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RIP Bob Sheppard, The Deific 'Voice Of The Yankees'

Jonathan Arkin |
July 13, 2010 | 9:53 a.m. PDT

Contributor

 

Sports announcer Bob Sheppard died at age 99 after battling a weakening heart (Creative Commons)
Sports announcer Bob Sheppard died at age 99 after battling a weakening heart (Creative Commons)
After a six-decade career as the public address voice of the New York Yankees and the NFL’s New York Giants, the announcer Bob Sheppard has died at the age of 99.

Sheppard, the beloved “voice of God” – as former Yankee Reggie Jackson and current Yankees captain and shortstop Derek Jeter called him – passed away after a short illness, having battled a weakening heart in his later years.

With his deliberate and unhurried delivery, Sheppard gained generations of fans who would hear him list lineups and deliver general announcements during Yankees radio and television broadcasts – in addition to the live games, when his voice would fill the cavernous recesses of the old Yankee Stadium before and after its 1974-75 renovation. Sheppard himself often said in interviews that this delivery was designed for that very stadium’s acoustics.

His illnesses, according to his son Paul, were relatively painless but limited his movements and forced him to travel in a wheelchair, which Sheppard disliked. Still, Sheppard made a few non-working appearances at the Stadium at the invitation of the Steinbrenner family, each time receiving a warm hand from crowds when introduced. In recent months, with the reduced frequency of his visits, Sheppard voiced his preference to not be introduced in his visibly weakened state. Still, fans would recognize him and ask him for autographs and photographs – to which Sheppard always politely complied. Rumors of his imminent return to the public address booth were frequent, up until 2009.

Response from the Yankees was quick. Yankees principal owner, Hal Steinbrenner, praised Sheppard’s contributions to the team purchased by the elder Steinbrenner, George, in 1973. At the time of Steinbrenner’s acquisition, that Yankees team had floundering in mediocrity for a decade; but it would be three short years before the Yankees regained their form and began another dynasty of American League championships and World Series appearances. George Steinbrenner said in a statement from his home in Tampa, Fla. that Sheppard’s death “leaves a lasting silence.”

Robert Leo Sheppard was born in Queens, New York on Oct. 20, 1910, before the United States would enter World War I. He graduated St. John’s Preparatory School in Brooklyn and St. John’s University, earning letters as a first baseman, before earning a master’s degree from Columbia University in 1933. He would return to St. John’s during an early career as a speech teacher to call basketball and football for the college, a job he held until recently. During World War II, Sheppard commanded gunnery crews in the Pacific theatre and ended up with the Yankees, making a reported $15 per game. The first player he announced at Yankee Stadium was Boston’s Dominic DiMaggio, the younger brother of the “Yankee Clipper,” Joe, who retired the year Sheppard began announcing. Sheppard replaced Red Patterson, who also had served as the Yankees director of public relations. 

“A temporary job that lasted half a century,” as Sheppard described it.

When he began announcing for the Yankees in 1951, the team was already building upon its reputation as the premier professional team in sports, having won two World Series championships in a row under then-manager Casey Stengel. The play-by-play radio (then television) announcer for the Yankees was Mel Allen, who would announce well into his 70s. The same year, fellow future Hall-of-Famer Mickey Mantle took his first at-bat with the Yankees. Mantle later said of being introduced by Sheppard that he would get “shivers up his spine” – to which Sheppard famously replied, “So do I.”

It was during that second period of Yankee greatness, during the 1970s and after Mantle’s retirement, that Sheppard had some of his most memorable stadium announcements.

