John Sterling, the New York Yankees’ radio play-by-play voice for more than three decades, is among the 10 finalists for the 2025 Ford C. Frick Award.
Suzyn Waldman, Sterling’s booth partner since 2005, has high hopes that her friend will be selected for the game’s highest broadcaster honors next month.
“Obviously, John is well-deserving of this,” Waldman told The Epoch Times yesterday, speaking from her home in New York’s Westchester County about the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s prestigious broadcasting award.
“He has been doing this for 60 years. John is unique. There’s no one like him. He’s as good a broadcaster as the game has ever had.”
The 49th recipient of the Frick Award, which dates back to 1978 when Mel Allen and Red Barber were the first to be selected, will be announced on Dec. 11 during baseball’s Winter Meetings in Dallas.
‘Listeners Knew Who Was Talking’
Sterling, 86, who retired abruptly this past April, citing fatigue as the main decision-maker in hanging up his microphone, did return to the Yankees’ flagship station WFAN 66 AM for the team’s final regular season homestand and postseason play.
The announcer first took to the airways to call the Yankees’ games in 1989. During his 36 seasons with the club, Sterling proved to be an “ironman” from the press box, announcing 5,060 consecutive games between 1989 and 2019.
Waldman pointed to her longtime partner’s “old school” approach—informing listeners on the action taking place—as a major contributor to his staying power and popularity.
Local Competition
Among Sterling’s local competition for the award are broadcasters Gary Cohen and Dave Sims.Cohen, for the past 36 years, has been a familiar face and voice to New York Mets fans. The play-by-play announcer for the Mets on SportsNet New York (SNY) and WPIX TV in New York City for 19 years, he was a member of the Mets’ WFAN radio team for 17 years prior to joining SNY.
Sims, who relocated from the Pacific Northwest, has been signed recently as Sterling’s full time replacement.
Although he began his career as a sportswriter in New York, moving on to sports radio in the Big Apple, Sims has served for the last 17 seasons as the TV play-by-play commentator for MLB’s Seattle Mariners.
The Frick Award, named in memory of Hall of Famer Ford Frick—a renowned sportswriter, radio broadcaster, and former MLB Commissioner—will be voted on by an electorate consisting of the 13 living former recipients of the award. Three broadcast historians/columnists will also have a vote in the process.
A Long Time Friendship
MLB’s first full-time female color commentator, Waldman fondly recalled when she and Sterling’s friendship began back in July 1987.Working at WFAN when it signed on as the first 24-hour sports talk radio station, it was while Sterling was filling as a guest host during the afternoon show that they first exchanged pleasantries.
“I was providing sports updates during the week that John was filling in. We became fast friends. Today, we’re still really close friends,” she said.
A New York Legend
Sterling’s iconic call after each New York victory—“The Yankees win. Theeeeee Yankees win!”—and his individual calls for players, such as when Aaron Judge hits a home run—“ A Judge-ion blast. All rise. Here comes the Judge”—have made him a local legend and fan favorite.Growing up a Yankees fan in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Sterling wanted to be a broadcaster since he was 10 years old, he told NY1 News in April.
The broadcaster, born John Sloss, is second only to the late Yankees’ Hall of Famer Phil Rizzuto in broadcast service years with the club.
Waldman wasn’t shy about pointing out the rigors of traveling with the club for a 162-game MLB season.
Painting Pictures with Radio
The actress and broadcaster called baseball a radio sport. She takes great pride in the way she and Sterling, throughout their careers, painted pictures for listeners of the playing field action.On the other hand, Waldman said she bets most baseball fans don’t remember who they first saw call games on TV.
As a young girl growing up in the Boston suburbs, Waldman remembers listening to the hometown Red Sox on a transistor radio. Bob Murphy (1994 Ford C. Frick Award recipient) and Curt Gowdy (1984 recipient) were the first broadcast team she remembers, telling the stories of Red Sox games.
Sterling has been on New York City airwaves since 1971, from hosting a nightly sports talk show on WMCA 570 AM, to calling professional basketball and hockey games for millions of listeners. But it’s Yankees baseball that he is synonymous with.
A call to Cooperstown would only reinforce Sterling’s importance to baseball and to his many fans.
