In reading the various reports about the passing of Bob Sheppard a few stated that “The Voice of Yankee Stadium” had died.
And that moniker for him was very true. Mr. Sheppard (I would never call him Bob) was the Voice of Yankee Stadium – the ORIGINAL Yankee Stadium. The place where Ruth, Gehrig, Dimaggio, Berra, Mantle, Maris, Jackson, and Mattingly, among many others, spent their entire careers. All of them had left the game long before the walls of the cathedral were torn down.
And somewhat fittingly as it turned out, so had Mr. Sheppard.
Mr. Sheppard never had the opportunity to visit the new ballpark in the Bronx. Sure, Derek Jeter uses a recording of him at games, but it’s not the same. We all know it’s just a recording.
For 85 years Yankee Stadium hosted baseball games (ok, technically 83 years if you take away the 2 years of renovation work in the 70’s). Mr. Sheppard was the Voice of Yankee Stadium for 56 of those years – that’s 2/3 of the stadiums life! When you went to Yankee Stadium you expected to hear his voice. You didn’t even think about it – the sun rises, the sun sets, and Bob Sheppard announces. It was both expected and conforting. You knew you were at Yankee Stadium.
Last year when the new stadium opened it really was jarring – at least for me – to hear a completely different voice making the stadium announcements. Yes I know they had a sub in for Mr. Sheppard in 2008 but the man sounded similar. This new voice – it wasn’t Mr. Sheppard, nor was it someone trying to duplicate Mr. Sheppard’s style. This was a new stadium and a new way of doing things.
Bob Sheppard belonged to the stadium across the street. The stadium that was home to 26 World Series titles, 34 Hall of Fame players, and the Voice of God.
I find it almost poignant that the last remnants of that historic building were pulled down without much fanfare earlier this year. Mr. Sheppard was the last Yankee great to retire in that building and now he joins it, and the other Yankee immortals that once called it home.
