New York Yankees play-by-play announcer John Sterling is doing great.
The Yankees’ longtime radio voice insisted he was fine on Sunday after a foul ball traveled through the booth at Yankee Stadium and hit him in the head the previous night.
And, as promised, he was back in the broadcast booth for the third and final game of their series against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday night.
“To all Yankees fans, I’m fine,” Sterling said while wearing a bandage over his eye. “It hit me in the head, a muscle up there, so it was fine. Thank you for all the warm, wonderful, loving thoughts. Anyway, I’m fine. Like I said to Suzyn, Suzyn was the first one when I drove home, she produced phone calls and text messages from all the people who loved me, so that really turned out to be a really good thing.
Red Sox star Justin Turner hit a foul ball in the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium on Saturday night that went all the way and hit Sterling in the forehead in the cab. Fans heard Sterling react in real time during the broadcast, although he remained in the booth for the remainder of the match.
“It really hit me, I had no idea it was coming back this far,” he said on the show after screaming in pain.
The Yankees then shared video of the ball taking on Sterling on Sunday.
Turner also reached out to Sterling after the fact and signed the ball that hit him.
Luckily, Sterling was fine after the incident which could have been much worse.
Sterling has called Yankees games since 1989. At one point, he had called an impressive 5,060 consecutive games – although that streak ended in 2019.