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Yankees' legendary broadcaster John Sterling. Bob Karp/Staff Photographer/ USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY NETWORK

Yankees legend John Sterling explains retirement decision

By Zac Wassink | Last updated 4/16/24

Shortly after it was learned Monday that legendary New York Yankees radio announcer John Sterling could step away from the booth as soon as this week, he and the Yankees confirmed his immediate retirement.

Sterling later explained his decision while speaking on the air with WFAN afternoon hosts Evan Roberts and Tiki Barber.

"I guess if I was smarter – and I’m not – if I was smarter, I would have done this March 1 or March 31," Sterling acknowledged, per the Barrett Sports Media website and Ryan Chichester of Audacy. "During the winter, the Yankees – obviously you know we didn’t make the playoffs – we were free October 3, and October, November, December, January, February, March – I lived my life as happy as I’ve lived it, including listening to you guys all the time and watching all the games."

Sterling, 85, began calling Yankees games in 1989 but had embraced a lighter schedule in recent years that included Justin Shackil and Emmanuel Berbari working a majority of road matchups. Bob Klapisch of NJ Advance Media noted that Sterling was paired with fellow New York sports icon Suzyn Waldman for the last 23 years leading up to Monday's news.

Waldman discussed Sterling's retirement on both the television and radio homes of the Yankees.

Suzyn Waldman on the John Sterling news pic.twitter.com/D1tZ0eaR3G
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) April 15, 2024

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A post shared by WFAN (@wfansportsradio)

"I just don’t want to do any more work," Sterling told Roberts and Barber. "I’ve worked for 64 years, and in July I’ll be 86. Let’s face it, my time has come."

Health concerns were mentioned following the news on Monday. However, Klapisch said that Sterling told Yankees television play-by-play broadcaster Michael Kay on Monday that he is "feeling fine" and is "just fatigued" and "ready to cross the finish line."

Sterling will be honored at a ceremony at Yankee Stadium ahead of Saturday's home game against the Tampa Bay Rays. He will also visit the WFAN radio booth during that afternoon contest.

"I don’t want to get up in the afternoon and have to go somewhere," Sterling added during the radio interview. "In fact, I’d much rather listen to you guys and then listen to the game. I can watch 800 games here; in fact, that’s my plan. I’m going to watch and listen to 162 Yankee games, [New York Mets] games, all the games on Turner and ESPN, all the games on MLB."

Sterling called 5,060 consecutive games from September 1989 through early July 2019. He worked 211 postseason contests to go along with his 5,420 career regular-season games.

While some thought as recently as Monday morning that the 12-5 Yankees could give Sterling a chance to call a sixth World Series championship before he rode off into the sunset, he sounds content with his decision.

"I know the life I want to lead," Sterling insisted. "I just lived it from October to the end of March. As I told my kids…now we can have dinner any time."

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