When the game of baseball expanded the role of public-address announcers – who at the minor league level sometimes call games and announce plays as they happen but are usually silent in the big show, save for batters and lineup changes – Sheppard found himself embellishing the on-field resumes of legendary Yankee players in big moments. It was his voice that called the retiring Mickey Mantle to take a bow during the former player’s final introduction on Mantle’s hobbled knees; Sheppard’s introductions became more familiar as Mantle appeared in nearly every Old Timers Game thereafter. Four days after first baseman Chris Chambliss sent the Yankees to their first World Series in 12 years with a walk-off home run in the deciding game of the 1976 ALCS, Sheppard’s mellifluous and welcoming tone brought the 57,000 in attendance to their feet at Game 3 of the World Series with a simple preamble: “Batting fifth, playing first base, number ten…his home run last Thursday gave the Yankees their first pennant since…” And the rest of the introduction went unheard. Rarely had any P.A. announcer’s voice brought more reaction with less being said.

Somewhat ironically, that same ALCS Game 5 heard Sheppard admonishing the unruly crowd of nearly 60,000 during the 8th inning of a game that would end with Chambliss’ monumental home run, and with many of those fans storming the field in delirium afterwards. It turned out to be one of the most civilized moments during a cold October night that saw tons of toilet paper and other objects litter the field by excited New Yorkers.

“Your attention please…ladies and gentlemen,” as began all of Sheppard’s gentlemanly in-game announcements, “Please do not throw objects on the field. Please do not throw bottles on the field. And the Yankees request good sportsmanship on the part of all.”

And just like that, the littering of the field stopped. For about an inning.

One of Sheppard’s most emotional announcements came two years later. During the Yankees’ first championship defense at the refurbished Stadium – they had won the World Series in 1977 in six games over their old nemeses, Los Angeles Dodgers – the then-volatile front office led by Steinbrenner had forced the popular Yankee manager, Billy Martin, out of his job mid-season. Martin’s revolving-door relationship with the team would continue for 13 years; but his first return was announced in front of a capacity crowd, by Sheppard, months after Martin was forced out by the owner. 

“And returning to manage the Yankees a second time for the 1980 season,” Sheppard began with the final Old-Timer’s player introduction of the day, to a roar of approval from the Stadium faithful: “Billy Martin.” Sheppard’s signature enunciation of the “t” in Martin would barely be heard due to the noise that ensued.

Martin would “return” to manage the Yankees three more times after that in well-publicized and sometimes controversial rehirings.

In 1985, another Sheppard admonishment followed the Yankee fans’ booing of “O Canada,” the Canadian national anthem, during a tight four-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays. Sheppard reminded the fans of Canada’s history as America’s ally in NATO and during two World Wars – after which the booing stopped permanently.

As he aged, Sheppard continued to provide a stable, comforting voice even through testing times in New York and the Bronx.

When Yankee legends Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, and more recently, play-by-play Hall of Famer Phil Rizzuto, died, it was Sheppard again who elegantly provided the mourning Stadium with fitting and well-written mini-eulogies. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Sheppard again vocally picked the city up in his own milieu – the colossal blue, white and black theatre of baseball, the cathedral that he would then send off on its final game in 2008.

Sheppard decided against returning to announce games at the new Yankee Stadium – which opened in 2009 – though he mentioned in several interviews as the old Stadium’s days winded down that he would “love nothing more than to return to the Yankees family at the new Stadium.”

There are several immediate reasons why Sheppard’s legacy might do well in the months and years to come, even after his life has concluded. Jeter, who gave the closing invocation at the Sept. 21, 2008 finale of the old Stadium, has stipulated in his contract with the Yankees that each and every plate appearance he makes at the new Stadium will be introduced by a taped sound byte of Sheppard. The now-familiar “Now batting…the shortstop, numbah two…Derek…Jeter (pronounced “Jeetuh”),” has been lovingly emulated in all corners of the stadium and country by fans. Comedian Robert Klein has for years featured an impression of Sheppard’s voice in his standup shows. Sheppard’s voice has been featured on several episodes of the sitcom “Seinfeld,” which was set in New York. And now, the Yankees’ new part-time announcer, Jim Hall, whose voices bears more than a passing resemblance to Sheppard’s, says this similarity is no accident – as Sheppard himself asked Hall to deliver his announcements in the same largo manner, so as not to “confuse” the fans.

