Yankees' Aaron Boone, Aaron Judge reflect on 'iconic' John Sterling - ESPN

NEW YORK — For the past couple of seasons, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone has celebrated each win with a line familiar to baseball fans everywhere.

«I still do this, and my coaches look at me like I'm nuts,» Boone said Monday. «I don't even know if they know what I'm doing. But as soon as the final out is made and I get up to shake players' hands, I go, 'Ballgame over! Yankees win! Theeee Yankees win!' And I'm shaking all my coaches' hands. I got goose bumps thinking about that.»

John Sterling used that call to punctuate every Yankees victory on the air as the team's radio voice over parts of 36 seasons to complete a broadcasting career that spanned six decades. It became, along with Sterling's personalized home run calls, synonymous with his eccentric style. The beloved radio play-by-play broadcaster died Monday at a New Jersey hospital months after undergoing heart surgery following a heart attack. He was 87.

«A giant in the sport,» Boone said before the Yankees took on the Baltimore Orioles. «Did it his own way. Walked to his own beat as much as he can and truly one of a kind. And a sad day, but also one where we get to celebrate an iconic figure.»

The Yankees honored Sterling with a moment of silence before Monday's game. Michael Kay and Suzyn Waldman, Sterling's broadcast partner for his final 20 seasons, placed bouquets of flowers at home plate.

Sterling was on the air for 5,426 regular-season and 225 postseason games when he retired in April 2024 before returning for the club's postseason run to the World Series for a final stint.

He was on the microphone for 5,060 consecutive games from September 1989 through July 2019. He called 24 Yankees postseason trips, seven World Series appearances and five World