George Steinbrenner Dies

“The Boss’’ created terror within the offices at Yankee Stadium, turned dozens of ballplayers into millionaires and reveled in the media spotlight by criticizing nearly everyone in his employ.

Updated: Tue., Jul. 13, 2010, 2:50 AM
Bob Sheppard, 1910-2010

They called him the Voice of the Yankees, the Voice of Baseball -- even the Voice of God.

But Bob Sheppard, who died Sunday at 99 after nearly six decades as the public-address man at Yankee Stadium, always dismissed those compliments.

"I'm just a second-rate crooner," he told The Post's Steve Serby in 2008.

He wasn't, of course. He was the touchstone of PA announcers, the voice everyone else in the business tried to copy.

Sheppard insisted that he would "rather be known as a competent, warm, capable teacher of speech than as the best PA announcer in baseball."

In fact, he was both.

He was so much an integral part of the Yankee Stadium experience that when ill health forced him to step down after the 2007 season, team captain Derek Jeter insisted that Sheppard's recorded voice continue to introduce him at the plate.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/bob_sheppard_8jxYzqCuT4QV8wtfPZ4bPO#ixzz0ta4dJ5SZ

In a special tribute to Bob Sheppard, Major League Baseball will have Sheppard's recorded voice introduce Derek Jeter during today's All-Star Game.

Jeter requested a recording of Sheppard's voice announcing his name for any future occasion where Sheppard was unable to announce; the recording was made and will be used for the rest of Jeter's Yankee career. Sheppard was thrilled with this: "It has been one of the greatest compliments I have received in my career of announcing. The fact that he wanted my voice every time he came to bat is a credit to his good judgment and my humility."