{"id":184727,"date":"2026-05-09T10:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T10:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=184727"},"modified":"2026-05-09T10:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T10:34:07","slug":"%e2%9d%a4%ef%b8%8f-heartwarming-like-john-sterling-to-yankees-fans-every-true-sports-city-has-that-one-legendary-voice-that-instantly-brings-back-memories-of-unforgettable-nights-emotional-victorie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=184727","title":{"rendered":"\u2764\ufe0f Heartwarming: Like John Sterling to Yankees fans, every true sports city has that one legendary voice that instantly brings back memories of unforgettable nights, emotional victories, and generations of loyalty. Long after the final call, those iconic voices still echo through living rooms, radios, and stadium hearts \u2014 reminding fans that sports were never just games\u2026 they were part of our lives forever \ud83c\udf99\ufe0f\u26be..ll \ud83d\udc47\ud83d\udc47\ud83d\udc47"},"content":{"rendered":"

A life now high, far, and gone. A voice that resonates forever.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing I felt and that got me was how much he would have loved this,\u201d Suzyn Waldman thought to herself Tuesday night, when Sterling\u2019s life was celebrated at Yankee Stadium. Waldman, the Boston native turned longtime Sterling radio partner, likened the pall over the crowd to \u201cthe sound of grief,\u201d at least until it was punctuated by a perfect voice from the stands who said, \u201cThat\u2019s baseball, Suzyn.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Get Starting Point<\/p>\n

A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

That it is. It\u2019s also local broadcasting.<\/p>\n

What Sterling represented is such an important piece of our sporting equation and speaks directly to the reason his death resonated across an entire sport. The connection between organizations and their local fan bases is bridged by the voices that call the games night in and night out, by the personalities that visit our living rooms, car radios, or backyard barbecues with their unique rhythms, introductions, and catchphrases.<\/p>\n

Johnny Most saying hello \u201cfrom high above courtside.\u201c Curt Gowdy introducing himself with, \u201cHi neighbor, have a \u2019Gansett.\u201d The Big, Bad Bruins brought to you by Fred Cusick and Johnny Peirson on television or the legendary pipes of Bob Wilson on radio. Ken Coleman describing Carl Yastrzemski\u2019s catch in 1967 in Yankee Stadium to save (at the time) Billy Rohr\u2019s no-hitter.<\/p>\n

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\"Like
Fred Cusick (right) and Johnny Peirson called Bruins games for years.Courtesy Andy Emslie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the soundtrack of your life,\u201d Waldman said. \u201cIt keeps you connected to your family. I hear it in my mind \u2014 I can always bring up Ken Coleman in \u201967, Jose Tartabull throwing out Ken Berry in Chicago. This is 1967, and I can still hear it. It\u2019s the connection to your grandfather and your father and your mother and your child. It\u2019s the connection because when you hear those voices you\u2019re back in that time. It keeps you connected and it\u2019s very local. It\u2019s really local.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given the current age of fractured broadcasting, with multiple national outlets both on traditional television and various streaming services, that \u201clocalness\u201d has never mattered more. Those voices get us. They know the routes we drive to get to the stadiums. They speak our language, drink our beers, and frequent our restaurants. They are us.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a comfort level,\u201d said Tom Caron, who has made a home at NESN for the past 35 years and hosts pre- and postgame Red Sox coverage. \u201cI grew up in an era where Ned Martin was the voice of the Red Sox on NESN, and it was Ned, Bob Montgomery, and Jerry Remy. They were part of the family. You\u2019d put them on every night, it was the soundtrack of the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Like
Ned Martin (left) and Bob Montgomery called Red Sox games in the early days of NESN.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

For Caron, it was sitting on the shore of Maine\u2019s Sebago Lake, transistor radio on, his dad sometimes scoring the game by hand. \u201cI don\u2019t remember a summer growing up where the Red Sox weren\u2019t in the background,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For me, it was Opening Day, smuggling that transistor into my school bag to listen to the Yankees, back when the Phil Rizzuto\/Frank Messer\/Bill White trio authored my soundtrack, laughing as Rizzuto missed the final few pitches to beat the traffic home. For my dad, it was Mel Allen speaking blocks away from his family\u2019s New York City apartment, or Marty Glickman keeping him up to date with the Giants. Wherever you lived, there was a voice to carry you. Vin Scully, Chick Hearn, Bob Uecker, Harry Kalas.<\/p>\n

And of course, Most.<\/p>\n

\u201cHavlicek stole the ball!\u201d<\/p>\n

As colleague Dan Shaughnessy reminded me, that call made its way onto the recording charts. An actual vinyl record. \u201cWe all memorized it,\u201d Dan said, while also quoting McNasty and McFilthy, the interchangeable Most nicknames for Rick Mahorn and Jeff Ruland.<\/p>\n

As Waldman recalled, \u201cRed [Auerbach] told me this once, that, \u2018I said to him, Johnny, I want you to teach the city of Boston about basketball and about Celtic basketball. There are heroes and there are villains and that\u2019s what it is.\u2019 Red wanted him to do that. We hated the Pistons because Johnny Most told us to.\u201d<\/p>\n

I remembered so many Yankee home runs because Sterling told me how. From \u201cBern baby Bern,\u201d the original impromptu salute to Bernie Williams, to \u201cEl Capitan\u201d for Red Sox nemesis Derek Jeter, for the New York audience, Sterling was a consummate treasure. For me, he was also a friend, an avid reader, not only of newspapers such as The Bergen Record that employed me for two decades, but literature of all kinds. He was one of one, a true original, as liable to quote a Broadway show as he was to call a double play. He will be missed, though not forgotten. The Yankees should add his plaque to their Monument Park.<\/p>\n

But the truth is, cities and towns everywhere have their Sterling, and are the better for it.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A life now high, far, and gone. A voice that resonates forever. \u201cThe first thing I felt and that got me was how much he would have… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-184727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2764\ufe0f Heartwarming: Like John Sterling to Yankees fans, every true sports city has that one legendary voice that instantly brings back memories of unforgettable nights, emotional victories, and generations of loyalty. 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