NEW YORK — You can’t predict foul balls, Suzyn.
John Sterling, the Yankees’ legendary 84-year-old radio announcer, became the latest victim of the decade-long rivalry with the Red Sox on Saturday night.
Sterling hit a foul ball in the head in the ninth inning of the 3-1 win over Boston. Justin Turner’s foulball at 3-2 with a runner on first base and two outs against Yankees reliever Clay Holmes spun back over the net behind home plate and then flew into the radio booth.
The baseball caught Sterling in the left eyebrow. Aside from “a little blood,” Sterling said he was doing well and would be back in the dressing room for Sunday night’s rubber fight.
“I don’t go to IL,” he said.
At this point, Sterling was without his longtime analyst Suzyn Waldman, who went downstairs early in the inning for post-game interviews.
Fans listening live heard the incident: “Ow! ow! ow! It really hit me,” Sterling said. “I didn’t know it was going to come back this far.”
And then that was it. The veteran immediately moved on to the next pitch, which was a foul grounder that extended the attack. Turner eventually ended the game with a grounder to third base.
It was an impressive display of resilience from Sterling, who missed 23 straight games from May 11 to June 6 with a cold and had to attend his children’s graduation ceremonies. Sterling has been the Yankees’ primary play-by-play voice since 1989.
From day one through July 2019, he didn’t miss a single game.
In recent seasons he started working less. Earlier this season, he would broadcast 130 of the Yankees’ 162 regular-season games.
Emmanuel Berbari, host of a WFAN Yankees postgame show, was in the dressing room when Sterling was hit. Realizing what had happened, Berbari and another station worker immediately went to the stadium’s scoreboard and asked for band-aids.
Berbari was thrilled to see Sterling doing well.
“He not only called the next pitch,” said Berbari, “he also gave the classic swing on the last call.” It was a great performance.”
And Berbari said Sterling joked about the scary incident after reaching the finals: “That’s how tough you have to be to be a Yankees broadcaster.”
(Photo: Rich Schultz/Getty Images)