Craig Carton will get his chance to try his hand at baseball broadcasting next month when he joins WFAN’s broadcast crew with Suzyn Waldman for the Yankees-Rangers series.
Carton announced he will be working with the veteran baseball announcer on the series, which runs from Aug. 9-11. Appearing on WFAN’s “The Evan & Tiki Show” MondayHe called the opportunity a “great honor” and a “great privilege.”
Carton’s longtime on-air personality has sometimes been on the dramatic side, but he said Monday he won’t be exaggerating anything when it comes to Yankees play-by-play.
“I want to be very clear about that,” he said during an appearance on WFAN. “I don’t do any smack talk. The crazy home run calls have to go in John’s memory.” [Sterling] “And how great he’s been over the years. But I’m going to do my best. I’m going to make it my own and make it great.”
Carton, of course, became a household name during his 10 years as co-host of the network’s morning show, “Boomer and Carton in the Morning,” which ended in 2017 when he was arrested by federal authorities on criminal charges of security fraud.
After his release from prison, he returned to WFAN in 2020 to host the afternoon drive show alongside Evan Roberts before leaving in June 2023 to focus on his television show with Fox Sports 1.
During Monday’s appearance, Carton joked that he’d like to be the Yankees’ lucky charm, much like Grimas served as the Mets’ lucky charm this season.
Carton also reiterated the magnitude of the honor.
“The New York Yankees. The legends of John Sterling and Mel Allen,” Craig said. “I’m one of only a few people in the history of the franchise who can say they’ve called Yankees games on the radio.”
Carton is best known as a sports talk host, but under agreements between WFAN and each team, he also provides play-by-play commentary for professional sports broadcasts, such as Islanders and Nets games, and some of each team’s games are broadcast on WFAN.
Last week, it was announced that Carton would be inducted into the New York State Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
WFAN has had a rotating cast of announcers working with Waldman since legendary Yankees radio announcer John Sterling retired in April.
The list of people who have worked on Yankees broadcasts at the station includes Justin Shakir, Emmanuel Verbari, Ricky Ricardo and Brendan Burke.
