A SWING AND A MISS FOR NY YANKEES ANNOUNCER JOHN STERLING

Legendary NY Yankees announcer John Sterling is known for the nicknames he gives players after they hit homeruns. “BERN BABY BERN!” he’d yell after a Bernie Williams blast. “IT’S AN ABOMB….FROM AROD!” after Alex Rodriguez left the yard.

In fact, one of the most fun aspects of the Yankees acquiring a new high profile hitter is guessing what John Sterling’s homerun call will be for that player.

Speculation about this has even taken up significant space in newspaper columns and eaten up time on local television and radio.

So, naturally, when the Yankees acquired 2017 NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton, everybody was eagerly anticipating Sterling’s call for him.

Stanton gave us the answer early, homering in his very first at bat as a Yankee. Stanton did not disappoint at all in his debut, adding a second homerun to his stat line later in the game.

Sterling on the other hand? He disappointed greatly.

“Giancarlo, non si puo stoparlo!”

In Italian, that means, Giancarlo, you cannot be stopped.

That is fine, but the call is a dud.

Some have suggested this is because Stanton is not Italian. Na, who cares about that? If the phrase works, it works, no matter what the player’s ethnicity is.

The reason the call fails, is because it is not a commonly used phrase and does not roll off the tongue.

Sterling says he will not change it and that is his prerogative.

And as long as the Yankees are winning and Stanton is playing well, I do not think anybody — including Stanton himself — will care.

But it is disappointing that Sterling swung so hard and missed so badly on this one.

Oh well, there’s always next time.