Bob Sheppard
Encyclopedia
Robert Leo "Bob" Sheppard (October 20, 1910 – July 11, 2010) was the long-time public address
announcer
for numerous New York area college and professional sports teams, in particular the MLB
New York Yankees
(1951–2007), and the NFL
New York Giants
(1956–2006).
Sheppard announced more than 4,500 Yankees baseball games over a period of 56 years, including 22 pennant-winning seasons and 13 World Series
championships; he called 121 consecutive postseason contests, 62 games in 22 World Series, and six no-hitters, including three perfect games. He was also the in-house voice for a half-century of Giants football games, encompassing 9 conference championships, 3 NFL championships (1956, 1986, 1990), and the game often called "the greatest ever played", the classic 1958 championship loss to Baltimore.
His smooth, distinctive baritone and precise, consistent elocution became iconic aural symbols of both the old Yankee Stadium and Giants Stadium
. Reggie Jackson
famously nicknamed him "The Voice of God", while Carl Yastrzemski
once said, "You're not in the big leagues until Bob Sheppard announces your name."
, a section of the borough of Queens
, New York City
.
He graduated from Saint John's Preparatory School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
in 1928, and attended St. John's University
on an athletic scholarship, where he earned seven varsity letters from 1928 to 1932; three in baseball as the starting first baseman, and four in football as the left-handed starting quarterback; and was elected president of his senior class. He received a Master's degree
in Speech Education from Columbia University
in 1933.
, Queens, NY. During World War II
he served in the Navy
as a gunnery officer aboard cargo ships, both in convoys and on independent missions in the Pacific Theater
. After the War he became Chairman of the Speech Department at John Adams High School in Queens, and taught evening courses in public speaking at his alma mater, St. John's University. He also served as speech and debate coach for Sacred Heart Academy's Forensic Team in Hempstead, New York
. His multiple teaching jobs overlapped more than 25 years into his announcing career, and he always maintained that his academic work was far more important than his accomplishments as an announcer. "My sports activity," he said,"...cut down on what I really contributed to society, and that's teaching...when I hear from former students and they say I helped them achieve their goals, I feel I have contributed to society more than all I have done in sports." As an announcer, he said, "All I have to recommend is longevity."
football and basketball games after World War II, a job he kept well into the 1990s. In the late '40s he also became the announcer for the Brooklyn Dodgers
of the All-America Football Conference
, at Ebbets Field
. He came to the attention of the Yankees when a front-office official heard him deliver a tribute to Babe Ruth
at a Dodgers football game in 1948. He was offered the Yankees announcing job, but did not accept it until three years later when the Yankees agreed to hire an understudy, so his duties with the team would not interfere with his teaching responsibilities. He debuted at Yankee Stadium on April 17, 1951 with the Yankees' home opener, a 5-0 win over the Boston Red Sox
. In 1956, when the New York Giants football team moved from the Polo Grounds
to Yankee Stadium, he began announcing their games as well, and remained with them when they moved to Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey
in 1976.
Sheppard's first year as the Yankees' announcer was the only one in which Joe DiMaggio
and Mickey Mantle
shared the outfield. His first game featured eight future Hall of Famers
: DiMaggio, Mantle, Johnny Mize
, Yogi Berra
, and Phil Rizzuto
for the Yankees, and Ted Williams
, Bobby Doerr
, and Lou Boudreau
for the Red Sox. The first player he introduced was the Yankee Clipper's brother, Dominic DiMaggio. His 1951 salary was $15 per game, $17 for a doubleheader.
Sheppard's distinctive announcing style became an integral component of the Yankee Stadium experience. For more than half a century each game began with his trademark cadence - "Good afternoon (evening)...ladies and gentlemen...and welcome...to Yankee Stadium" - his words reverberating around the massive structure. Each in-game announcement evoked a bygone era: "Your attention please, ladies and gentlemen." He introduced every player, Yankee or visitor, rookie or immortal (as described on his Monument Park
plaque), "with equal divine reverence." He communicated all essential information; no more, no less: the first at-bat: position, uniform number, name, and number again; each succeeding at-bat: position and name. "A public-address announcer should be clear, concise, correct," he said. "He should not be colorful, cute or comic." So in Yankee Stadium, Dennis Boyd was never introduced as "Oil Can", nor Jim Hunter
as "Catfish." He once listed (in order) his favorite names to announce: Mickey Mantle, Shigetoshi Hasegawa
, Salome Barojas
, Jose Valdivielso
and Alvaro Espinoza
; and he expressed his special affection for the natural resonance of many Latino players' names. "Anglo-Saxon names are not very euphonious," he said. "What can I do with Steve Sax
? What can I do with Mickey Klutts
?" But Mickey Mantle remained his favorite; Sheppard said Mantle once told him, "'Everytime Bob Sheppard introduced me at Yankee Stadium, I got shivers up my spine.' And I said to him, 'So did I.'"
