Yo, your Yankees guy just signed off for good.

### The End of an Era

So look, whether you loved him or, like me, you tolerated him because, deadass, he was just *always there* on the radio, you gotta acknowledge John Sterling was a New York institution. The legendary voice of the New York Yankees for thirty-six years — that's right, *thirty-six years* — passed away at 87. He called over 5,400 regular season games and more than 200 postseason games. Think about that. Most of us ain't even *lived* that long in one place, let alone held down the same gig, day in and day out, for that kinda run.

Here's the thing: you can't talk about baseball in this city without talking about Sterling. Even if you're a Mets fan, like me, you knew his voice. You knew the way he called a home run. He was the soundtrack to summers across the five boroughs, whether you were grilling in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, stuck in traffic on the BQE, or just trying to catch a little bit of the game on a transistor radio down at Fort Tilden beach. He was as much a part of the Yankee experience as the pinstripes themselves.

* **Longevity:** 36 years calling games is wild. That’s a career for most people.

* **Consistency:** He was famously reliable, calling an insane number of consecutive games.

* **Iconic Calls:** His home run calls were legendary, even if they sometimes made me wanna throw my cawfee at the radio.

That's New York — if you can't keep up, take the bus. He kept up for a long damn time. No matter your team, losing a voice like that, someone who literally painted the picture of the game for generations of fans, it’s a big deal. For a lot of Yankees fans, it’s like a piece of their childhood, or their dad’s childhood, just went quiet.

The whole MiTL crew talks about this every morning. Catch the real talk live at mornings.live.