Bob Sheppard

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This article is about the New York Yankees and former New York Giants announcer. For the jazz saxophonist, see Bob Sheppard (musician).

Bob Sheppard
Born	October 12, 1910 (1910-10-12) (age 97) Richmond Hill, Queens, New York, United States
Occupation	Announcer

Robert Leo Sheppard, (born October 12, 1910) has been the public address announcer for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball since 1951, and was for the New York Giants of the National Football League from 1956 to 2006. Since joining the Yankees, he has announced over 4,500 Major League Baseball games, and has worked 22 World Series. The first Yankee lineup Sheppard announced contained 5 future Hall of Famers: Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Johnny Mize, Yogi Berra, and Phil Rizzuto. The Yankees played the Boston Red Sox that day, so Sheppard also introduced Ted Williams and Lou Boudreau, for a total of seven future Hall of Famers.

[edit] Youth

Sheppard was born in Richmond Hill, currently a section of the Borough of Queens, but at the time of his birth a part of Brooklyn in New York City. A U.S. Naval Officer in World War II, Lieutenant Robert Sheppard commanded shipboard gunnery crews in the United States Pacific Fleet (1942-1945).

Throughout his career, Sheppard has kept his age a secret, once ending an interview when asked the question twice. An ex-Yankees official, however, recently confirmed Sheppard's birthdate^[1] and another article has Sheppard graduated from St. John's Preparatory School in Astoria, Queens in 1928, consistent with this birthdate.^[2] He graduated from Saint John's University in 1932 where he was President of his senior class and quarterback for the football squad. He earned his Master's degree from Columbia University in 1933. IMDB.com lists his birthday as October 12, 1910.^[3]

[edit] Teaching career

Sheppard was originally a speech teacher in both the New York City school district and his alma mater, St. John's University, New York in Jamaica, Queens. Sheppard would continue to serve St. John's as a PA announcer for sporting events, including men's basketball and varsity football, into the 1990s.

Sheppard maintains that his work as a Professor of Speech is far more important than his work as an announcer. He said that as an announcer, "All I have to recommend is longevity." He is in the St. John's University Sports Hall of Fame as an athlete. He earned seven varsity letters from 1928 to 1932, three in baseball as the starting first baseman, and four in football as the starting quarterback.

Currently resides in Baldwin, New York.

[edit] Public address announcing

Sheppard first worked as a public address announcer for football games at St. John's. He moved on to the Brooklyn Dodgers of the All-America Football Conference. His work was remembered by the Yankee front office, and he debuted as Yankee PA announcer on April 17, 1951, with the Yankees' home opener, a win over the Boston Red Sox. In 1956, when the New York Giants football team moved into Yankee Stadium, he began announcing their games as well, staying with them for their move into Giants Stadium in New Jersey's Meadowlands Sports Complex.

Sheppard is known for his distinctive announcing style, which has become a part of Yankee Stadium's lore. He begins by saying, "Good afternoon (or Good evening)... ladies and gentlemen... and welcome... to Yankee Stadium." He has signalled in-game announcements for the Yankees and Giants by saying, "Your attention please, ladies and gentlemen."

He nearly always presents the performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "O, Canada," by saying, "Ladies and gentlemen... would you please rise?... And now... to honor America... please join... (name of performer)... as he (or she, or they) sing(s)... our national anthem"... (and) O, Canada." In a similar manner, Sheppard begins the seventh inning stretch by saying, "Ladies and gentlemen... would you please rise?... And now... please offer... a moment of silent prayer... for the service men and women... who are stationed around the globe... and especially remember... those who have lost their lives... defending our freedom...and our way of life." Then he introduces the performance of "God Bless America" (with each word enunciated), usually the 1938 recording of Kate Smith, but sometimes a live performance.

Before a player's first at-bat of the game, Sheppard announces his uniform number, his name, his position, and his number again. Example: "Number 2... Derek... Jeter... Shortstop... Number 2." For each following at-bat, Sheppard announces the position and name: "The third baseman... Alex... Rodriguez," with the number being used for a pinch hitter.

On several occasions, particularly in the 1970s, as can be heard in rebroadcasts of championship games from that era shown on networks like ESPN Classic and the YES Network, Sheppard has had to remind fans not to go onto the field of play, or to throw things on the field, or else they will be subject to arrest and removal from the stadium. Such announcements have been less necessary in the years since, as cities have provided increased police protection for their stadiums.