He took great pride in pronouncing every name correctly, and made certain to check directly with a visiting player if he had any doubt on the correct or preferred pronunciation. Minnie Miñoso, for example, preferred a precise Spanish pronunciation of his name, complete with tilde
(Meen-YO-so), and Sheppard, unlike many announcers, obliged. He admitted that early in his career, whenever the Senators were in town he particularly feared tripping over Wayne Terwilliger
's name. “I worried that I would say ‘Ter-wigg-ler’," he recalled, "but I never did." He did stumble on at least one rookie
's name: Jorge Posada
was called up from Columbus
late in the 1995 season, and made his first appearance as a Yankee in Game 2 of the 1995 American League Division Series
against Seattle, as a pinch runner for Wade Boggs
. Sheppard, who had not yet met Posada, announced the substitution, Posada's major league debut, in extra innings of one of the greatest games in Division Series history, with an "o" at the end of his last name. Posada's friend Derek Jeter
noticed immediately, with amusement, and has called him "Sado" ever since.
Sheppard made another rare professional error in October 1976 at the Giants' first home game in New Jersey, against the Cowboys
, which he commenced with the startling announcement, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Yankee Stadium." His other famous faux pas
occurred in 1982 at Yankee Stadium, when he inadvertently left his microphone on as Shane Rawley
gave up a double on his first pitch in relief, instantly turning a 3-2 lead into a 4-3 deficit. Over the stadium speakers came Sheppard's familiar voice: "Boy, what relief pitchinginginging!" Sheppard, ever the gentleman, went to the locker room after the game and apologized to Rawley.
Throughout his career, Sheppard famously refused to reveal his age, once abruptly ending an interview when Jim Bouton
asked the question a second time. He readily disclosed his birth month and day, October 20 (possibly because he shared it with Mickey Mantle), but never publicly acknowledged the year. For years, there was conjecture that his compulsive secretiveness stemmed from a fear that Yankees owner George Steinbrenner
would think him too old and replace him, but Sheppard denied it. "[Steinbrenner] never questioned how old I was," he said. "He knew I was there every day for 57 years or so." In fact, it has been said that Sheppard may have been the only Yankees employee never criticized by Steinbrenner, who called him "the gold standard."
Over the years, Sheppard also served as announcer for multiple other teams and venues, among them Adelphi College (predecessor of Adelphi University); the AFL New York Titans
(later the Jets
) and the International Soccer League, both at the Polo Grounds; the WFL
New York Stars at Downing Stadium
on Randall's Island
; the All-America Football Conference's New York Yankees
at Yankee Stadium; the NASL
New York Cosmos
at Yankee Stadium, Downing Stadium, and Giants Stadium; Army Black Knights
football games at Michie Stadium
and Giants Stadium; and multiple Army-Navy games
at the Polo Grounds, Giants Stadium, and Veterans Stadium
in Philadelphia. "You name it, I did it," he said. In later years, the many baseball honors bestowed on him overshadowed his work in other sports. Phil Rizzuto
once asked him to name the greatest Yankee Stadium game he had ever announced, probably expecting to hear a good baseball story. "The day Pat Summerall
kicked the field goal in the snow in 1958," Sheppard replied, referring to the legendary December 14 Giants victory over Cleveland
.
, at the end of the 2005 season, when the commute from his home on Long Island
to East Rutherford, New Jersey became too strenuous. His final game was the Giants' playoff loss to the Carolina Panthers
on January 8, 2006. He was succeeded by his long-time understudy, former debate student, and colleague in the Speech Department at St. John's University, Jim Hall
.
At age 95 health issues began to take their toll: In 2006 Sheppard missed his first Yankees home opener since 1951 after injuring his hip. He was back in time for the next homestand, but it marked the beginning of a slow but inexorable deterioration of his health over the next two seasons. He called what turned out to be his final game, a 10-2 win over Seattle, on Sept. 5, 2007. The following week he was hospitalized with a bronchial infection, forcing him to miss the final homestand and the AL Division Series
against Cleveland, thus ending his streak of 121 consecutive postseason games at Yankee Stadium. Although he signed a new two-year contract with the Yankees in March 2008, and he particularly looked forward to announcing the 2008 All-Star Game
, which was played at Yankee Stadium, he missed the entire 2008 season. He also reluctantly admitted that he lacked sufficient strength to call the final game at the original ballpark on September 21, 2008. "I don't have my best stuff," he said. Sheppard's recorded voice did announce the starting lineups for that final game, however, a 7-3 victory over the Orioles. Jim Hall replaced him for the 2008 season, and Paul Olden
took over when the Yankees moved to the new ballpark in 2009.
Two weeks after his 99th birthday in 2009, the day after the Yankees defeated Philadelphia to win their 27th World Series
, Sheppard officially announced his retirement as the Yankees' public address announcer. "I have no plans of coming back," he told MLB.com
. "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."
He died at his home in Baldwin, New York
on July 11, 2010. In announcing his father's death, Sheppard's son Paul said, “I know St. Peter will now recruit him. If you’re lucky enough to go to Heaven, you’ll be greeted by a voice saying, ‘Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Heaven!’”
(Rhetoric), and in 2007, received St. John’s’ Medal of Honor, the highest award that the university can confer on a graduate.
St. John's University annually awards the Sheppard Trophy, one of its highest awards, to the most outstanding student-athlete.
In 2008, the Yankees' captain and 12-time All-Star Derek Jeter asked Sheppard to record his at-bat introductions. The recordings have been used to introduce each of Jeter's home at-bats since the beginning of the 2008 season, and will continue to do so for the rest of his Yankee career. Sheppard was flattered: "It has been one of the greatest compliments I have received in my career of announcing. The fact that he wanted my voice every time he came to bat is a credit to his good judgment and my humility."
