Bob Sheppard, the iconic Yankee Stadium public address announcer whose impeccable introductions of stars from Joe DiMaggio to Derek Jeter earned him the nickname “The Voice of God,” died this morning with his wife by his side. He was 99.
Sheppard, who started with the Yankees in 1951 — Joe DiMaggio’s final season and Mickey Mantle’s Major League debut — worked 4,500 baseball games, including 121 consecutive postseason contests and 62 games in 22 World Series.
“Most men go to work, but I go to a game,” Sheppard was quoted in a Yankees news release distributed this afternoon. “How many men would love to do that?”
Sheppard last worked at Yankee stadium late in the 2007 season, when he became ill with a bronchial infection. He recorded a greeting to fans that was played at the original ballpark’s final game in September 2008, and his audio recording still is used to introduce Jeter before each at-bat at home by the Yankees captain.
George M. Steinbrenner III said in a statement: “I am deeply saddened by the death today of Bob Sheppard, a good friend and fine man whose voice set the gold standard for America’s sports announcers.For over a half century, fans were thrilled to hear his unforgettable voice and players were thrilled to hear his majestic enunciation of their names. Bob Sheppard was a great member of the Yankees family and his death leaves a lasting silence. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Mary, and their family.”
When the team moved into new Yankee Stadium last year, it honored him by naming the media dining room after him.
While Sheppard didn’t like to give his age, a former Yankees official had confirmed in 2006 that Sheppard was born Oct. 12, 1910, in Ridgewood, Queens.
The Yankees’ lineup for Sheppard’s first game on April 17, 1951, included DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Johnny Mize, Yogi Berra, and Phil Rizzuto. And the opponents that day, the Boston Red Sox, were led by Ted Williams.
Sheppard became as much as a fixture in the Bronx ballpark as the familiar white stadium facade or Monument Park, tucked behind the blue outfield wall.
In May 2000, after 50 years and two weeks on the job, the team honored him with “Bob Sheppard Day” and put a plaque in his honor in Monument Park. Fans gave Sheppard a standing ovation, and legendary news anchor Walter Cronkite read the inscription. Berra, Reggie Jackson and Don Larsen were among those who stood on the field during the ceremonies.
“The voice of Yankee Stadium,” read the plaque. “For half a century, he has welcomed generations of fans with his trademark greeting, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Yankee Stadium.'”
He also served as the stadium voice of the NFL’s New York Giants from 1956-05, and for men’s basketball and football at St. John’s, where he taught. But baseball is what made him famous.
He announced at 62 World Series games and a pair of All-Star games, and introduced more than 70 Hall of Famers across his career. It was one of them, Jackson, who dubbed Sheppard “The Voice of God.”
Sheppard never agreed with his divine nickname — which he believed may have been coined by Rusty Staub.
“By the way, I deny that it’s The Voice of God with all humility,” Sheppard told The Post’s Steve Serby in 2005. “I would rather be known as a competent, warm, capable teacher of speech than as the best p.a. announcer in baseball. To me, the classroom is far more important than the ballpark.”
His player introductions remained consistent throughout the decades, with Sheppard imbuing each name and number with a gravitas more befitting a coronation than a ballpark: “No. 7. Mickey Mantle. No. 7.” Or even “No. 58. Dooley Womack. No. 58.”
On Sept. 21, 2008, Sheppard gave a moving farewell to the original Yankees stadium. Too ill to say goodbye in person, Sheppard gave his tribute through a taped segment played on the video board.
“Farewell, old Yankee Stadium, farewell / What a wonderful story you can tell / DiMaggio, Mantle, Gehrig and Ruth / A baseball cathedral in truth.”
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A wake will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Fullerton Funeral Home located at 769 Merrick Road, Baldwin, Long Island, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. each day. The funeral will be held on Thursday at 10:45 a.m. at St. Christopher’s Church at 11 Gale Avenue in Baldwin.