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NEW YORK — John Sterling’s time as the play-by-play radio voice of the New York Yankees, a memorable 36-year run to conclude a 64-year career, officially ended Saturday at Yankee Stadium.

Sterling took the field for a pregame ceremony with his family to a roll call that spread from the right-field bleachers to the rest of the ballpark. He received video messages from former Yankees greats Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Paul O’Neill. He was presented with gifts, including an 83-inch television and a Yankees home jersey with the number 5631 — the total number of Yankees games he called on the radio.

Finally, Suzyn Waldman, his radio partner since 2005, introduced Sterling to the crowd. Sterling thanked the Steinbrenner family. He thanked Michael Kay and Waldman, his partners over the past three decades. Lastly, he thanked the fans.

“How lucky can you be,” Sterling said, “for people to celebrate what you do for a living?”

Sterling, 85, stepped into the Yankees’ radio booth in 1989 after nine years broadcasting Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Hawks games. He called 24 postseasons and seven World Series. He narrated the Yankees’ dynastic run in the 1990s, the final game at the old Yankee Stadium, Jeter’s 3,000th hit and Aaron Judge‘s 62nd home run. But he said Saturday’s celebration stood alone in his professional life.

“I never, ever dreamt that I’d be recognized,” Sterling said. “I told my boss earlier this might be the biggest day of my life — outside of marrying Jennifer, of course.”

Sterling spoke at a news conference Saturday before the Yankees’ 2-0, 10-inning loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in front of a sellout crowd. He was, per usual, quirky and unfiltered.

He took a playful jab at Yankees manager Aaron Boone — “Is this where Boonie says, ‘I think he’s getting close?'” — and recited stories off-the-cuff.

Sterling said his favorite season was 1996 when the Yankees won their first championship in 18 years because the team exceeded expectations. He explained he didn’t intend to invent a signature home run call for every player, that it just mushroomed after he came up with “Bern, Baby, Bern” for Williams.

He recalled falling in love with the craft “before puberty” and bluntly explained his reasoning for retiring so abruptly less than a month into the season.

Sterling knew it was time to retire while on the club’s road trip through Houston and Arizona to open the season. He called the Yankees’ first home series, but he had already made his decision.

“I did it all wrong,” Sterling said. “I should’ve quit on March 1 or March 15. But I decided I’d do one exhibition game, which was useless. As you well know. And then we went on that long trip. We went to Houston and Arizona. Boy, I knew that was it. I didn’t want to work every day. And I told you how long I’ve been working. If you work 64 years and on your next birthday you’re going to be 86, I think it’s time.”

A native of Manhattan’s Upper East side, Sterling called 5,420 Yankees regular-season games and 211 Yankees playoff games. His victory call — “Theeeee Yankees win” — became synonymous with the franchise’s run of success in the 1990s and 2000s.

He was in the booth for 5,060 straight games from September 1989 to July 2019 when he missed a series with an illness. He had taken on a reduced role in recent seasons and traveled less often because of health concerns. His final game on the call was the Yankees’ 8-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on April 7.

On Saturday, he joined both the YES Network television booth alongside Kay and the WFAN radio booth alongside Waldman. Now, he said, he will happily watch games from his home in New Jersey.

“I’m not going to miss coming to the ballpark,” Sterling said. “I don’t think so. I’m going to love watching and listening, I really am. I really know what I’m going to do. And I’m going to enjoy it.”

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Trio of young stars grace MLB The Show 25 cover

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Trio of young stars grace MLB The Show 25 cover

MLB The Show 25 will feature three athletes for the first time, with Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz, Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson and Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes gracing the cover as the video game embraces a “dynamic era” of young MLB talent.

The decision to go with younger stars coincides with the video game franchise celebrating its 20th anniversary with its release on March 18.

“Historically, we’ve chosen a single cover athlete for MLB The Show, someone who is at the pinnacle of the sport,” Todd Liss, group manager of MLB The Show’s global marketing team, told ESPN. “However, with the unprecedented young talent coming into the league, we wanted to represent the changing current climate of baseball and showcase it on our cover. These three players are changing what’s possible in baseball, and we’re changing how many players can be on the cover of The Show.”

Skenes, the National League Rookie of the Year, is the first full-time pitcher on the global cover of the game.

Shohei Ohtani, the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ two-way star, appeared on the cover of MLB The Show 22, and others to get the honor include Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (2024), Fernando Tatis Jr. (2021), Bryce Harper (2019) and Aaron Judge (2018).

The Pirates brought Skenes up to the majors last May, and the 22-year-old phenom posted an 11-3 record with a 1.96 ERA. In July, he became the fifth rookie pitcher to start an All-Star Game.

De La Cruz debuted in the majors in June 2023, appearing in 98 games. Last season, he became the youngest player in MLB history to hit 25 home runs and steal 60 bases.

In his first full season in 2023, Henderson hit 28 home runs with 82 RBIs, aiding in Baltimore’s first playoff berth since 2016. Last season, Henderson earned All-Star honors for the first time with 37 home runs and 92 RBIs.

