Mike Francesa has a dire warning for John Sterling about his Yankees comeback.
Francesa and Chris Russo reunited on the latter’s SiriusXM program on Thursday to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the start of the legendary “Mike in the Mad Dog” run on WFAN’s afternoon drive.
Earlier Thursday, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported that the 86-year-old Sterling would be un-retiring and joining Suzyn Waldman back in the radio booth for the Bronx Bombers’ 2024 postseason run.
The topic came up during the reunion show, and neither Russo nor Francesa thought it was a good idea.
“Did they not have to bring Sterling back for the postseason for crying out loud?” Russo asked. “That’s not the right thing to do. Jeez!”
Francesa agreed.
“You know what? Listen, I think John made a mistake coming back,” Francesa said.
“I thought he had a very good exit. I thought he got treated very well. I think he’s making a mistake coming back, I really do.
“If I was gonna give him advice — he doesn’t need advice from me — but I would tell him [you’d] be making a mistake coming back. Plus, I don’t think it’s fair to the guys who have been doing the games!”
Francesa continued: “I don’t think it’s fair. Sooner or later you’ve got to let somebody else work! It’s just the way it is. I just think it’s wrong. He’s had his day in the sun! He’s had his championships. Let the other kids work!”
Francesa himself famously un-retired from WFAN, supplanting his replacement show that featured Bart Scott, Maggie Gray and Chris Carlin.
Francesa first retired in 2017 but only stayed away for four and a half months before returning.
He ultimately retired from WFAN for the second time in 2020 and now hosts a podcast on the BetRivers network.
In 2023, Francesa lamented that his own un-retirement had been a mistake.
Emmanuel Berbari, Rickie Ricardo and Justin Shackil have handled most of the play-by-play duties for the Yankees since Sterling stepped aside.
Craig Carton also spent a weekend filling in.