Top Yankees Play-by-Play Voices

Kay and Sterling. Clearly in the early 90s.

On the 11th anniversary of the passing of Bobby Murcer...

I know you've been waiting for this! I've decided to name the top 10 play-by-play announcers in Yankees history.

Oh, I know. Other than (probably) Shawn Sailer, you don't remotely care. This isn't exactly ranking Beatles albums (Revolver is number one).

It's meaningless.

But, still, it's of interest to me.

Let me step out on a limb and tell you that, had Vin Scully accepted the Yankees' offer to replace Mel Allen after the 1964 season, he would be number one, and there would be no doubt.

Still, I've got my top 10 basically worked out. Some were easy and some weren't.

I think I'm going to leave it at the top 10 (maybe more), simply because to go too much lower would likely be mean. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who would be near the bottom (hint: tonight's TV broadcast).

I mean, let's consider Ken "Hawk" Harrelson was on SportsChannel in 1987-88. Yes, I know that would be Paul Silverfarb's choice for number one, but he doesn't get a vote in this.

Then there are the forgotten (and, in some cases, for the better). Ever heard of Bob Gamere? Two things to know, both from his Wikipedia page:

- "He was criticized for his overuse of the catch phrase "Here it comes, there it goes" to describe a pitch thrown to home plate and batted anywhere. He was replaced after one season by Bill White."
- "The Boston Herald reported on September 5, 2009, that Gamere was expected to plead guilty to child pornography charges. The BostonChannel.com reported on January 19, 2010, that Gamere had been sentenced to five years in prison on child pornography charges. He was released on May 27, 2014."

How about Dom Valentino, who did one year (1975)?

Exactly.

There are a lot of forgettable voices, but there are others who spent a cup of coffee with the Bombers and really made their name elsewhere. Curt Gowdy was with Allen in 1949-1950. Jerry Coleman spent seven seasons in The Bronx before becoming an icon in San Diego. Dizzy Dean did one year before he went to CBS and presented a whole different kind of play-by-play. He essentially destroyed English ("he slud into third"), and people loved it.

Connie Desmond would move onto Brooklyn where he worked with Scully and Red Barber, but he was with the Yankees in 1942. Don Dunphy -- better known for boxing -- was a Yankees voice in 1944.

John Gordon spent 1982-1986 with the Yankees but moved to Minnesota and was renowned with the Twins.

Joe Garagiola, Al Helfer, Russ Hodges, and Arch McDonald each earned the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence from the Hall of Fame. Each worked with the Yankees but went elsewhere to build their legend.

Jim Woods had a long career and was with the Yankees from 1953-1956 when he was pushed out for Phil Rizzuto. He spent over a decade in Pittsburgh with Bob Prince.

Another reason that I likely will not rank all of the broadcasters is that I haven't heard all of them on Yankees broadcasts. It's hard to find audio of Desmond, McDonald, and Dunphy for example.

I won't delineate between TV and radio, as I generally think the body of work for these announcers will speak for themselves regardless of channel.

Lastly, this is purely a play-by-play project. Don't look for Paul O'Neill or David Cone. I also won't rank Suzyn Waldman as I think of her primarily as an analyst. Her play-by-play work wasn't enough to make this list.

So this is a project that won't come online tonight.

But it's close.

Stay tuned.