“Testament to the guys that have been drafted and gone through the minor leagues to get to this point,” Henderson told ESPN about the up-and-coming group. “They don’t brag about it, and they just go out there and continue to work hard and try to be the best player that they can [be]. I feel like that’s what you want as a fan and that’s what we try to go do each night out.”

Skenes referred to his fellow cover stars as “so dynamic.” He jokingly said Henderson seems like “just a good old country boy from Alabama,” and he highlighted De La Cruz’s work ethic and ability to make “unbelievable plays all the time.”

“Just a guy that you don’t really want on the basepaths because he’s just gonna wreak a lot of havoc,” Skenes said.

All three players agree on the impact that placement on the video game’s cover can potentially have on baseball’s youth.

“There are a lot of other guys who weren’t finalists for Rookie of the Year or MVP or anything like that who are very, very good young players that aren’t as well-known as guys like me or Elly or Gunnar,” Skenes told ESPN. “But it’s just the talent pool is so deep from young guys, and it’s cool to kind of see.”

De La Cruz said it sends a message to other young talent in the minors to keep working hard to achieve their dreams.

Skenes, who grew up a fan of the Los Angeles Angels, said current young stars are benefiting “a little bit” from past athletes, using Mike Trout as an example of a player that has helped pave the way for younger stars.

“Those guys making a difference in the big leagues and growing the game from a very early point in their career, I think that’s kind of [what] put us in this position,” Skenes said. “So, I think it’s kind of our job to continue that so that the next generation can reap the benefits as well.”

Henderson and De La Cruz said they played the video game growing up, and Henderson said he frequently took in the “Diamond Dynasty” mode, where users can collect cards to build their team. De La Cruz said MLB The Show 15, which featured Cuban-born outfielder Yasiel Puig on the cover, and MLB The Show 17, which had Ken Griffey Jr., are his favorites.

Skenes, on the other hand, admitted he didn’t play the game consistently.

“I’m not very good at it, to be honest,” he quipped.

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Chavez, 41, signs minor league deal with Rangers

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Chavez, 41, signs minor league deal with Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas — Veteran right-hander Jesse Chavez has agreed to a minor league contract that includes an invitation to spring training with the Texas Rangers, the team that drafted the 41-year-old pitcher nearly 23 years ago.

The Rangers also on Monday signed right-hander David Buchanan, outfielder Cody Thomas and catcher Chad Wallach to minor league deals with invitations to big league spring training.

Chavez was 2-2 with a 3.13 ERA in 46 games last season for Atlanta. He has a 51-65 record with a 4.25 ERA in 653 career games (85 starts) over 17 seasons with nine different teams. He was a World Series champion in 2021 with the Braves.

Texas took Chavez in the 42nd round of the 2002 amateur draft, and traded him four years later to Pittsburgh, where he made his big league debut in 2008.

He was 6-6 with a 4.58 ERA in 96 games (nine starts) for the Rangers from 2018-20. He signed with Texas as a free agent before the 2018 season, was traded to the Chicago Cubs later that summer and then re-signed with Texas in free agency before the 2019 season.

The 35-year-old Buchanan made one relief appearance for Cincinnati last season, his first MLB game since 36 starts for Philadelphia from 2014-15 until pitching three seasons in Japan and four in Korea.

Wallach hit seven home runs in 65 games for the Los Angeles Angels in 2023, and spent all of last season with their Triple-A team. Thomas, a left-handed hitter who played in 29 games for Oakland in 2022 and 2023, hit .263 with two homers and 19 RBI in 79 games in Japan last year.

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Rangers create TV network to produce, air games

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Rangers create TV network to produce, air games

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers have created a new company to oversee production and distribution of their game broadcasts.

The MLB team on Monday unveiled the Rangers Sports Media & Entertainment Company. That company will include the new Rangers Sports Network (RSN) and the existing REV Entertainment that is the team’s official sports and entertainment partner and official booking agent for events at its current and former stadiums.

“One of the main goals when seeking solutions for Rangers television broadcasts was to give fans more access to our games,” Rangers majority owner Ray Davis said. “We determined that the best path toward providing our fans with more options is to handle many of the broadcast obligations in-house.”

The Rangers earlier this month entered into a multiyear agreement with A Parent Media Co. Inc. (APMC) to stream Rangers regional games directly to consumers on the Victory+ service starting this year. The team said then that service, which will cost $100 to access games for a full season, was the first step in providing multiple viewing options after several seasons of access issues, but still hasn’t revealed details about additional options.

Formation of the Rangers Sports Network comes before the anticipation of deals for local TV rights to have games air through traditional cable providers along with some limited over-the-air broadcasts. The Rangers have more than 16 million households in their broadcast territory over parts of five states.

Neil Leibman, who is part of the team’s ownership group, will be chairman of the Rangers Sports Media & Entertainment Company, relinquishing his previous team responsibilities as COO and president of business operations. Jim Cochrane, a 28-year veteran of the Rangers front office, was promoted to executive vice president and chief business officer.

The Rangers previously had their regional broadcasts on Bally Sports Southwest, part of the financially troubled Diamond Sports Group that went through a bankruptcy reorganization. The team’s deal with Diamond expired at the end of last season. Bally Sports Southwest was not available through some cable companies and many popular streaming platforms.

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