Sheppard on final game: ‘If I can be there, I shall be there’

As the final game at Yankee Stadium draws nearer, some of us wonder, what about Bob? Will the legendary Yankees PA announcer, who has had the gig since 1951, be healthy enough to lend his voice one more time? He sure hopes so, as he tells Jim Baumbach of Newsday.

“The doctor is questioning my stamina,” Sheppard said. Then he repeated the word stamina while slowly and carefully annunciating all three syllables. “Sta-min-a.”

“In other words, can I leave my home in Baldwin at 4 o’clock in the afternoon and get home at midnight and not suffer any relapse?”

One alternative Sheppard suggested would be to have current PA announcer Jim Hall sit in standby. Says Sheppard: “And if I begin to get too tired, he would be my relief speaker, like a relief pitcher.”

While we all wish Sheppard to be the man to call the final game, his health certainly is a concern. He relates that his doctor wishes him to climb the 15 steps in his house 15 times a day, which would help build his stamina. However, he is not ready for such activity at this point.

Have we already heard the last of Bob Sheppard’s voice live at the Stadium? Perhaps. That would be quite sad. I suppose the Yanks will continue to use his recording for Derek Jeter’s introduction until No. 2 retires, though.