In 1998 Sheppard was presented with the prestigious William J. Slocum “Long and Meritorious Service” Award by the Baseball Writers Association of America
, and the “Pride of the Yankees” award by the Yankees organization.
Sheppard is one of only two people ever awarded both a World Series
ring and a Super Bowl
ring. The other was Bill King
, the long-time radio play-by-play voice of the Oakland Raiders
and Oakland Athletics
, and another man famously secretive about his age.
In 2000, during his 50th year with the Yankees, Sheppard donated the microphone he used for a half-century of Yankee Stadium announcements to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York
. May 7 of that 50th year was designated "Bob Sheppard Day", and a plaque honoring him was unveiled in Yankee Stadium's Monument Park. At the pre-game ceremony Walter Cronkite
read the inscription, which states in part that his voice was "...as synonymous with Yankee Stadium as its copper facade and Monument Park.”
The media dining room in the new stadium is named “Sheppard’s Place”.
The Yankees wore a Bob Sheppard commemorative patch on the left sleeve of their home and road jerseys for the remainder of the 2010 season.
The Yankees' first home game after Sheppard's death, a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays
on July 16, 2010, was played with an empty PA booth and no public address announcements.
On November 16, 2010 a resolution "commending Bob Sheppard for his long and respected career" was passed by voice vote in the United States House of Representatives
. It was introduced by Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy
from New York's 4th Congressional District, where Sheppard lived for 70 years.
Sheppard was deeply religious, "...as strong in his Roman Catholic faith as anybody I knew," wrote his longtime friend, George Vecsey
. "[In old age] he hated to admit he could no longer serve as a lector. His faith never wavered in the trying days. His daughter [Mary] is a nun. He referred to [his wife] Mary as 'my archangel,' meaning she saved his life, day by day."
Public address
A public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in...
announcer
Announcer
An announcer is a presenter who makes "announcements" in an audio medium or a physical location.-Television and other media:Some announcers work in television production , radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, news updates, station identification, or an introduction of a product in...
for numerous New York area college and professional sports teams, in particular the MLB
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
(1951–2007), and the NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
(1956–2006).
Sheppard announced more than 4,500 Yankees baseball games over a period of 56 years, including 22 pennant-winning seasons and 13 World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
championships; he called 121 consecutive postseason contests, 62 games in 22 World Series, and six no-hitters, including three perfect games. He was also the in-house voice for a half-century of Giants football games, encompassing 9 conference championships, 3 NFL championships (1956, 1986, 1990), and the game often called "the greatest ever played", the classic 1958 championship loss to Baltimore.
His smooth, distinctive baritone and precise, consistent elocution became iconic aural symbols of both the old Yankee Stadium and Giants Stadium
Giants Stadium
Giants Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Maximum seating capacity was 80,242. The building itself was 230.5 m long, 180.5 m wide and 44 m high from service level to the top of the seating bowl and 54 m high to...
. Reggie Jackson
Reggie Jackson
Reginald Martinez "Reggie" Jackson , nicknamed "Mr. October" for his clutch hitting in the postseason with the New York Yankees, is a former American Major League Baseball right fielder. During a 21-year baseball career, he played from 1967-1987 for four different teams. Jackson currently serves as...
famously nicknamed him "The Voice of God", while Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Michael Yastrzemski is a former American Major League Baseball left fielder and first baseman. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year baseball career with the Boston Red Sox . He was primarily a left fielder, with part of his later career...
once said, "You're not in the big leagues until Bob Sheppard announces your name."
Early life
Sheppard was secretive about his age throughout his life, but according to New York voter records he was born October 20, 1910, in Richmond HillRichmond Hill, Queens
Richmond Hill is a neighborhood in central-southern Queens, New York City, USA. It is bordered by Kew Gardens to the north, Woodhaven and Ozone Park to the west, South Ozone Park to the south and South Jamaica to the east...
, a section of the borough of Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
He graduated from Saint John's Preparatory School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
Bedford-Stuyvesant is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Formed in 1930, the neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 3, Brooklyn Community Board 8 and Brooklyn Community Board 16. The neighborhood is patrolled by the NYPD's 79th and 81st...
in 1928, and attended St. John's University
St. John's University (New York City)
St. John's University is a private, Roman Catholic, coeducational university located in New York City, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission in 1870, the school was originally located in the borough of Brooklyn in the neighborhood of Bedford–Stuyvesant...
on an athletic scholarship, where he earned seven varsity letters from 1928 to 1932; three in baseball as the starting first baseman, and four in football as the left-handed starting quarterback; and was elected president of his senior class. He received a Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in Speech Education from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1933.
Teacher
Sheppard began his career playing semiprofessional football on Long Island with the Valley Stream Red Riders and the Hempstead Monitors, earning $25 a game, and teaching speech at Grover Cleveland High School in RidgewoodRidgewood, Queens
Ridgewood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It borders the neighborhoods of Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale, as well as the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick. Historically, the neighborhood straddled the Queens-Brooklyn boundary. The neighborhood is part of Queens...
, Queens, NY. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he served in the Navy
Navy
A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
as a gunnery officer aboard cargo ships, both in convoys and on independent missions in the Pacific Theater
Pacific Theater of Operations
The Pacific Theater of Operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period...
