon, as Mike and the Mad Dog celebrated the beloved New York Yankees announcer.

Sterling passed away from heart failure Monday morning at 87 years old, while he was still recovering from open heart surgery following a heart attack earlier this year. And Sterling’s death was met with countless tributes, including one from Mike Francesa as he joined Chris Russo on his SiriusXM channel to remember the longtime radio voice of the Yankees.

For 36 seasons, Sterling ingratiated himself to Yankee fans with his signature style, unmatched longevity, and perhaps most of all, his home run calls. And according to Francesa, it’s Russo who deserves credit for highlighting those calls, and inspiring Sterling to keep inventing new nicknames.

“I’ve said many times, the guy more responsible for any of those calls is the Dog. Because John was an incredibly fervent listener to the Mike and the Mad Dog show,” Francesa said. “He listened to it every day, he loved it. And the first call was a Bernie Williams triple. ‘Bernie goes boom.’

“And you played it about 50 times in a row! He got so excited and he called up. I believe you started to really hook into his home run calls, and I think he started to cultivate these because he wanted you to play them on the show as he was driving to the ballpark. And this created a whole cottage industry for him and really helped make him the voice that he was, all the creative calls that came afterwards. But I think you had an enormous hand in everything he did in that regard.”

And just as other sports radio shows followed the model created by Mike and the Mad Dog, they similarly followed by playing Sterling’s home run calls. What began as “Bernie goes boom!” and “Bern, baby, Bern!” eventually led to calls like “A thrilla by Godzilla!” for Hideki Matsui, and “It’s an A-Bomb! From A-Rod!” There was “The Grandyman can!” for Curtis Granderson, and of course, “All Rise! Here comes the Judge!”

When John Sterling came up with a unique call for Bernie Williams, it was never meant to happen for every player who wore pinstripes. But as the home run calls became popular, fans, and even players, started to ask Sterling about what nicknames he might craft next. For every great home run call, there were also plenty of duds. Ben Francisco’s lone homer for the Yankees probably didn’t need to be met with “He opens up his Golden Gates” from Sterling. But fans looked forward to every new call and nickname from Sterling.

“To be fair, we all know John wasn’t going to give you a Gary Cohen descriptive analysis of a play, you would have trouble knowing where the ball was if that’s what you were looking for,” Francesa said. “But if you were looking for drama, if you were looking for the moment, if you were looking for entertainment, that’s what he gave you.”

Yankee fans grew to love Sterling’s entertainment value. And it probably didn’t hurt that Sterling’s lure really grew as the Yankees were hitting a lot of home runs and winning a lot of games. John Sterling had his share of critics, with many baseball purists preferring a more technically sound game. But that’s baseball, Suzyn.