The play-by-play of John Sterling’s iconic home run wasn’t the recently retired Yankees announcer’s finest work.
That honor goes to their children: triplets Veronica, Bradford and Derek, all 23, and Abigail, 26.
Their children say they inherited that work ethic from their famous father, who called 5,420 Yankees regular season games and 211 postseason games, including 5,060 consecutive games from September 1989 to July 2019.
very good.” Courtesy of the Stirling Family
The kids tease their flip-phone-using dad for living in his “own fantasy world” filled with music, newspapers, books and every sporting event shown on TV.
“Every time we talk on the phone or meet, he asks, ‘Are you guys happy and healthy?'” said Derek, a student at Ramapo College, named after Bombers great Derek Jeter.
“My dad is unlike any other person I’ve ever met,” says Brad, a finance worker who lives in Manhattan. “My dad is the Michael Jordan of the business.”
He also has his eccentricities. Sterling is known for keeping two TVs in front of his bed. “One is playing sports, which he usually has muted, and the other is playing a good murder mystery or a black-and-white movie,” his son says.
Brad said his favorite home run call from his dad was for Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton: “Giancarlo, non si puo de stopparlo!”, which roughly translates from Italian to “No one can stop you!”
Abigail recalls, “There are few things my dad loved more than Broadway show tunes and Frank Sinatra. When I was growing up, he always had Sinatra, Dean Martin and Tony Bennett on the radio and never missed an opportunity to teach us how great old-time music was.”
“When we were little, my dad never minded watching Disney movies with us because the music was so good. He was the one who watched Beauty and the Beast over and over again. Every year for our birthdays, he would take my brothers to one show and my sisters to another. I think this was mainly an excuse for my dad to see two different musicals, but we never complained.”
The kids recall that when they were rivals, their father predicted, “You two will grow up and love each other.” And as Sterling said, “And now they’re grown up and Love each other.”
The legendary Yankees Radio voice clouded his voice as the reporter reported on the Father’s Day bouquets that were tossed to him by his children.
“Well, I’m very lucky. I have four amazing kids, I truly do. They’re such good people, they’re non-judgmental, and they bring so much joy,” the proud dad gushed. “It means even more to me because I waited so long to get married and have kids.
“It’s going to sound corny in the papers, but all I did was give my kids as much love as I could every day of their lives. When they were at a game or in a school play, I told them how great they were going to be and why that was a great thing. Anyway, as corny as it sounds, it all worked out.”
As for Father’s Day weekend, Sterling, who turns 86 on the Fourth of July, plans to take his kids out to dinner on Saturday and then spend Father’s Day with his ex-wife Jennifer and her husband, Neil, on Sunday. “Neil is a great guy and his family adopted us. Everything is going well.”
