Bob Shepard, the long-time public address announcer for the Yankees has died. He was 99. He first started announcing for the Yanks in 1951 and stopped doing games in 2007 (IIRC.)
Reggie Jackson dubbed him “The Voice of God” years ago. He really did have a wonderful announcing voice and will always be what i think of most when I remember going to Yankee games.
The Mariners showed some nice class today and had a moment of silence for Mr. Sheppard. Derek Jeter will be using a recording of Bob Sheppard announcing him for his plate appearances in the All Star Game.
I wrote this in the baseball thread and it bears repeating, the one thing the new stadium is missing is Bob Sheppard. He started long before my first game at the Stadium. His first game on April 17, 1951, included DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Johnny Mize, Yogi Berra, and Phil Rizzuto. opposed by Ted Williams.& the Boston Red Sox.
His final game on Sept. 21, 2008. Though Jeter still uses a recording that Sheppard did for him.
58 years is an amazing run. Still doing the job at age 97 was astounding.
At 50 years the Yanks held a day for him with a maximum crowd cheering for him and of all people Walter Cronkite read the inscription for the plaque honoring him in Monument Park.
He even made it into a few films. 61* by Bill Crystal and the Adam Sandler movie Anger Management.
The old Yankee Stadium was often called the Cathedral of Baseball and his voice only added to this.
Rest in peace, sir.
I still remember watching Bob Sheppard Day, the celebration of his 50th year with the team. They gave him a plaque in Monument Park. I was watching this at home on TV and I wondered what he would sound like when he wasn’t doing his announcer voice. He took the microphone and sounded exactly the same. I couldn’t believe that was his real voice.
A few years later I had the good fortune to interview him a couple of times, and he also sounded the same in conversation. You can imagine how self-conscious you’d feel speaking to someone who sounded like that. I thought about asking for public speaking tips but I decided it would be inappropriate. He was a very nice man and he was exactly as dignified as that voice would lead you to expect. A gentleman of the old school for sure- when I walked into his house the first thing he said was something like “Reporters are always late.” (I didn’t tell him I was late because I felt I should shave and put on nicer clothes before our interview.) I’m told he was unfailingly kind to other Yankee staffers, but despite his involvement in the Yankee mystique I don’t think he bought into it all that much. I think he enjoyed baseball but tried to keep it in proportion.
I remember him telling me is that he was prouder of his long teaching career than of his public address work because teaching was more important. He actually told me that the first time the Yankees offered him a job, he turned it down because it would have conflicted with his class schedule. He did continue to teach at St. John’s until the last few years of his life. He was a very religious man - imagine hearing that voice in church - and when he was young he was apparently a very good athlete. (And don’t forget that he also handled the announcements at Giants football games for 50 years and announced some games for St. John’s.)
His last games with the Yankees were in 2008. I think he got sick in the fall and missed the playoffs that year. That winter I sent him a card that said anyplace would be Yankee Stadium to me as long as he was the one introducing the players. Other than the recording of him introducing Jeter, that never did happen since his health didn’t permit it. A piece of Yankee lore and history is gone tonight. I’ll miss that.
Great story, Marley23.
I never met Bob Sheppard, but he was a big part of my youth anyway.
He was a lector at the Catholic Church he attended, and I can’t help wondering… when he read “Let There be light,” did it sound just like the real thing?
I remember Mickey Mantle saying that, after his retirement, he regularly had his own version of the old “running around the school hallways trying to find the exam room” nightmare. Once a month, at least, Mickey would dream that he was in uniform, running around the streets outside Yankee Stadium, trying to get inside. He could hear Sheppard’s voice announcing, “Now batting, number 7, Mickey Mantle…”
I did want to add a couple of things, starting with the fact that Sheppard’s last games were actually late in the 2007 season:
After my first story about him was published, he sent me a note on Yankee stationery that read (in its entirety) “Well done!” I think he’s the only person I have covered who sent me a thank you note without any ulterior motive.
He was well prepared for the press and gave me a one- or two-page list of basic facts about himself when I showed up for our interview. It was helpful since I only had half an hour to talk to him. I might have it in my files somewhere. I know it included his list of favorite names to announce. This has been reprinted elsewhere in the last few days, and probably earlier, but his top five were a very eclectic list:
Mickey Mantle (needs no introduction)
Shigetoshi Hasegawa (Angels and Mariners reliever, '97 to '05
Salome Barojas (pitcher for the White Sox/Angels/Philles in the '80s)
Jose Valdivielso (infielder for the Senators and Twins from '55 to '61)
Alvaro Espinoza (infielder for the Yankees and others from '84 to '97)
It occurs to me just now that since his first year was Mickey Mantle’s rookie year, Bob Sheppard saw practically every home game Mickey Mantle ever played. Good work if you can get it. But when my brother and I did our Bob Sheppard impressions we usually introduced Jason Giambi. Unlike almost everyone else in the sporting world, he pronounced it “Jahmbi,” not “Gee-ahm-bi,” which is the player’s preferred pronunciation and is just more fun to say.
And now he is announcing the arrival of George Steinbrenner…
Wow… R.I.P. George.
The funeral was yesterday. There seems to be a minor kerfluffle brewing over the fact that none of the Yankee players were there. (GM Brian Cashman did go and made a eulogy.) SI had a story about it, ESPN had a slightly more haughty story about it, and the Daily News ran a story or a column, too. On the front page of the paper it had a picture of him and said something like “He was the Voice of the Yankees for 57 years - and no players went to his funeral.”
Maybe I’m making a mistake by drawing attention to the articles, but I think these stories are in poor taste. Even considering the All-Star break and the death of Steinbrenner at the same time, I did think it was kind of a shame that the organization didn’t make a bigger showing at the funeral. Still the Daily News headline in particular makes it sound like the team neglected him or took advantage of him. As many of the tributes to the man have made clear, Bob Sheppard had a life outside of baseball. He wasn’t a groupie and announcing was not the only thing of consequence in his life. It’s what he was known for and I am sure he was handsomely rewarded for the job in terms of prestige and money. (Or so I assume. The Yankees had a limo drive him to and from every home game, so I’m guessing they took good care of him.) He taught into his 90s and never made any pretense of being close to the ballplayers. He’d meet a new player to ask about the pronunciation of his name but there’s no way he saw most of them every day. He told me he’d only been close with one or two of them over the years - he didn’t name names - and I know he told other writers the same thing. Many writers pointed out that he read books between announcements during the games, and when the Yankees were on the road, he said he usually didn’t watch the games. I think I miss him as part of the stadium experience as much as any fan does, but it’s unseemly to make it sound like he was left out in the cold or use him to generate a little cheap outrage.
I wasn’t home in time to see the tribute to Sheppard and Steinbrenner tonight, but I know the team will make a separate tribute to Sheppard tomorrow and I hope I’ll get to watch it. A surprising memorial for the Voice tonight: there will be no announcements during the game; the booth is empty. They played a recording of Sheppard at the beginning, probably just “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Yankee Stadium,” and then Paul Olden took the microphone to say there would be no other announcements. In a way that’s kind of unhelpful to the fans but I think it’s a nice reflection on his absence.
I agree with just about everything above, but: Why not the recordings during Jeter’s at bats? Would have been more poignant in my opinion.
As Swisher wins it with a base hit. Wonder if there will be a pie?
Yes, there will be pie.