Bill Pennington profiled John Sterling in the Times the other day:
Sterling came to the Yankees’ radio booth in 1989 and did every game, although his 100 percent work attendance streak began in 1981 in Atlanta.
“I have not missed a game I was supposed to work,” he said. “I am blessed with a good immune system.”
Michael Kay, the Yankees television announcer and Sterling’s radio partner from 1992 to 2001, said: “I do 125 games a season, and that feels like a lot. I don’t know how he has done 162 games a year for 23 years.”
In his time with the Yankees, Sterling has had five broadcasting partners. He has worked with Suzyn Waldman since 2005.
A typical day for Sterling starts late because he stays up late. Besides having an affection for TV soap operas, he is a voracious reader of mystery novels and celebrity biographies. He tries to swim every day for at least a half-hour. On the road, it is a familiar sight at the Ritz-Carltons and other fashionable hotels where the Yankees stay to see a soggy Sterling striding through the ornate lobby in a terry-cloth robe, goggles perched on his head on his way back from the hotel pool.
The piece is well-worth your time.
[Photo Credit: Beatrice de Gea for the New York Times]