12
Jul
2010
Ball point pen on todays newsprint
Baseball, green grass, pinstripes, peanuts, cold beer, and Bob Sheppard... I can't think of one without thinking of the others. For more than half a century he was the public address announcer at Yankee Stadium. It was his deliberate, precise voice that welcomed you to the stadium and announced your favorite players coming to bat. Always the position, jersey number, name and finally repeating the number. He was an original.
RIP Mr. Sheppard. He was 99.
Watch HERE
Over at the brilliant Alex Belth's Bronx Banter, Yankee Stadium weekend organist Ed Alstrom remembers the great Bob Sheppard. Click HERE
5 Comments
Nice, Larry. I read Bob Sheppard's poems and will enjoy sharing the tribute to Hispanic names in my multicultural classroom come September! Pat
Bob Sheppard spoke with that same deliberate cadence even when he wasn't announcing. Doing our best Bob Sheppard voice, my brother Dan I would try to imaging Mr Sheppard speaking in that voice from god in every-day scenarios like ordering a pizza. It was funny to read in todays NYT that his wife teased him about how he ordered eggs in a restaurant. "I'll have the number one, Scrambled eggs, buttered toast and black coffee. Number one." Priceless. It may interest you to know Pat that he was a NY public school teacher before being asked to announce for the Yankees. He taught speech of course.
Interesting. Although I'd only been to one Yankee game, I recall the excitement...seeing Paul O'Neill and Don Mattingly play, all that green grass, the fans, and hearing the music and the announcer's voice live.
I'm not familiar with Bob Sheppard but this portrait jumps out!
99-God love him! Beautiful portrait, Larry--I saw clips of him on the news the other night. Lovely tribute.