A WFAN caller purported to have a lead on who the new Yankees radio announcer will be.
Venerable play-by-play broadcaster John Sterling retired earlier this season due to health issues and there is much intrigue as to who the longterm replacement will be.
A caller named “Dr. Joe” phoned into WFAN’s morning show with Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti and said that Dave Sims has been “thrown out to me” as a possible replacement for Sterling.
Sims, 71, is currently the TV play-by-play announcer for the Mariners and was a talk show host during the early days of WFAN.
Considering the tone of the call, there’s a strong possibility that this was a good old fashioned radio bit.
Giannotti asked Dr. Joe to clarify his assertion that he was “close” with the Yankees booth.
Dr. Joe said that he knows Sterling, Suzyn Waldman, Justin Shackil and others, but declined to say how because it would be a “HIPAA” violation.
He floated the idea that Sterling could potentially be “dragged” back into the booth should the Yankees make the World Series this season.
Shackil and Emmanuel Berbari have split time in the booth next to Waldman since Sterling’s retirement.
Asked how he heard about Sims, Dr. Joe said that it just “came up” and paused when the hosts pressed him who he heard it from.
Asked specifically if it was Waldman who told him, Dr. Joe responded that “she just threw the name out there.”
“She’s gonna kill me,” Dr. Joe said.
After Sterling retired in April, The Post’s Steve Serby asked him what he was most proud of in his career.
“When I was a little boy — let’s say 10, I’m just using that as an age, how would I know? — I wanted to be on the air. I heard a broadcast and I wanted to be on the air. This is pre-puberty,” Sterling said.
“By the time I got to be an adolescent, there was no question in my mind, that was what I was gonna do, I was gonna go on the air. And it was a great thing for me because I didn’t have to worry about school, and I was a terrible student. I knew what I was going to do. And as it turned out, also I had the talent to do it, I had the voice to do it, and it takes a while to get a job. I got a job way upstate New York, and what I’m proudest of, I did it for 64 years! I’m a very lucky individual. And as you know, it’s a very, very tough, competitive business.”