The legendary Bob Sheppard, the amazing longtime PA announcer at Yankee Stadium, has called it a career.
Bob Sheppard has no intentions of returning to his longtime job as the public-address announcer at Yankee Stadium, MLB.com reported yesterday.
Sheppard, 99, hasn’t worked a game since late in the 2007 season due to illness.
“I have no plans of coming back,” Sheppard told the Web site in a telephone interview. “Time has passed me by, I think. I had a good run for it. I enjoyed doing what I did. I don’t think, at my age, I’m going to suddenly regain the stamina that is really needed if you do the job and do it well.”
More here and here. Sheppard’s voice over the PA, along with Eddie Layton on the organ and Robert Merrill singing the National Anthem, were what made games at the Stadium so memorable. In fact, I’m so overcome with nostalgia as I read this, I need to hear Merrill’s version of the Anthem again:
The singing begins at about 1:30. That, my friends, is how you do the Star Spangled Banner. I’m glad they still maintain the tradition of Merrill performing on Opening Day, and I’m glad Sheppard’s voice will continue to introduce Derek Jeter. The Yankees have always been about their history, and this is a great way to honor it. In the meantime, my best wishes to Bob Sheppard in his retirement, even if he doesn’t like to use that word.
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