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The nation was given a behind-the-scenes look at the voice of the Yankees on Tuesday night, as WFAN's John Sterling was featured on HBO's "Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel."
The 12-minute profile covered a wide range of topics, including Sterling's recently snapped 30-year streak of delivering play-by-play for Yankees games, his iconic home run calls and the criticism he has faced throughout his career.
After calling more than 5,000 consecutive Yankees games, Sterling took a handful of games off in July, the first few because he said he was a "little under the weather."
"I'm fine," Sterling told "Real Sports." "People worry because I finally took days off. Everybody in my business takes days off."
Before July, the last time Sterling had missed games was when his sister died of cancer during his first season in 1989. Sterling got emotional talking about her.
"I haven't gotten over it, and it's been 30 years," he said. "Because she was like a buddy, so I could call her up and we would laugh. You know, that's the first thing that hits you: You can't call them anymore."
Sterling explained that he set his dreams on broadcasting after listening to "The Eddie Bracken Show" in the 1940s. He didn't want to be one of the star actors on the radio sitcom, but rather the voice who introduced them.
"And I listened to everything -- newscasts, disc jockey shows, obviously sports. I knew I was going on the air," Sterling said.
He said he had already developed his baritone voice as a kid.
"I can recall adults saying to me, 'When are you going to grow up to your voice?'" Sterling told Gumbel.
Sterling is beloved by Yankees fans, but he has his share of detractors, too.
"To those who say you do shtick, you say what?" Gumbel asked Sterling.
"I do," the Yankees announcer answered.
"To those who say you're flagrantly self-promotional, you say what?" Gumble asked.
"Well, if you're on the air, you are promoting what you're doing," Sterling said. "I mean, it is your voice, you are calling the plays, and you call them in your style. That's all."
As for websites and social media accounts that poke fun at his mistakes, such as, "It is high, it is far, it is caught," Sterling said: "The world doesn't feed its hungry by how I make a call, and I'm not going to change."
One of those who appreciates Sterling's style is Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who was interviewed for the segment.
"Call it a guilty pleasure, whatever, when I'm unwinding from the day and I go back and just click on some of the highlights, I can't wait to hear how he called a big play in our game, and I can't wait to hear him punctuate it," Boone said.
The episode is being reaired on HBO numerous times in the coming weeks and is also available on the network's on-demand services.