. After the War he became Chairman of the Speech Department at John Adams High School in Queens, and taught evening courses in public speaking at his alma mater, St. John's University. He also served as speech and debate coach for Sacred Heart Academy's Forensic Team in Hempstead, New York
Hempstead (village), New York
Hempstead is a village located in the town of Hempstead, Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 53,891 at the 2010 census.Hofstra University is located on the border between Hempstead and Uniondale.-Foundation:...
. His multiple teaching jobs overlapped more than 25 years into his announcing career, and he always maintained that his academic work was far more important than his accomplishments as an announcer. "My sports activity," he said,"...cut down on what I really contributed to society, and that's teaching...when I hear from former students and they say I helped them achieve their goals, I feel I have contributed to society more than all I have done in sports." As an announcer, he said, "All I have to recommend is longevity."
Announcer
Sheppard first worked as a public address announcer for St. John'sSt. John's Red Storm
The St. John's Red Storm is the nickname used for the 16 varsity athletic programs of St. John's University. St. John's 16 NCAA Division I teams compete in the Big East Conference, with the exception of the fencing and lacrosse teams, which compete in the ECAC...
football and basketball games after World War II, a job he kept well into the 1990s. In the late '40s he also became the announcer for the Brooklyn Dodgers
Brooklyn Dodgers (AAFC)
The Brooklyn Dodgers was an American Football team that played in the All-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1948. The team is unrelated to the Brooklyn Dodgers that played in the National Football League from 1930 to 1943...
of the All-America Football Conference
All-America Football Conference
The All-America Football Conference was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the nation's best players, and introduced many lasting innovations...
, at Ebbets Field
Ebbets Field
Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball park located in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York, USA, on a city block which is now considered to be part of the Crown Heights neighborhood. It was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League. It was also a venue for professional football...
. He came to the attention of the Yankees when a front-office official heard him deliver a tribute to Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
at a Dodgers football game in 1948. He was offered the Yankees announcing job, but did not accept it until three years later when the Yankees agreed to hire an understudy, so his duties with the team would not interfere with his teaching responsibilities. He debuted at Yankee Stadium on April 17, 1951 with the Yankees' home opener, a 5-0 win over the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
. In 1956, when the New York Giants football team moved from the Polo Grounds
Polo Grounds
The Polo Grounds was the name given to four different stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used by many professional teams in both baseball and American football from 1880 until 1963...
to Yankee Stadium, he began announcing their games as well, and remained with them when they moved to Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey
East Rutherford, New Jersey
East Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 8,913. It is an inner-ring suburb of New York City, located west of Midtown Manhattan....
in 1976.
Sheppard's first year as the Yankees' announcer was the only one in which Joe DiMaggio
Joe DiMaggio
Joseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio , nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper," was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak , a record that still stands...
and Mickey Mantle
Mickey Mantle
Mickey Charles Mantle was an American professional baseball player. Mantle is regarded by many to be the greatest switch hitter of all time, and one of the greatest players in baseball history. Mantle was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.Mantle was noted for his hitting...
shared the outfield. His first game featured eight future Hall of Famers
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...
: DiMaggio, Mantle, Johnny Mize
Johnny Mize
John Robert "Johnny" Mize was a baseball player who was a first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants, and New York Yankees...
, Yogi Berra
Yogi Berra
Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra is a former American Major League Baseball catcher, outfielder, and manager. He played almost his entire 19-year baseball career for the New York Yankees...
, and Phil Rizzuto
Phil Rizzuto
Philip Francis Rizzuto , nicknamed "The Scooter", was an American Major League Baseball shortstop. He spent his entire 13-year baseball career for the New York Yankees...
for the Yankees, and Ted Williams
Ted Williams
Theodore Samuel "Ted" Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year Major League Baseball career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox...
, Bobby Doerr
Bobby Doerr
Robert Pershing Doerr is a former Major League Baseball second baseman and coach. He played his entire 14-year baseball career for the Boston Red Sox . He led American League second basemen in double plays five times, tying a league record, in putouts and fielding percentage four times each, and...
, and Lou Boudreau
Lou Boudreau
Louis "Lou" Boudreau was an American Major League Baseball player and manager. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970...
for the Red Sox. The first player he introduced was the Yankee Clipper's brother, Dominic DiMaggio. His 1951 salary was $15 per game, $17 for a doubleheader.
Sheppard's distinctive announcing style became an integral component of the Yankee Stadium experience. For more than half a century each game began with his trademark cadence - "Good afternoon (evening)...ladies and gentlemen...and welcome...to Yankee Stadium" - his words reverberating around the massive structure. Each in-game announcement evoked a bygone era: "Your attention please, ladies and gentlemen." He introduced every player, Yankee or visitor, rookie or immortal (as described on his Monument Park
Monument Park (Yankee Stadium)
Monument Park is an open-air museum located at the new Yankee Stadium containing a collection of monuments, plaques, and retired numbers honoring distinguished members of the New York Yankees....
plaque), "with equal divine reverence." He communicated all essential information; no more, no less: the first at-bat: position, uniform number, name, and number again; each succeeding at-bat: position and name. "A public-address announcer should be clear, concise, correct," he said. "He should not be colorful, cute or comic." So in Yankee Stadium, Dennis Boyd was never introduced as "Oil Can", nor Jim Hunter
Jim Hunter (baseball)
James MacGregor Hunter is a Major League baseball pitcher who had a brief career with the Milwaukee Brewers during the 1991 MLB season....
as "Catfish." He once listed (in order) his favorite names to announce: Mickey Mantle, Shigetoshi Hasegawa
Shigetoshi Hasegawa
is a retired relief pitcher in Major League Baseball and best-selling author and Japanese television personality. He achieved the most recognition when he played for the Seattle Mariners from through . Previously, Hasegawa played with the Anaheim Angels , and before that spent six years with the...
