Sheppard won't be able to attend Stadium finale

Sheppard won't be able to attend Stadium finale
September 15
Newsday

"Longtime Yankee Stadium public address announcer Bob Sheppard will not be at the Stadium finale Sunday night, he told Newsday this morning.

"My heart will be up in the Bronx," Sheppard said. "But my body will be in front of television."

Sheppard, who is believed to be in his late 90s, has missed the entire season because of his health but said as recently as two weeks ago that he hoped to make it to the final game. But as that date quickly approached, Sheppard decided he didn't have the stamina to put in a full workday.

Speaking from his Baldwin home by phone, Sheppard said, "I don't have enough muscle to get up to the Bronx, even if I sit there in Steinbrenner's box. They offered me a seat there if I wanted to come up there and just watch the game."

But he turned that down, too.

"I really feel that if I had to leave my home at 4 o'clock and get home at midnight, it would be too much of a taxation on my whole body," he said.

Sheppard has missed the entire season as he builds his strength after a stint in the hospital last winter. This would have marked his 58th season behind the Yankee Stadium microphone. He had hoped to return at some point during the season before eventually setting his sights on the final weekend.

"I dreamed of going up there and saying goodbye after over 50 years," he said.

His hand-picked replacement, Jim Hall, who has announced most of the home games this season, even offered to sit in the booth with Sheppard during the game in the event he needs a "relief announcer." But Sheppard said he knows his limits, and he doesn't want to put unnecessary stress on his body.

When it became clear that he wasn't going to be able to attend, Sheppard said he wrote a speech on paper that he has thought about sending to the Yankees.

"It was that I was regretting not being there, you know, saying briefly what my memories of over 50 years of doing game after game after game, being friendly with some of the players," he said.

But he has not yet decided whether he will send it to the team, "because if it's to be delivered vocally, I would want to do it, and I can't do it from Baldwin.""



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