Watching John Sterling call a Yankees walk-off has its charms

Regardless of which team you follow you almost certainly have fond memories of hearing your radio announcers lose their minds for big moments.

I grew up (and remain) a Cubs fan, which meant a childhood of Pat Hughes and Ron Santo on the call. Santo always took care of the major emoting, while Hughes had (and still has) plenty of signature calls and moments. But some broadcasters transcend market; especially those in the bigger cities, like John Sterling.

The longtime radio voice of the Yankees on WFAN, I would hear Sterling’s calls nightly in the summertime back when I would fall asleep listening to ESPN Radio and their nightly highlight packages. (A chronic insomniac, I spent many hours listening to Bob Valvano’s relaxed brand of late-night sports talk, for which I remain thankful.) Hearing Sterling’s “Thaaaaaaa Yankees win!” was a common occurrence.

One thing I’d never thought about, though: how John Sterling looks when he’s making that call. The folks at WFAN offered up that context, though, with a clip of Sterling calling Saturday’s D.J. LeMahieu walk-off.

I don’t know exactly what I was expecting there, but it certainly wasn’t an adorable little array of fist pumps as he delivered the call. Radio announcers should be at least slight homers for their team, and it’s fun seeing someone like Sterling, who has called countless big moments across decades of work, still get excited to call a regular season win in April.