Suzyn Waldman reacts to John Sterling’s passing: ‘Celebration of a life’

In her first WFAN Yankees appearance since John Sterling’s passing, Suzyn Waldman paid homage to her longtime Yankees radio partner who passed Monday at 87.

“What I want to tell you all, nobody loved Yankees baseball and the fans more than John Sterling,” Waldman said on WFAN. “And what this is for me, is a celebration of a life and an extraordinary man. And he would want us all here to enjoy this baseball game and root on as we always have. And so this is all for John.”

Waldman proceeded to read the Yankees starting lineup for the game with the Baltimore Orioles.

Prior to the game, Waldman and Yankees TV announcer Michael Kay laid flowers at home plate to honor Sterling, while the Bleacher Creatures added Sterling to their roll call.

Waldman and Sterling began their iconic Yankees radio broadcasting partnership in 2005, when Waldman joined him as the color commentator on WCBS Radio, becoming the first full-time female color commentator in Major League Baseball. Their partnership that lasted until Sterling’s retirement in April 2024

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She told NJ Advance Media’s Randy Miller that Sterling was like a brother to her and they had chemistry from the start.

“Oh, God yes,” she said. “I mean, we were friends. This is like my brother. I’ve known him 40 years. We were friends from that first day I met him because I just thought he was interesting. We liked the same shows, we liked the same books, we talked the same language. We came from the same generation. We were educated the same way. So when he said something, I understood what he meant. No, this was pretty special.

“And by the way, if it weren’t for John, I wouldn’t have gotten this job. When people were saying, ‘You can’t have a woman do Yankees radio,’ George (Steinbrenner) came over and said (to John), ‘What do you think of this? A woman?’ He said, ‘I think a woman is wonderful, as long as it’s this woman. Go ahead and hire her.’ And he did that also with Michael Kay. A lot of people wanted that job. A lot of players wanted that job and John said to George, ‘This is who I want.’ So both of us owe him a lot.”