, Salome Barojas
Salomé Barojas
Salomé Barojas Romero is a former relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners, and Philadelphia Phillies from to ....
, Jose Valdivielso
José Valdivielso
José Martinez de Valdivielso is a former professional baseball player. He played all or part of five seasons in Major League Baseball, between 1955 and 1961, for the Washington Senators and their later incarnation, the Minnesota Twins, primarily as a shortstop.-Sources:...
and Alvaro Espinoza
Alvaro Espinoza
Álvaro Alberto Espinoza [es-pe-NO-zah] is a former shortstop in Major League Baseball and current infield coach for the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees.-Early life:...
; and he expressed his special affection for the natural resonance of many Latino players' names. "Anglo-Saxon names are not very euphonious," he said. "What can I do with Steve Sax
Steve Sax
Stephen Louis Sax is a former second baseman in Major League Baseball. He was a right-handed batter for the Los Angeles Dodgers , New York Yankees , Chicago White Sox , and the Oakland Athletics ....
? What can I do with Mickey Klutts
Mickey Klutts
Gene Ellis "Mickey" Klutts is a retired Major League Baseball player who played in the Major Leagues from 1976 to 1983 with the New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics and Toronto Blue Jays...
?" But Mickey Mantle remained his favorite; Sheppard said Mantle once told him, "'Everytime Bob Sheppard introduced me at Yankee Stadium, I got shivers up my spine.' And I said to him, 'So did I.'"
He took great pride in pronouncing every name correctly, and made certain to check directly with a visiting player if he had any doubt on the correct or preferred pronunciation. Minnie Miñoso, for example, preferred a precise Spanish pronunciation of his name, complete with tilde
Tilde
The tilde is a grapheme with several uses. The name of the character comes from Portuguese and Spanish, from the Latin titulus meaning "title" or "superscription", though the term "tilde" has evolved and now has a different meaning in linguistics....
(Meen-YO-so), and Sheppard, unlike many announcers, obliged. He admitted that early in his career, whenever the Senators were in town he particularly feared tripping over Wayne Terwilliger
Wayne Terwilliger
Willard Wayne "Twig" Terwilliger is a former second baseman, coach, and manager in Major League Baseball.-Early life:...
's name. “I worried that I would say ‘Ter-wigg-ler’," he recalled, "but I never did." He did stumble on at least one rookie
Rookie
Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of their sport or has little or no professional experience. The term also has the more general meaning of anyone new to a profession, training or activity Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of...
's name: Jorge Posada
Jorge Posada
Jorge Rafael Posada Villeta is a Major League Baseball player who is currently a free agent and has played his entire career for the New York Yankees. He served as the Yankees primary catcher for most of his career, though following off-season knee surgery, he was moved to designated hitter for...
was called up from Columbus
Columbus Clippers
The Columbus Clippers are a minor league baseball team based in Columbus, Ohio. The team plays in the International League and is the Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. The team is owned by the government of Franklin County, Ohio....
late in the 1995 season, and made his first appearance as a Yankee in Game 2 of the 1995 American League Division Series
1995 American League Division Series
-Seattle Mariners vs. New York Yankees:-Game 1, Tuesday, October 3:Jacobs Field in Cleveland, OhioAfter a 39-minute rain delay, Game 1 got underway with two veterans, Roger Clemens and Dennis Martínez, starting the opener. The Red Sox jumped in front first in the third on John Valentin's two run...
against Seattle, as a pinch runner for Wade Boggs
Wade Boggs
Wade Anthony Boggs is an American former professional baseball third baseman. He spent his 18-year baseball career primarily with the Boston Red Sox, but also played for the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays...
. Sheppard, who had not yet met Posada, announced the substitution, Posada's major league debut, in extra innings of one of the greatest games in Division Series history, with an "o" at the end of his last name. Posada's friend Derek Jeter
Derek Jeter
Derek Sanderson Jeter is an American baseball shortstop who has played 17 years in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees. A twelve-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion, Jeter's clubhouse presence, on-field leadership, hitting ability, and baserunning have made him a central...
noticed immediately, with amusement, and has called him "Sado" ever since.
Sheppard made another rare professional error in October 1976 at the Giants' first home game in New Jersey, against the Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
, which he commenced with the startling announcement, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Yankee Stadium." His other famous faux pas
Faux pas
A faux pas is a violation of accepted social norms . Faux pas vary widely from culture to culture, and what is considered good manners in one culture can be considered a faux pas in another...
occurred in 1982 at Yankee Stadium, when he inadvertently left his microphone on as Shane Rawley
Shane Rawley
Shane William Rawley is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He played all or part of twelve seasons in the majors, from 1978 through 1989, for the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, and Minnesota Twins.Rawley was selected to the National League All-Star team in 1986 as...
gave up a double on his first pitch in relief, instantly turning a 3-2 lead into a 4-3 deficit. Over the stadium speakers came Sheppard's familiar voice: "Boy, what relief pitchinginginging!" Sheppard, ever the gentleman, went to the locker room after the game and apologized to Rawley.
