Not all sports fans would recognize his name, but almost all would
recognize his voice. It is the voice of the New York Yankees, the
New York Giants, and it is as distinctive as pinstripes. Former
Yankees great Reggie Jackson once called it the “voice of God.”
“Your attention, please, ladies and gentlemen,” Bob Sheppard begins
in his deep, distinguished voice before nearly every announcement
he makes as Yankee Stadium’s public address announcer. “Now batting
for the Yankees, the shortstop, Derek Jeter … No. 2.” So your
attention, please, ladies and gentlemen. Now batting for our Sunday
column, Bob Sheppard.
Adam Schefter: Did you ever imagine becoming as much of a Yankees
fixture as Mickey Mantle or Joe DiMaggio?
Bob Sheppard: Absolutely not. When I took the job, I took it thinking
this will fill in a year or two in my spare time. Never did I realize
that I would be doing this for a lifetime. Generally the public
address announcer is not conspicuous. He is hidden away. Nobody sees
him. After 53 years, I could walk through a crowd of 50,000 people
at Yankee Stadium, and if I kept my mouth shut, very few people would
know what I look like. Public address announcers are secondary.
Really. I can’t name another public address announcer in the big
leagues. Can you?
AS:Umm …
BS:That shows how important we are. I don’t know the Mets’ announcers.
I don’t know who does Boston or Chicago or Denver. Do you?
AS:How often does somebody recognize your voice?
BS:Now that will happen, and has happened now and again. I can
remember on Long Island here, going to a party and going up to the open
bar. I said, “I’ll have a Scotch and water.” And the bartender lifted
his eyes and said, “You sound just like the man at Yankee Stadium.” He
didn’t say, “You look like him.” No, he said, “You sound like him.”
And when we spend our winter in Jupiter, Fla. – January, February
and March – I serve as a lector at the morning Masses. Once in a
while someone will come up to me after Mass and say: “You know,
you sound like the man up at Yankee Stadium. Did you know that?”
And I say: “I know that. Because I am the man at Yankee Stadium.”
AS:As a professor of speech at St. John’s University, what was the
one lesson you tried to impart to your students?
BS:The most important item for any public speaker is audibility. Too
many people speak in public and do not reach the people in the back
of the audience. Without audibility, you’re dead. If you can’t be
heard, there’s no sense in speaking.
AS:How have students expressed their gratitude to you?
BS:Believe it or not, I do get, on a semi-regular basis, thank-you
letters from students of mine of the past. Since I taught for more
than 25 years, I have taught thousands of students. Every once in a
while, a letter reaches me saying, “I want to thank you for the help
you gave me to become a better speaker, and as a result I’m making a
living, and part of that is due to the fact that I’m speaking well.”
And that’s my reward. Teaching doesn’t have great monetary awards.
But it has a lot of spiritual awards.
AS:Did you make more money as a teacher or a P.A. announcer?
BS:Oh, teaching is much better. You don’t understand this. Public
address announcing is a part-time job. But that part-time job has
extended 53 years for the Yankees and 47 years with the Giants.
AS:How old are you?
BS:That’s the one question I should have told you not to ask me.
One time, not too many years ago, Jim Bouton, who used to pitch
for the Yankees, was a TV announcer, and he asked if he
interview me. I graciously said yes, and he brought his TV crew up to
the press box, and he sent them up. He said, “Let’s start by asking:
‘How old are you, Bob?’ And I said, ‘What’s your next question?’
He repeated, ‘How old are you, Bob.’ And I said, ‘This interview is over.'”
AS:How old do you feel?
BS:22.
AS:What are your favorite names to announce?
BS:There’s one at the present time that I love to have my tongue
work around. Shigetoshi Hasegawa. And I love the Hispanic names
because they’re so euphonious. Alfonso Soriano. Those names are
so much more euphonious than Anglo-Saxon names like Steve Sax.
What can you do with Steve Sax?
AS:Do you do much pregame work on names?
BS:I go to people and say, “How do you pronounce your name?”
