"Greatest announcer of my lifetime" - Fans roar as Yankees celebrate John Sterling's 5,631 games as radio voice with on-field retirement ceremony

The New York Yankees fans will miss the voice of John Sterling, who announced his retirement last week after serving the Yankees broadcast booth for 36 seasons.

Ahead of Saturday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays, the club honored the 85-year-old broadcaster with Yankees jersey No. 5,631. The jersey number is in reference to the number of games announced by Sterling in his career. The retirement ceremony was followed by an address to the sold-out crowd and a photo with the entire organization.

Upon hearing this gesture from the Yankees, fans celebrated John Sterling's legendary career as a radio voice in the comments section.

"He had so much personality to his calls. Gonna miss listening to him. Id specifically switch over to the Yankees broadcast just to hear his game calling. Congratulations on the career 🙌," one fan wrote.

"Greatest announcer of my lifetime," another wrote.

Fan Reactions

In his address to the crowd, John Sterling thanked fans and all the people he worked with. He mentioned that he was lucky to have made money through something he loved doing and that everyone came to him with "kindness and love."

"Tired" John Sterling wanted to retire ahead of 2024 regular season

John Sterling had a news conference before his retirement ceremony, where he revealed the reason for his retirement.

"I’m really tired, so I’m looking forward to not being on the air," he said.

In the presser, Sterling also mentioned that he wanted to call it quits early, around March 15th but with exhibition games lined up, he decided otherwise.

“I did it all wrong,” Sterling said. “I should have quit on March 1st or March 15th, but I decided I’d do one exhibition game, which is useless, and you well know, and when we went on that long trip, we went to Houston and Arizona, and, boy, I knew that was it."

Sterling, who will turn 86 on July 4, called 5,420 regular-season games, with the latest coming in on April 7 against the Toronto Blue Jays. Apart from this, he was part of 211 postseason games during which he saw the Yankees claim five World Series titles.