COMMENTARY: America’s pastime over the air: That’s baseball, Suzyn

When news spread last week that John Sterling, the longtime radio voice of the New York Yankees, had died at age 87, my pal Buzz texted me three words: “That’s baseball, Suzyn.”

That phrase is imbedded in the lexicon of true baseball fans. It was uttered regularly by Sterling to his broadcast partner, Suzyn Waldman, to sum up the endlessly entrancing and unpredictable nature of the game.

He could have been saying, “That’s life, Suzyn.”

Sterling joined the Yankees in 1989, and over more than three decades, he broadcast 5,651 games and five World Series championships before his retirement in 2024. “That’s baseball” is only one of his many indelible idiosyncrasies.

I started rooting for the Yanks in 1949, when I was 6, and when one of my heroes launches a long ball, I’m known to stand and shout, in my best Sterling imitation, “It is high! It is far! It is gone!” And when the Bronx Bombers prevail, I hear John’s trademark exaltation in my head, and occasionally even copy it: “THUUUUH YANKEES WIN!”

The essential nature of baseball strengthens the connection between broadcasters and fans. It’s a long season, 162 games, and while football is a special weekly occasion, baseball is an ordinary everyday event.

Andrew Marchand, writing in the Athletic, said of Sterling: “His style, both off but especially on the air, created a great passion with Yankees fans. The bond baseball broadcasters have with listeners is usually tight, because the people in the booths are companions on a journey that begins in February during spring training and, for two lucky teams, ends in either October or November.”

Then there’s the pace of the game: much too slow for many younger sports fans who prefer the crashing collisions of football or the athletic acrobatics of basketball. But those sports are hard to follow on the radio — let alone hockey or soccer!

Baseball, on the other hand, is the perfect fit for that medium. Each action — each pitch, hit, catch — is isolated and easy to describe. Plus, the spaces between those actions provide time for commentary and analysis, statistics and stories.

And radio is a great platform for storytelling. A single voice, undistracted by visuals and the production imperatives of TV, has always been a completely compelling form of communication. Radio is intimate and informal, available and accessible, and those qualities breed deep and lasting loyalties.

The story is told by Jack Danforth, a former senator and an Episcopal priest. Occasionally, he would conduct evening services at the National Cathedral, perched on Mount St. Alban, the highest spot in Washington, which, therefore, got the best radio reception. After services, he would see a line of cars parked in the church lot, each occupied by a baseball fan, listening to their hometown radio broadcasts.

The podcasting boom is fueled by these same qualities of intimacy and loyalty. It’s really just long-form radio, rebranded with a new name and transmitted on smartphones, not dumb devices that can only receive signals, not send them.

Listeners develop the passion Marchand describes and form parasocial bonds with their favorite hosts, mirroring the strong relationships sports fans have long felt with their baseball buddies.

It’s no accident that many of the most successful podcast performers have strong sports connections.

A string of comments on Reddit celebrate the connection between baseball and radio. “I don’t know if one could call it nostalgic or maybe cathartic, but there is some real satisfaction listening to the radio crew paint the picture of what is occurring on the field, be it good or bad,” wrote an Atlanta Braves fan. “There’s a tone and a nuance to what those guys say and how they react.”

“There is an added bonus to this, because it seems like the radio broadcast picks up a lot more of the natural crowd sound of the stadium and you can really feel the buzz around what’s happening,” adds the commenter.

“It’s a great sport for radio,” chimed in a Minnesota Twins rooter. “Perfect for gardening on a Sunday afternoon.”

A New Yorker added: “I was stuck on the belt parkway for an hour last night and listened to the first five innings of the Mets game on the radio before I got home. I didn’t mind.”

And this Athletics fan got it exactly right: “Baseball on the radio,” he said, “is like spending a few hours with a friend.”

That’s why so many listeners loved John Sterling. And that’s why I just bought a new T-shirt saying, “That’s baseball, Suzyn.”

Steven Roberts teaches politics and journalism at George Washington University. Contact at stevecokie@gmail.com.