It’s very important to me because teaching speech, I tell them
early in the course, knowing the name of the student and pronouncing
it properly is a tribute to the student. And even now, I went to
Jason Giambi when he joined the Yankees and I said: “How do you
pronounce your last name? Three syllables, like Gi-am-bi? Or two
syllables like Giam-bi.’ He said: ‘I say, Giam-bi. Two syllables.’
But 99 percent of the people announcing his name call him ‘Gi-am-bi.’ ”
AS:Do you remember the first lineup you announced?
BS:At first base, Johnny Mize. At second base, Jerry Coleman.
At shortstop, Phil Rizzuto. At third base, Billy Johnson.
In left field, Jackie Jensen. In center field, Joe DiMaggio.
In right field, Mickey Mantle. Catching, Yogi Berra. And pitching,
Vic Raschi. And the first man I ever introduced in my career, which
was April of 1951, was the Boston Red Sox center fielder Dom DiMaggio.
AS:Kindest thing that Mickey Mantle ever said about you?
BS:Well, “Good Morning America” asked me to come over and introduce
Mickey on TV. So they sent a limousine that my wife, Mary, and I would
take, and we were up in the studio waiting for Mickey’s arrival.
It was the days long after he had retired and had become a spokesman
for eliminating his problem of alcohol. He had written a book, and
was going to make an appearance. He went into the studio and on
cue, I introduced him as I normally did. “In center field, No. 7,
Mickey Mantle, No. 7.” And he turned to his interviewers and said,
“Every time Bob Sheppard introduced me, I got goosebumps.” And I said
under my microphone, “Mickey, so did I.”
AS:Do you have a favorite Joe DiMaggio memory?
BS:I very rarely become close to the players. I don’t go into the
locker room too often unless I have a mission to go there. I think
maybe in all the years, I became closer to Reggie Jackson than any
of the other players. He reached out to me, and Reggie is that kind
of a person. When he joined the Yankees from Oakland, I walked
into the dressing room, and he didn’t know me, I didn’t know him,
but I was talking to the fellow in charge of the locker room, and Reggie
came over and said, “Are you Bob Sheppard.” And I said, “Yes, Reggie.”
And he said, “Man, you’ve got class.”
AS:What’s it like working for George Steinbrenner?
BS:I have no complaints, absolutely none. He has never, to my knowledge,
in all the years he has been there, had one word of criticism of how
I do my job. Nor has he ever made a suggestion about changing my style.
Nor, unfortunately, does he come in and say, “Bob, you’re doing a good
job, keep it up.” He just accepts me for what I am, and I don’t know what
I would do if he suddenly wanted to remake me into the image of the
modern-day public address announcer, who stretches out introductions
for 15 to 18 seconds instead of saying, “The center fielder, Bernie
Williams.” The modern kids are saying, “The cennnnntttterrrrfielder
Berrrrrrnnnnie Willlllliiiiiiams.” I think if Mr. Steinbrenner came
in and said, “I want you to do it that way,” I would say “Sayonara.”
AS:So you don’t particularly enjoy the modern-day introductions?
BS:If that’s what they want in Kansas City or Denver, that’s up to
them. But I cannot change my style. My style is what I use in the
classrooms. My style is what I use in church. My style is what I use
at home. My style is what I use in football and baseball. And that’s
what it’s going to be until I leave.
AS:How much longer do you want to do those jobs?
BS:As long as God gives me the ability to do it well, as long as I
like it, and as long as Steinbrenner and Giants owner Wellington Mara
are happy with what I do, I’m going to do it until I find it boring
or taxing or I feel inadequate. And I don’t foresee that at this
particular time.
AS:How have you been able to age so well?
BS:God has been very good to me. He has given me a good life, good
children, good grandchildren, good great-grandchildren. I’ve been
blessed. I’ve been blessed 1,000 times. My philosophy about going to
Yankee Stadium and Giants Stadium is this: Most men go to work. I go
to a game. Not a bad life, is it?
“Know Him From Adam” is a weekly question-and-answer session conducted
by Denver Post sports writer Adam Schefter with various athletes,
actors, politicians and people in the news.
