Things really won’t be the same when the new Yankee Stadium opens later this month, because the voice of the Yankees won’t be there:
The new Yankee Stadium may sound much different than the old one. Bob Sheppard, the public-address announcer for the Yankees since 1951, is retiring, according to Paul Doherty, a friend and agent who has represented Sheppard.
Doherty said that Sheppard’s son, Paul, told him about Sheppard’s plans on Wednesday morning.
“I think Bob just wants to take it easy and no longer have the pressure of, ‘Can he? Will he? Or won’t he?’” Doherty said in an e-mail message. “And, at 98, who can blame him?”
Sad news indeed, which makes this final lineup announcement at the House That Ruth Built all the more bittersweet:
Cool, I’ll put him in my baseball novel