Legendary Yankees Announcer Dies at 99


I thought the death of Bob Sheppard was an obvious lead story for all of the papers. Almost 100 years old, he’s been the voice of Yankee Stadium since 1951. Yet only the New York Daily News made it into the big story that I thought it should be. Mike Lupica writes that Sheppard was the “height of style” for 60 years. Remembers Lupica: “Hearing him was not hearing the game on radio or television. Bob Sheppard meant you were inside. You were at the game. At Yankee Stadium.”

Known as the Voice of God, the New York Post says Sheppard introduced everyone from Yogi Berra to Joe DiMaggio to Derek Jeter. His voice is so iconic that Jeter has used a recording of Sheppard to announce his at-bats since the legendary announcer retired in 2007. The paper says during his career, Sheppard worked almost 4500 games. He also worked as the Giants’ announcer for 50 seasons and as a professor of speech at St. Johns University.

On the Web

More about Bob Sheppard on Wikipedia or scroll down to listen to Sheppard one last time:

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