John Sterling’s home run call for Giancarlo Stanton
Giancarlo Stanton of the Yankees hits a two-run home run in the first inning on Opening Day against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on March 29, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. Credit: Getty Images / Tom Szczerbowski
Yankees fans always wonder what home run call radio play-by-play man John Sterling will come up with for newcomers, but no recent newcomer has generated as much wonder as Giancarlo Stanton, who hit 59 for the Marlins last season.
It took all of one at-bat in Thursday’s opener in Toronto for Stanton to do his part, driving the second pitch he saw into the seats in right-centerfield and provoking this from Sterling:
“Swung on and drilled to deep right-centerfield! It is high, it is far, it is gone! In his first Yankee at-bat, Giancarlo, non si puo stoparlo! It is a Stantonian home run, a two-run blast to right- center in his first Yankee at-bat, and the Yankees take a 2-0 lead!”
Sterling had indicated he would use a phrase in Italian to rhyme with Stanton’s first name, even though Stanton is not of Italian heritage.
According to Google Translate, Sterling’s phrase means, “Giancarlo, you cannot stop it!” But more likely the point is that he cannot be stopped.
The call got a lukewarm reception, at best, on social media. No need to panic, though: In the past, Sterling has made in-season course corrections on his home run calls, including for Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson.
We shall see. You can’t predict baseball, Suzyn.
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.
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