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“Immortal” Voice, “Immortal” Man
If you’ve ever been to the old Yankee Stadium to watch a game, it’s time to delve into the memory and remember. Get out the pictures and laminate them. Save the shirt you spilled mustard on as you sprung from your seat to track a deep Yankee fly ball into the Bronx night. Dust off the souvenirs and put them on display somewhere special. And somewhere in all the reminiscing, you’ll remember the sounds. You’ll remember the “Voice of God” welcoming you to the House that Ruth Built, and the empire in which “The Boss” took so much pride in creating. Two of the most seemingly immortal figures in professional sports are no longer with us, and we’re left at the transition from one era to another.
Were we expecting this—or was “immortality” the word we used in our thoughts to justify the hope of Bob Sheppard coming back to announce one more game at Yankee Stadium? Did we bank on the fact that, although not in the press box, George Steinbrenner would always be there in Florida to release statements to the greatest fans in the world as a continuing presence in the franchise? Boy I sure did.
Yet the organization has had perhaps its saddest week in history, losing two members of the foundation that made the Yankees New York’s heart and soul in the span of just three days.
Sheppard and Steinbrenner were the Yankee tradition itself. Walking into Yankee Stadium with my dad in 2006 is something I will cherish forever. Finally being in the presence of the voice who made his debut the same day as Mickey Mantle back in 1951made the experience so cliché, yet so surreal. And Isn’t that what the game should be? It still rings in my memory.
“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Welcome, to Yankee Stadium.”
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This was one of the last morsels left of the game’s innocence in the midst of all the commercialism and scandal that tars the game’s basic principle. The poetry that was Sheppard’s voice gave Mantle chills whenever he heard his name announced. “The Mick” said so. Derek Jeter will always walk up to the plate to Sheppard’s cadence for as long as he plays baseball. The professional baseball experience needs to be a haven from the restraints of reality. These legends, and the game, will live on through our memories and recollection forever.
The game still exists, however, as it fades into the next era; and Sheppard proclaimed the basic principle we all should live by in his usual “clear, concise, correct” manner in an interview with ESPN some time ago:
“I don’t go to work; I go to a game… That’s a good ending, isn’t it?”
It was perfect, Mr. Sheppard.
Rest in Peace
By:
Tim Gaffney
MLBcenter.com Staff Writer
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