During the 1985 season, the Yankees were in a tight race for the American League Eastern Division title with the Toronto Blue Jays. Before the first game of a key four-game series with the Jays that September, Sheppard introduced opera singer Robert Merrill, who often sang the National Anthem at Yankee games in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, who proceeded to sing "O, Canada" out of respect to the visiting Jays. Many Yankee fans booed the Canadian National Anthem. Before the next game, Sheppard reminded fans of how Canada was America's ally in two world wars, a partner in NATO, and had helped get some of the American hostages out of Iran, and that their anthem should be respected and not booed. His reprimand was not heeded, and the fans booed the anthem again. The Yankees won the first game of that series but dropped the next three and lost the Division title.

Sheppard is also a poet of note, and read a poem he wrote in memory of Yankee catcher Thurman Munson before the team's first game after Munson's death, on August 3, 1979. Another poem served as a tribute to Roger Maris' 61st home run in 1961. He has also read aloud, so that fans far away from the ceremony can hear, the inscriptions on the plaques the Yankees dedicate for their Monument Park, one of which now honors him.

[edit] Popular culture

Sheppard's voice can be heard on three episodes of Seinfeld:

• The Letter: Sheppard delivers the opening welcome, while Jerry and Elaine sit in team owner George Steinbrenner's box seats, but Elaine, from Towson, Maryland, wears the cap of her hometown team, the Baltimore Orioles, that game's opponents, and is asked to remove it, and upon refusing, is removed.

• The Masseuse: Announcing a Giants game at Giants Stadium, he pages Elaine's current boyfriend, who has the same name as a recently-arrested serial killer: "Will Joel Rifkin please report to the stadium office?"

• The Chaperone: He announces that the Miss America contestants in Yankee Stadium will be competing in the pageant.

[edit] Honors

St. John's University annually awards the Sheppard Trophy to the most outstanding student-athlete as one of their highest awards.

Sheppard has been awarded both World Series Championship rings, and NFL Super Bowl Championship ring honors in his role with the Yankees and the football Giants. The only other person to share this honor was the late Bill King, the long-time radio play-by-play voice of the Oakland Raiders and Oakland Athletics.

Sheppard has been honored by having his microphone encased in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. On May 7, 2000, in celebration of his 50th season as the Yankees' PA announcer, the team dedicated a plaque in his honor, to be placed in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. The plaque calls him "The Voice of Yankee Stadium." Former CBS Evening News anchorman Walter Cronkite served as the public-address announcer during the ceremony.

Yankee Hall-of-Famer Reggie Jackson once dubbed him "the Voice of God."

[edit] Sheppard's sixth decade on the job

In 2002, Sheppard's voice appeared in on air promos for the Yankee's new cable channel, the YES Network. Those promos featuring his voice remain in use today. His appearances in major motion pictures include Anger Management, 61*, The Scout and The Bronx Is Burning.

Sheppard retired as the voice of the Giants following the end of the 2005 Giants season. Sheppard's final regular season game was the Giants' final home game of the 2005 season, a win versus the Kansas City Chiefs on December 17, 2005. His final playoff game was the Giants' loss against the Carolina Panthers on January 8, 2006. He worked for 50 years on a handshake agreement (no written contract) with Giants owner Wellington Mara and was replaced by long-term back-up Jim Hall for the 2006 season.

On April 11, 2006, Sheppard missed his first Yankees home opener since April 17, 1951. He threw out his hip at his Long Island home the day before and was unable to attend the game; Jim Hall filled in for him on the team's opening homestand, with the assistance of Sheppard's youngest son, Christopher. Sheppard returned to the microphone on the next Yankee homestand, Friday, April 21. ^[4] In Sports Illustrated's mention of that incident, they reported that Derek Jeter said if he had his way, they would make a recording of Sheppard's voice announcing his name, for any future occasion where Sheppard was unable to do so himself. This has in fact come true. A recording has been made and will be used for the rest of Jeter's career.

Due to a bronchial infection., Bob Sheppard did not announce the 2007 ALDS games at Yankee Stadium. Jim Hall subbed in for the two home games in which the Yankees hosted.^[5] However, a recording of Sheppard was in fact used for Jeter's at-bats.^[6]

On March 26th 2008, Sheppard announced that he will return for the 2008 New York Yankees season saying that he does not plan on missing this entire season.

"I don't know when it will be, but it will be," he said, according to the New York Daily News.

On April 1st 2008, the 2008 New York Yankees season started, being especially of note as the last season in the current Yankee Stadium. Jim Hall filled in for Sheppard as usual, with the exception of granting Derek Jeter's wish to have Sheppard's recording played for Jeter's at-bats.

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• Bob Sheppard at the Internet Movie Database