Paul Olden now calls most of the games at the new Yankee Stadium.

Sheppard also wrote most of those eulogies he recited at the Stadium – those of former captain Thurman Munson, managers Billy Martin and Dick Howser, and player Bobby Murcer – all of whom succumbed to illness or accidents at relatively early ages – were the most moving, according to fans. But his own speech to the Stadium faithful on its closing night in 2008, televised from his home as he was unable to attend, featured original poetry as well:

“Farewell, old Yankee Stadium farewell / What a wonderful story you can tell / DiMaggio, Mantle, Gehrig and Ruth / A baseball cathedral in truth.”

In one of his most recent interviews, Sheppard stated that he “was heartbroken” at not being able to make games, and that he hoped his successor would share his love for the team he served for so many years.

“Without the Yankees, I would be nothing more than a sports fan, a Yankee fan who fixed clocks for a living,” Sheppard told Yankees’ play-by-play announcer Michael Kay on the latter’s “Centerstage,” a show on the YES network. “I owe the Yankees my livelihood, my joy, and the players, fans and the front office have my undying respect.”

It was Sheppard’s humility and self-effacing humor that was most unrecognized by fans who saw little of the quiet, elegant man who was once asked if the elder Steinbrenner would fire him, as he did Martin many times, over Sheppard’s age. The announcer laughed the rumor off several times, recently adding his own take on his immediate future.

"I'm fair, not great,'' he said. "But I'm not dead; I'm alive. I'm not healthy, ready to go to football, baseball or basketball, but I'm alive, day by day.''

With three of the game’s foremost announcing personalities passing on in the last two years – Detroit’s Ernie Harwell and the Phillies’ Robin Roberts the others – there are few left, play-by-play or public address, who provide a continuum to the early days of televised baseball. Vin Scully, who has continually announced Dodger games for radio and television since that team was winning in Brooklyn in the 1940s, recently said he would retire after the 2010 season.

But the only other P.A. announcer who has a longer tenure with any professional sorts team besides Scully, Philadelphia’s Dan Baker, who announces on the loudspeakers for the Phillies and Eagles at Citizen’s Bank Park and Lincoln Financial Field, respectively, has been announcing for just 38 years. And no announcer, including the Chicago Cubs longtime legend, the late Harry Caray, boasts the honor of receiving World Series and NFL Championship rings from the teams for which he announced. Nor do most announcers have an honorary plaque installed in a place called “Monument Park” – installed during their lifetime and active service. In addition to the past honors, Sheppard’s voice can still be heard in on-air promos for the Yankees’ flagship station on the YES television network.

New York Times columnist George Vecsey, who knew Sheppard and his wife for several decades, said of the man whose microphone is enshrined at Cooperstown, that the echo of Sheppard’s voice will echo “off the apartment buildings and bridges and hills of Bronx and Manhattan forever” after the last brick of the old stadium is gone.

“Essentially, Sheppard is a simple man, as some poets and clerics and teachers can be termed simple,” wrote Vecsey in 2009. “He never sought the company of the athletes. He had his own niche in life, and he still does, giving thanks that he can attend church each morning, go shopping, and in good weather walk the garden behind his home, always with Mary.”

At the Stadium yesterday, a solemn neon monument shone the words “Bob Sheppard. 1910-2010.” Simple, but champion-worthy. A Yankee century.

Sheppard is survived by his wife, Mary, four children, four grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren – in addition to, one might say, countless Yankee players and fans.

Works Cited: 

Curry, Jack. “Voice of Yankee Stadium May Be Done.” The New York Times Online. 1 April 2009.

Marcus, Steven. "Sheppard, about to turn 99, sounds as good as ever." 12 October 2009. Newsday online. 13 April 2010.

The New York Yankees. New York Yankees Media Guide 2010.

Vecsey, George. “The Man Will Be Absent, but His Voice Carries.” The New York Times Online. 20 September 2008.

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