New York Yankees radio voice John Sterling will be scaling back his workload this summer, as he recently told WFAN -- the team's flagship station -- that he intends on missing 25-30 road games during the second half of the campaign to "take some time off." Sterling, who turns 84 next month, has spent over five decades as a broadcaster and the last 33 years behind a mic for the Yankees.
At this time, it's unclear who will take over in Sterling's absence. According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, the station has selected candidates, which include YES Network voice Ryan Ruocco, Yankees radio analyst Suzyn Waldman, and Spanish language broadcaster Rickie Ricardo. The job isn't an open competition, but minor league broadcaster Joey Zanaboni -- who calls Single-A games for the Fredericksburg Nationals -- believes he's an option.
"I absolutely believe I'm being considered. Now, the thing about being a dark horse is, sometimes you're so dark, they don't even know you're a horse yet," Zanaboni explained to The DA Show on Wednesday. "But, I believe I'm there, in the gate, the race will begin. Because I believe I'm the natural successor to John Sterling. I believe our styles are extremely similar. And what I'm doing is sort of the John Sterling for the younger generation. It'd be a natural fit.
"I think it's the greatest city in the world, and I think it's the greatest baseball franchise that's ever existed. I think I'd knock it out of the park... I don't think anybody's going to be able to completely take over for John -- even after he retires completely and stops doing games... He's an all-time legend... And I'd put myself out there as, doing something really special for the group and city. And I think they'd really love it."
The entire conversation between Zanaboni and DA can be accessed in the audio player above.
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