John Sterling, 83, is an broadcaster who has been broadcasting since the beginning. He was once the voice of the Baltimore Bullets and WHAs New York Raiders and the New York Stars WFL. Since he started calling Yankees games, he has been behind the microphone since 1992, when the first Bush Administration took place.
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Sterling hasn't been travelling to road games since the COVID-19 pandemic. Sterling, like his radio voice Michael Kay, has been calling games from Yankee Stadium remotely when the Yankees are not in town. Kay, who is a part of a rotating cast, makes it logical to travel to the Bronx. Paul ONeill, who works on TV, is based in Ohio where he's settled in Studio 21.
Radio? Sterlings partner Suzyn Wildman broadcasts from her home. Someone could easily rent a microphone and soundboard to Sterling's New Jersey home and avoid the commute. Maybe he chose to travel to the stadium over having his own broadcast booth. But it is now about safety and finances that Yankees broadcasters don't attend all Yankees games.
Both Sterling and Waldman have been vaccinated. According to the New York Post, their reason for not traveling with the Yankees was that WFAN wouldn't pay for their hotel or meals on the road. This decision has resulted in worse radio broadcasts of Yankees game, which almost cost Sterling his life Wednesday night.
Sterling's car was stuck in floodwaters from Hurricane Ida as he drove home from the Bronx following the Yankees 4-1 win. Waldman answered the phone and told him that Rickie Ricardo was the Yankees Spanish-language broadcaster. Sterling managed to contact Ricardo, who lives in the same area as Sterling to help him on his way home in his Jeep.
It all turned out well, though the absurdity of radio broadcasters working in an empty stadium was very close to becoming tragic. It was a terrible and unprecedented mix of record rainfall, a metro area unaccustomed to, as well as unprepared for such severe flooding. Kay gave up on trying to get home, and he waited at Fordham University. However, it was also preventable.
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The Yankees' fully vaccinated broadcasters cannot be watching games on TV monitors thousands of miles away from the actual team. They shouldn't have to travel to an empty stadium just to get to work. Although it was great that Sterling was saved by Ricardo, nobody should have been in that position. And everyone who made the poor decisions to broadcast the games in this manner is fortunate to not have any blood on their hands today for the death of a radio icon.