Throughout his career, Sheppard famously refused to reveal his age, once abruptly ending an interview when Jim Bouton
Jim Bouton
James Alan "Jim" Bouton is a former American Major League Baseball pitcher. He is also the author of the controversial baseball book Ball Four, which was a combination diary of his season and memoir of his years with the New York Yankees, Seattle Pilots, and Houston Astros.-Amateur and college...
asked the question a second time. He readily disclosed his birth month and day, October 20 (possibly because he shared it with Mickey Mantle), but never publicly acknowledged the year. For years, there was conjecture that his compulsive secretiveness stemmed from a fear that Yankees owner George Steinbrenner
George Steinbrenner
George Michael Steinbrenner III was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees. During Steinbrenner's 37-year ownership from 1973 to his death in July 2010, the longest in club history, the Yankees earned seven World Series...
would think him too old and replace him, but Sheppard denied it. "[Steinbrenner] never questioned how old I was," he said. "He knew I was there every day for 57 years or so." In fact, it has been said that Sheppard may have been the only Yankees employee never criticized by Steinbrenner, who called him "the gold standard."
Over the years, Sheppard also served as announcer for multiple other teams and venues, among them Adelphi College (predecessor of Adelphi University); the AFL New York Titans
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
(later the Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
) and the International Soccer League, both at the Polo Grounds; the WFL
World Football League
The World Football League was a short-lived gridiron football league that played in 1974 and part of 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest the WFL reached was placing a team – the Hawaiians – in Honolulu, Hawaii. The...
New York Stars at Downing Stadium
Downing Stadium
Downing Stadium, previously known as Triborough Stadium and Randall's Island Stadium, was a 22,000-seat stadium in New York City. It was renamed Downing Stadium in 1955 after John J...
on Randall's Island
Randall's Island
Randall's Island is situated in the East River in New York City, part of the borough of Manhattan. It is separated from Manhattan island on the west by the river's main channel, from Queens on the east by the Hell Gate, and from the Bronx on the north by the Bronx Kill. It is joined to Wards...
; the All-America Football Conference's New York Yankees
New York Yankees (AAFC)
The New York Yankees were a professional American football team that played in the All-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1949. The team played in Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and often played in front of sold-out crowds . They were owned by Dan Topping, who brought many of his Brooklyn...
at Yankee Stadium; the NASL
NASL
- Soccer :* North American Soccer League, a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.* North American Soccer League , a professional men's soccer league in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico which began play in 2011.- Starcraft II...
New York Cosmos
New York Cosmos
The New York Cosmos were an American soccer club based in New York City, New York and its suburbs. The team played home games in three stadiums around New York before moving in 1977 to Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, where it remained for the rest of its history...
at Yankee Stadium, Downing Stadium, and Giants Stadium; Army Black Knights
Army Black Knights
Army Black Knights is the name of the athletics teams of the United States Military Academy. They participate in NCAA Division I-A as a non-football member of the Patriot League, a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision independent school, and a member of Atlantic Hockey, the Collegiate Sprint...
football games at Michie Stadium
Michie Stadium
Michie Stadium is an outdoor football stadium located on the campus of the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. It is the home field for the Army Black Knights. It opened in 1924 and has a current seating capacity of 38,000....
and Giants Stadium; and multiple Army-Navy games
Army-Navy Game
The Army–Navy Game is an an American college football rivalry game between the teams of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. The USMA team, "Army", and the USNA team, "Navy", each represent their services' oldest...
at the Polo Grounds, Giants Stadium, and Veterans Stadium
Veterans Stadium
Philadelphia Veterans Stadium was a professional-sports, multi-purpose stadium, located at the northeast corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex...
in Philadelphia. "You name it, I did it," he said. In later years, the many baseball honors bestowed on him overshadowed his work in other sports. Phil Rizzuto
Phil Rizzuto
Philip Francis Rizzuto , nicknamed "The Scooter", was an American Major League Baseball shortstop. He spent his entire 13-year baseball career for the New York Yankees...
once asked him to name the greatest Yankee Stadium game he had ever announced, probably expecting to hear a good baseball story. "The day Pat Summerall
Pat Summerall
George Allen "Pat" Summerall is a former American football player and television sportscaster, having worked at CBS, Fox, and ESPN.Summerall is best known for his work with John Madden on NFL telecasts for CBS and Fox.-High school:...
kicked the field goal in the snow in 1958," Sheppard replied, referring to the legendary December 14 Giants victory over Cleveland
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
.
Retirement
Sheppard retired from his position with the Giants, a fifty-year handshake agreement with Giants owner Wellington MaraWellington Mara
Wellington Timothy Mara was the co-owner of the NFL's New York Giants from 1959 until his death, and one of the most influential and iconic figures in the history of the National Football League. He was the younger son of Tim Mara, who founded the Giants in 1925...
, at the end of the 2005 season, when the commute from his home on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
to East Rutherford, New Jersey became too strenuous. His final game was the Giants' playoff loss to the Carolina Panthers
Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are currently members of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Panthers, along with the Jacksonville Jaguars, joined the NFL as expansion...
on January 8, 2006. He was succeeded by his long-time understudy, former debate student, and colleague in the Speech Department at St. John's University, Jim Hall
Jim Hall (announcer)
Jim Hall is the public address announcer for New York Giants football games at New Meadowlands Stadium, located at the Meadowlands Sports Complex, East Rutherford, New Jersey....
