Yankees Fan Rich’s Heartfelt Farewell to Pinstripes' Play-by-Play Legend John Sterling

Rich has been a Yankees fan since 1977 and 1978, the first years he can remember rooting for the team. So when John Sterling, the longtime voice of the New York Yankees, passed away, the show paused for a proper goodbye.

Rich has done this kind of segment too many times in his career. Eulogizing athletes and broadcasters he followed and fanboyed over. This one, he made clear, was personal.

When Rich was at ESPN anchoring SportsCenter during the Joe Torre dynasty years, he met Sterling repeatedly. The portrait he painted on the show was simple and warm. Sterling was kind. He was welcoming. He was a gentleman, and a professional.

His wife Susie also crossed paths with Sterling while she was working on Sunday morning SportsCenter feature pieces in Southern California. She was so broken up by the news that she called Rich five minutes before air to make sure he would talk about Sterling on the show. She had saved one of Sterling's voicemails to her, in which he told her he considered her a friend and hoped she would call him back.

The numbers Sterling left behind read like a monument. 5,420 regular season games. 211 postseason games. 5,060 consecutive games called, a streak Chris on the show called Cal Ripken-esque. 24 postseason trips. Seven World Series. Five World Series titles.

And one call that stuck with Rich more than any other. The 1996 World Series clincher. The first championship Rich had seen the Yankees win since 1978, when he was a kid.

"The stretch and pitch, swung on and popped up again off third. Hayes has room. Hayes makes the catch. Yankees win," Sterling roared on the call the show replayed. "The New York Yankees have won the 1996 World Series. They have surmounted every challenge. They have climbed every mountain. And the New York Yankees are world champions."

Rich described what made Sterling special beyond the play-by-play. The way he broadcast with an ear toward the listener. The way he became a companion to fans sitting alone in a car or at home, turning the radio on to listen to a friend.

"He was always a gentleman," Rich said. "And a true professional."

There was a moment of trademark Sterling that earned a laugh through the tribute. After his heart bypass surgery earlier this year, a Yankees beat reporter checked in to see how he was doing. Sterling's response had nothing to do with his health. He wanted to know why the Yankees were carrying two left-handed hitting catchers on the same roster.

A valid question, Rich noted, from a man whose body apparently had pinstripes in his arteries.

Chris closed the segment with the tribute that landed hardest. Sterling did not get his dream job until age 50. For anyone in the broadcasting business worried that their career is heading the wrong direction, that fact, Chris said, is the proof. You can still get there later in life.

Rich finished on behalf of his family and the entire Yankee family.

"He is high with the Angels and he is gone."