The Bronx Stop: A Yankees Blog

"Your attention please, ladies and gentlemen."
"Now batting for the Yankees, the shortstop, Derek Jeter ... No. 2."

Article written by Richard Sandomir for the New York Times:
Bob Sheppard, the Yankees’ distinctive public-address announcer since 1951, who missed the division series last October because of a bronchial infection, “is struggling to recover his health,” a spokesman for the Yankees, Howard Rubenstein, said Wednesday.

The team “hopes he can return to the booth,” Rubenstein added.

One of Sheppard’s sons, Chris, a retired navy aviator who is now a New York-based pilot for a major airline, seems to be interested in eventually following in his father’s footsteps. He will get a tryout during spring training at Legends Field in Tampa, Fla., Rubenstein said.

Chris Sheppard holds a speech degree from Marquette and taught the subject at Washington High School in Milwaukee. He declined to comment.

Sheppard’s backup at Yankee Stadium has been Jim Hall, a former colleague at St. John’s. Hall succeeded Sheppard as the Giants’ public-address announcer.

Sheppard missed the Yankees’ three-day opening series in 2006 after he injured his hip in a fall at his home in Baldwin, L.I., on the night before the first home game.

“I was in so much pain that I don’t think I cared the night that it happened,” he said when he returned to work. “All I wanted to do was to have the bone put back into the socket.

Can you imagine what it would be like without him in that booth? Get well soon, Bob. Yankee Stadium needs you there for its last season...