Sterling, voice of the Yankees, retires at 85
New York Yankees radio broadcaster John Sterling announced his immediate retirement Monday at age 85, a few weeks into his 34th season in New York's broadcast booth.
Sterling had cut back his schedule in recent years and was not with the team for its trip to Houston and Toronto.
He called 5,420 regular-season games, the last against the Blue Jays on April 7, plus 211 postseason games. Sterling broadcast 5,060 consecutive games from September 1989 through July 2019 after starting with the Yankees as a pregame host.
Sterling will be honored in a pregame ceremony before Saturday's game against Tampa Bay.
“I have been able to do what I wanted, broadcasting for 64 years,” Sterling said in a statement. “As a little boy growing up in New York as a Yankees fan, I was able to broadcast the Yankees for 36 years. It's all to my benefit, and I leave very, very happy. I look forward to seeing everyone again on Saturday.” VERLANDER LIKELY TO MAKE HIS SEASON DEBUT THIS WEEKEND >> Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander will throw a side session today, and if that goes well he'll make his season debut this weekend against the Washington Nationals. Houston manager Joe Espada made the announcement Monday, but wouldn't say which game of the series Verlander would start. The three-game set begins Friday night.
“He's in a good spot,” Espada said. “He feels good. He feels confident. He wants to contribute. He knows that we need him on the mound, we need his presence and right now and he's right where he needs to be.”
The three-time Cy Young Award winner opened the season on the injured list with inflammation in his right shoulder. He made two rehabilitation starts, the first for Triple-A Sugar Land on April 7 before Saturday's start for Double-A Corpus Christi.
Verlander wasn't thrilled with the results in his rehabilitation starts, but he said those games were valuable in getting him prepared to come off the IL. He allowed seven hits and six runs — five earned — in four innings against Frisco Saturday. He struck out three, walked one and threw 51 of 77 pitches for strikes.
Verlander allowed six earned runs and struck out six while pitching into the fourth inning for Sugar Land.
“You're not quite in season form,” he said. “The only way to practice pitching at full speed is to actually go out there and do it. As much as I would like to, I can't practice full speed in the bullpen. It's just not possible. So you really hope that your body starts to sync things up when you're out there in a game and you learn from each time you're out there, and I think I'm doing just that.”
ALSO >> Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez had an MRI that showed a mild groin strain . ... The Chicago Cubs placed right fielder Seiya Suzuki on the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain . ... The slumping Chicago White Sox got Eloy Jiménez back, activating the slugger from the 10-day injured list. The oft-injured Jiménez had been sidelined by a left adductor strain . ... The Marlins placed infielder Jake Burger on the 10-day injured list because of a left intercostal muscle strain, another setback for Miami during a nightmarish start to the season . ... Ken Holtzman, MLB's winningest Jewish pitcher who threw two no-hitters for the Chicago Cubs and helped the Oakland Athletics win three straight World Series championships in the 1970s, has died, the Cubs announced Monday on social media. He was 78.