Brendan Burke to fill in for John Sterling on WFAN for Yankees' July road trip
Brendan Burke is the Islanders' play-by-play announcer on MSG Networks and also calls hockey games for NBC Sports. Credit: NBC Sports
WFAN announced on Thursday that Brendan Burke, the Islanders’ TV play-by-play man, will fill in for John Sterling for the Yankees’ five games in Cleveland and Pittsburgh during the first week of July.
The station plans to use a variety of fill-ins for Sterling, who turns 84 next month, alongside Suzyn Waldman as he cuts back on his travel schedule. First up will be Justin Shackil in Toronto, followed by Rickie Ricardo at Tampa Bay.
Burke, whose father, Don, used to cover the Yankees as a sportswriter for New Jersey newspapers, was at Yankee Stadium to watch Tuesday’s game against the Rays.
“This is my great white buffalo, if you will,” Burke said on WFAN after the announcement. “This is where I got the spark for being a sportscaster.”
He said his initial dream was to call Yankees games on radio before he transitioned to hockey. He said that as a child he would sit in the booth between Sterling and Michael Kay.
Burke spoke of going on Yankees road trips with his father and getting to know the early 1990s-era players. He said that Danny Tartabull was particularly nice to him.
WFAN also announced that Sweeny Murti, the station’s longtime Yankees reporter, will fill in for Sterling for the June 30 game at Houston.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