.
At age 95 health issues began to take their toll: In 2006 Sheppard missed his first Yankees home opener since 1951 after injuring his hip. He was back in time for the next homestand, but it marked the beginning of a slow but inexorable deterioration of his health over the next two seasons. He called what turned out to be his final game, a 10-2 win over Seattle, on Sept. 5, 2007. The following week he was hospitalized with a bronchial infection, forcing him to miss the final homestand and the AL Division Series
2007 American League Division Series
-Cleveland Indians vs. New York Yankees:-Game 1, October 3:Fenway Park in Boston, MassachusettsIn Game 1, Boston starter Josh Beckett threw a complete-game shut out, allowing the Red Sox to win the opener...
against Cleveland, thus ending his streak of 121 consecutive postseason games at Yankee Stadium. Although he signed a new two-year contract with the Yankees in March 2008, and he particularly looked forward to announcing the 2008 All-Star Game
2008 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 2008 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 79th midseason exhibition between the all-stars of the American League and the National League , the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was played at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York, home of the New York Yankees, on...
, which was played at Yankee Stadium, he missed the entire 2008 season. He also reluctantly admitted that he lacked sufficient strength to call the final game at the original ballpark on September 21, 2008. "I don't have my best stuff," he said. Sheppard's recorded voice did announce the starting lineups for that final game, however, a 7-3 victory over the Orioles. Jim Hall replaced him for the 2008 season, and Paul Olden
Paul Olden
Paul Olden is the current public address announcer for the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. He has been the announcer since the Yankees moved to their new ballpark in 2009, replacing Jim Hall, who replaced Bob Sheppard, who had been the Yankees announcer since 1951.Previously, Olden has been a...
took over when the Yankees moved to the new ballpark in 2009.
Two weeks after his 99th birthday in 2009, the day after the Yankees defeated Philadelphia to win their 27th World Series
2009 World Series
The 2009 World Series was the 105th edition of Major League Baseball's championship series. The best-of-seven playoff was contested between the Philadelphia Phillies, champions of the National League and defending World Series champions, and the New York Yankees, champions of the American League...
, Sheppard officially announced his retirement as the Yankees' public address announcer. "I have no plans of coming back," he told MLB.com
MLB.com
MLB.com is the official site of Major League Baseball and is overseen by Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P. . MLB.com is a source of baseball-related information, including baseball news, statistics, and sports columns...
. "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."
He died at his home in Baldwin, New York
Baldwin, Nassau County, New York
Baldwin is a hamlet located in the town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 24,033 at the 2010 census.Baldwin is also a station on the Babylon Branch of the Long Island Rail Road....
on July 11, 2010. In announcing his father's death, Sheppard's son Paul said, “I know St. Peter will now recruit him. If you’re lucky enough to go to Heaven, you’ll be greeted by a voice saying, ‘Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Heaven!’”
Legacy
Sheppard was elected to the St. John’s University Sports Hall of Fame, the Long Island Sports Hall of Fame, and the New York Sports Hall of Fame. He was awarded honorary doctorates from St. John’s University (Pedagogy) and Fordham UniversityFordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
(Rhetoric), and in 2007, received St. John’s’ Medal of Honor, the highest award that the university can confer on a graduate.
St. John's University annually awards the Sheppard Trophy, one of its highest awards, to the most outstanding student-athlete.
In 2008, the Yankees' captain and 12-time All-Star Derek Jeter asked Sheppard to record his at-bat introductions. The recordings have been used to introduce each of Jeter's home at-bats since the beginning of the 2008 season, and will continue to do so for the rest of his Yankee career. Sheppard was flattered: "It has been one of the greatest compliments I have received in my career of announcing. The fact that he wanted my voice every time he came to bat is a credit to his good judgment and my humility."
In 1998 Sheppard was presented with the prestigious William J. Slocum “Long and Meritorious Service” Award by the Baseball Writers Association of America
Baseball Writers Association of America
The Baseball Writers' Association of America is a professional association for baseball journalists writing for daily newspapers, magazines and qualifying Web sites. The BBWAA was founded on October 14, 1908, to improve working conditions for sportswriters in the early part of the 20th century...
, and the “Pride of the Yankees” award by the Yankees organization.
Sheppard is one of only two people ever awarded both a World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
ring and a Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
ring. The other was Bill King
Bill King
* For the British author and games designer see, William King * For the British naval officer, yachtsman and author, see Commander Bill King*For the Australian rugby league footballer, see Bill King ...
, the long-time radio play-by-play voice of the Oakland Raiders
Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
and Oakland Athletics
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
, and another man famously secretive about his age.
In 2000, during his 50th year with the Yankees, Sheppard donated the microphone he used for a half-century of Yankee Stadium announcements to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York
Cooperstown, New York
Cooperstown is a village in Otsego County, New York, USA. It is located in the Town of Otsego. The population was estimated to be 1,852 at the 2010 census.The Village of Cooperstown is the county seat of Otsego County, New York...
. May 7 of that 50th year was designated "Bob Sheppard Day", and a plaque honoring him was unveiled in Yankee Stadium's Monument Park. At the pre-game ceremony Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
read the inscription, which states in part that his voice was "...as synonymous with Yankee Stadium as its copper facade and Monument Park.”
The media dining room in the new stadium is named “Sheppard’s Place”.
