John Sterling honored by Yankees for 36 seasons and 5,631 games as radio voice

After 36 seasons as the voice of the New York Yankees, John Sterling needed just 90 seconds to say goodbye.

Sterling was honored with an on-field ceremony before Saturday's game against Tampa Bay, five days after the 85-year-old broadcaster announced his retirement 2 1/2 weeks into the season. Flanked by his family, Sterling received gifts that included a jersey with No. 5,631 for his games total, and then addressed the sellout crowd of 47,629.

"What I really want to do is to thank you and I'll tell you why," Sterling told the fans, who stood through the tribute. "Person after person, group after group, have come to me with kindness, respect and love, and how lucky can you be for people to celebrate what you do for a living? You know, I had to bring these people up, and I had make money to do it. So you, the fans have been phenomenal to me over the past 36 years."

Bleacher Creatures chanted his name during their first-inning Roll Call.

Sterling, who turns 86 on July 4, explained the unusual timing of his retirement during a news conference before the ceremony, saying it came down to: "I'm really tired, so I'm looking forward to not being on the air."

"I did it all wrong," Sterling said. "I should have quit on March 1st or March 15th, but I decided I'd do one exhibition game, which is useless, and you well know, and when we went on that long trip, we went to Houston and Arizona, and, boy, I knew that was it. I didn't want to work every day — and I told you how long I've been working. If you work 64 years and on your next birthday you're going to be 86. I think it's time."

Sterling called 5,420 regular-season games, the last against Toronto on April 7, plus 211 postseason games. Sterling broadcast 5,060 consecutive games