From “All Rise” to Go Sit.
Yankees longtime radio voice John Sterling got just a bit ahead of himself when scuffling Yankees star Aaron Judge sent a hanging fourth-inning curveball to left field.
“And the breaking ball, there it goes, deep left-center field,” Sterling, 86, said with his voice punctuated, ready to deliver his patented home run call.
“And, Teoscar [Hernandez] is there to make the catch. Oh, did I get fooled on that. With that swing and the ball majestically going to left field, Suzyn [Waldman], I actually thought it was going to be out. And it wasn’t close.”
“He really did get some good wood under it,” Sterling’s broadcast partner Suzyn Waldman said. “But it looked, obviously, like it was off the end of the bat.”
The loud out in the fourth inning was a part of an 0-for-3 showing from Judge as the Yankees again fell to the Dodgers 4-2 and are now down 3-0 in the World Series.
Waldman checked to see if perhaps the wind was a factor.
“I’m looking to see if the flags pulled that one in. Nope. Flags blowing in a little bit,” Waldman said.
Fans at the Stadium thought it was out as well, getting very excited seeing the initial contact from Judge with many immediately jumping out of their seats at the sight of the ball soaring to the outfield.
We’ve seen the Yankees’ legendary radio broadcaster get fooled many times in recent years.
In October 2021, Giancarlo Stanton hit a rocket off the Green Monster in Boston which Sterling called a “Stantonian home run,” before realizing that the ball was now in the infield.
Looking for answers Sterling asked, “What did I do wrong?”
In 2022, Sterling made multiple errors, including in May when he thought then-Blue Jays third baseman Matt Chapman hit a home run when Stanton actually made a leaping catch on the ball, robbing Chapman of an extra-base hit.
Stanton also hit what looked to be a home run that April. This time, Sterling outright called it a home run before Toronto’s left fielder Raimel Tapia caught it on the warning track in Yankee Stadium.
Sterling previously retired due to health concerns during the 2024 season but has since returned for the postseason.
It is entirely possible that the next Yankee loss will be his final in a radio booth.