The Yankees wore a Bob Sheppard commemorative patch on the left sleeve of their home and road jerseys for the remainder of the 2010 season.
The Yankees' first home game after Sheppard's death, a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays
Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of MLB's American League. Since their inception in , the club has played at Tropicana Field...
on July 16, 2010, was played with an empty PA booth and no public address announcements.
On November 16, 2010 a resolution "commending Bob Sheppard for his long and respected career" was passed by voice vote in the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. It was introduced by Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy
Carolyn McCarthy
Carolyn McCarthy is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is located in central Long Island in west-central Nassau County and includes Mineola, the Five Towns, East Rockaway, Rockville Centre, Oceanside, Garden City, Hempstead,...
from New York's 4th Congressional District, where Sheppard lived for 70 years.
Private life
Sheppard was married twice. He had two sons, Paul and Chris; and two daughters, Barbara and Mary; four grandchildren; and (as of 2008) nine great-grandchildren. His first wife, Margaret, the mother of all four of his children, died in 1959 of a brain tumor. He and his second wife, Mary, were married from 1961 until his death.Sheppard was deeply religious, "...as strong in his Roman Catholic faith as anybody I knew," wrote his longtime friend, George Vecsey
George Vecsey
George Vecsey is an American non-fiction author and sports columnist for The New York Times. Vecsey is best known for his work in sports, but has co-written several autobiographies with non-sports figures.-Career:...
. "[In old age] he hated to admit he could no longer serve as a lector. His faith never wavered in the trying days. His daughter [Mary] is a nun. He referred to [his wife] Mary as 'my archangel,' meaning she saved his life, day by day."
In popular culture
- Sheppard's voice can be heard on three episodes of SeinfeldSeinfeldSeinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
:- "The Letter"The Letter (Seinfeld episode)"The Letter" is the thirty-ninth episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. The episode was the 20th of the third season. It aired on March 25, 1992.-Plot:...
: Sheppard delivers the opening welcome, while KramerCosmo KramerCosmo Kramer, usually referred to as simply "Kramer", is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Michael Richards...
, GeorgeGeorge CostanzaGeorge Louis Costanza is a character in the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Jason Alexander. He has variously been described as a "short, stocky, slow-witted, bald man" , "Lord of the Idiots" , and as "the greatest sitcom character of all time"...
and ElaineElaine BenesElaine Marie Benes is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Elaine's best friend is her ex-boyfriend Jerry Seinfeld; she is also good friends with George Costanza and Cosmo Kramer...
sit in team owner George SteinbrennerGeorge SteinbrennerGeorge Michael Steinbrenner III was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees. During Steinbrenner's 37-year ownership from 1973 to his death in July 2010, the longest in club history, the Yankees earned seven World Series...
's box seats. Elaine, from Towson, MarylandTowson, MarylandTowson is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 at the 2010 census...
, wears the cap of the opposing team (her hometown Baltimore OriolesBaltimore OriolesThe Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
), and is asked to remove it. Upon refusing, she is removed. - "The Masseuse"The Masseuse (Seinfeld episode)"The Masseuse" is the seventy-third episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. It is the ninth episode of the fifth season, and first aired on November 18, 1993.-Plot:...
: Announcing a Giants game at Giants StadiumGiants StadiumGiants Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Maximum seating capacity was 80,242. The building itself was 230.5 m long, 180.5 m wide and 44 m high from service level to the top of the seating bowl and 54 m high to...
, Sheppard pages Elaine's current boyfriend, who has the same name as a recently-arrested serial killer: "Will Joel RifkinJoel RifkinJoel David Rifkin is an American serial killer convicted of the murder of nine women , mostly drug addicted prostitutes, between 1989 and 1993 in New York City...
please report to the stadium office?" - "The Chaperone"The Chaperone (Seinfeld episode)"The Chaperone" is the 87th episode of NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 1st episode for the 6th season. It aired on September 22, 1994.-Plot:...
: Sheppard announces that the Miss America contestants in Yankee StadiumYankee StadiumYankee Stadium was a stadium located in The Bronx in New York City, New York. It was the home ballpark of the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1973 and from 1976 to 2008. The stadium hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. It was also the former home of the New York...
will be competing in the pageant.
- "The Letter"
- Sheppard appeared in the films Anger Management, For Love of the GameFor Love of the GameFor Love of the Game is a novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Shaara, published posthumously in 1991. The book tells the story of fictional baseball great Billy Chapel, thirty-seven years old and nearing the end of his career.-Plot summary:...
, 61*, and The Scout, as well as ESPNESPNEntertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
mini-series The Bronx Is BurningThe Bronx Is BurningThe Bronx Is Burning is a television drama that debuted on ESPN on July 9, 2007, after the 2007 MLB Home Run Derby. It is an eight-episode mini-series adapted from Jonathan Mahler's best-selling book, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx Is Burning...
. - Sheppard's voice and traditional greeting, "Good Evening, Welcome To Yankee Stadium", were used in the Bugler's Dream television commercial for New York City's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games.
- New York-born comedian Robert KleinRobert KleinRobert Klein is an American stand-up comedian, singer and actor.-Early life:Klein was born in the Bronx, the son of Frieda and Benjamin Klein, and was raised in a "prototypical 1950s Bronx Jewish" environment. After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School, Klein planned to study medicine...
's imitation of Sheppard, complete with simulated echo, was an integral part of one of Klein's early routines.