Kay, Sterling reunited: 'Going to wing it'

TAMPA, Fla. -- Do not adjust your dials. After 20 years, Michael Kay and John Sterling are being reunited to call every pitch of a Yankees game.

The radio team linked to the dynasty of the late 1990s and early 2000s, Kay and Sterling will paint the word picture for Monday’s YES Network telecast of the Bombers’ Grapefruit League exhibition against the Phillies. It will mark their first pairing since Game 7 of the 2001 World Series.

“I’m very excited about it,” Sterling said. “First of all, I do everything by the seat of my pants, so we’re just going to wing it. I hope it will be good. It certainly was fun for 10 years, and we didn’t plan anything then, so we’re not going to plan anything now. We’re going to pick it up and do it like always.”

Two of the most recognizable voices in Yankees history, Kay and Sterling are also scheduled to call a March 22 exhibition against Philadelphia. Kay has desired the reunion for years and enthusiastically supported it when recently suggested by John J. Filippelli, the YES Network’s president of production and programming.

“We are very much different people, but we’re also a little bit off, if you know what I mean,” Kay said. “I think we both appreciate it and gave room for each other’s weirdness. I was willing to have fun with John; John wants to have a conversation on the air with the listeners eavesdropping in on the fun. I deferred to John; I couldn’t even believe I had that job.”

Kay and Sterling first partnered in 1992, overseeing a 76-86 club that finished fourth in the American League East.

“I came from a newspaper background, so I never rooted,” Kay said. “But John would get upset when the Yankees would lose -- really upset. I said to myself, ‘Why does he get so upset when they lose?’ And he goes: ‘Michael, you don’t understand. We need them to be good. If the team you broadcast is good, then you’re bringing people good news. Then you’re not going anywhere.’”

And better days were just around the corner. Buck Showalter guided the ’93 Yankees to an 88-74 season, and they haven’t been below .500 since.

Kay and Sterling were perched together above the playing field for World Series championships in 1996, ’98, ’99 and 2000, as well as one that got away -- that 2001 Fall Classic against the D-backs. Kay shifted to TV in 2002, which Sterling described as “breaking up our aces.”

“You sound better when you’re doing winning games,” Sterling said. “But I will tell you this -- Paul Newman made two phenomenal movies with Robert Redford, 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' and 'The Sting.' And Newman said you can’t cast chemistry. I really feel this about Suzyn [Waldman] and Michael. Our team worked very well. It’s chemistry. As Newman said, ‘You can’t cast it.’”

While Sterling is well-known for his home run calls, his roster was trimmer in those days; It all started with the “Bern Baby Bern” call for Bernie Williams. Similarly, Kay had a well-known phrase in which he’d describe the Yankees’ uniforms for the radio audience by saying “no names on the back -- of course.” Kay shelved it once he moved to the TV side since viewers could see the uniforms.

“I think I’m going to do that, because a lot of people said they want me to,” Kay said. “I’ve done it a couple of times as a goof, like when people call into the radio show and ask me to do it. But yeah, I’ll definitely break it out.”

In a setup that would have been impossible with 2001-era technology, Kay will call Monday’s game from his Connecticut home while Sterling will be at the YES studios in Stamford, Conn. Even with the gaps in distance and time, Kay and Sterling believe that they will pick up where they left off, escorting viewers on a fun journey down Memory Lane.

“I think people identify us with that dynasty run -- not that we had anything to do with it,” Kay said. “But we certainly brought it into their homes, or to the pool or the beach. I think that’s why so many people on social media are excited about this. It’s bringing them back to those happy times.”