Hours after Domingo Germán made history Wednesday night by just throwing the 24th perfect game ever, the Yankees right-hander wasn’t the only one whose phone was flooded with texts and calls wishing him well. YES Network play-by player Ryan Ruocco heard it from everyone. There was friendly news from Michael Kay, for whom Ruocco hit a ruse. There was a celebratory text from ESPN Chairman James Pitaro. Even Yankees superstar Aaron Judge slammed Ruocco with a flattering text message.
Germán’s championship on the mound in an 11-0 win over the A’s burned his name into the record books, and replays of the final and the Yankees’ on-field celebrations will be televised for decades to come. And Ruocco’s voice will be the soundtrack to it.
“Knowing that my voice is now forever a part of Yankees history,” Ruocco said in a phone interview early Thursday morning, “and having a good sense of how it went? For me, that’s the coolest thing there is.”
The Athletic asked Ruocco to piece-by-piece the final shot that led to his historic call. In the ninth inning with two outs, Germán faced Esteury Ruiz. With a curveball on the first pitch, Germán Ruiz grounded third baseman Josh Donaldson, sparking a wild celebration that saw the Yankees pressure Germán on the field.
“Domingo German, an away game forever.”
Ruocco didn’t plan any of what he said in the ninth inning, instead opting to play with the moments as they happened. But he avoided one thing. Worried he might hex Germán, he made sure not to use the word “perfect” all night.
“That’s why I said forever,” Ruocco said.
“Esteury Ruiz stands in his way.”
When preparing for a game, Ruocco makes sure he knows how to correctly pronounce the names of everyone he might mention. And even though he’d covered a handful of Yankees games against the A’s, Ruiz’s first name, Esteury, Ruocco, still didn’t quite come to mind. But Ruocco knew he had to give the full name of every batsman Germán faced. “I think I have to identify the batsman in historical context,” he said. He mentioned that he remembered the Red Sox’s Carl Everett breaking up Mike Mussina’s perfect play offer from Yankees right-back Mike Mussina in 2001 when Mussina was just a shot away. “(Ruiz) could be the guy to end the game,” Ruocco said. He had to say his name.
“Placed in third place. Donaldson has it. There it is! Perfection for Domingo German!”
Ruocco said he was “essentially just reacting to the moment and trying to have a good pace and rhythmic rhythm”. He said he wanted to “highlight the moment” but also make sure that the word “perfect” is close to Germán’s name.
*Silence at the YES Network booth as the Yankees celebrate.*
At this point, Ruocco said he wants to “let the scene speak for itself, so to speak, and let the crowd speak for the moment.” It would be 20 seconds before Ruocco would say another word.
“Domingo Germán threw the 24th perfect game in baseball history, the fourth perfect game in Yankees history, and you will always remember where you were on June 28, 2023.”
Ruocco said it is crucial here for him to make the historical context clear. “I’ve been thinking that June 28 doesn’t necessarily mean something to everyone,” he said. “But now it’s working forever.” Then Ruocco rattled off another pair of dates. Ruocco grew up as a die-hard Yankees fan and said he knew exactly where he was from the club’s previous two perfect games. On July 18, 1999, after David Cone had thrown his perfecto, Ruocco said he was driving back from the Jersey shore with his father and heard the call on the radio. On May 17, 1998, he was again listening to the radio with his father in the car and missed the start of soccer practice. He felt Germán’s perfect game would be another of those moments. “Yankees fans and sports fans in general, watching this live last night will always remember where they were on June 28, 2023,” Ruocco said.
Ryan Ruocco and WFAN play-by-play broadcaster Justin Shackil share their perfect match scores. (Photo courtesy of Justin Shackil)
Superstitions, tense moments in the dressing room
The possibility that Germán could throw a perfect play began to take hold in the YES Network dressing room after the fifth inning. It was at this point that some of the superstitions held by Ruocco and former Yankees Relief commentator Jeff Nelson were beginning to materialize.
Nelson made sure everything around him stayed in the same place – his iPad, his score book and even his hot cup of tea, which he didn’t want to touch and stood cold by the end of the game. Ruocco said he got up in the eighth inning but sat right back down because he had been doing that all game and didn’t want the karmic forces to interfere with Germán’s evening. Ruocco even saw that his phone’s battery was dead, but refused to charge it out of superstition.
Nelson had been in the Yankees’ bullpen when Cone and Wells threw each of their perfect plays.
“Just like in the bullpen,” Nelson said, “I just can’t mess with the mojo out there.” I don’t want to do anything differently because if I do something differently, I think I’ve screwed it up.”
It was a chilly Oakland night, and clubhouse reporter Meredith Marakovits donned a hoodie to stay warm mid-game. But she took it off in preparation for on-pitch interviews on camera after the game. When she took it off, Nelson looked at her like she’d just screwed up the mojo.
“I was like, ‘Oh god. That’s it,” Marakovits said. “This will hex everything.”
The mere chance of scoring the perfect game alongside Ruocco made Nelson shake his head. He was also the partner of WFAN radio John Sterling on the call when Judge hit his record-breaking 62nd American League home run in Texas last season.
For Marakovits, the night was “a little surreal.” In order to be available for post-game interviews, she had to leave the dressing room after the eighth inning. Alongside WFAN’s Suzyn Waldman, Marakovits could feel the tension near the field as fans – many of them in Yankees gear – hung out on each field at the end of the ninth field.
Marakovits was the first to interview Germán after his performance. She said she just wanted to live up to the moment, while also asking Germán what she thought fans would have wanted to hear from him. At one point, Germán mentioned that one of his beloved uncles had died just two days earlier. Marakovits made sure she asked a follow-up question.
“As he talked, I could see how much his uncle meant to him and how much he struggled with it,” Marakovits said.
At the end of the night, the trio, including WFAN outlaw Justin Shackil and producer Josh Isaac, partied at a nearby restaurant away from the team hotel where the scene was hectic.
“There are moments like that when you cover events like this – they make you want to be in business and stay in business, and they make you incredibly proud of the place and the people you work with,” Marakovits said.
(Top Photo by Domingo Germán: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)