Hearing WFAN’s John Sterling home run call on WEEI was a weird juxtaposition
“Giancarlo, Non si può stoparlo!’’
For years, it seemed possible that someday Red Sox fans would hear a giddy announcer call a Giancarlo Stanton home run from the Boston radio booth.
After all, in the eight years he spent walloping homers for the usually hapless Florida/Miami Marlins, Stanton’s name often came up in Red Sox trade rumors.
Stanton, who signed a 13-year, $325 million contract extension in December 2014 that practically priced him out of Miami before the ink was dry, never got to call Fenway home.
Instead, Marlins CEO and part owner Derek Jeter traded/salary dumped the 2017 National League Most Valuable Player to the Yankees this past offseason for Starlin Castro and what amounted to a couple of gift baskets.
Once coveted, Stanton was now a Red Sox competitor.
And yet due to a gimmick in the Red Sox and Yankees broadcast booths Thursday night, there was a joyous call on the Boston airwaves when Stanton hit a fourth-inning grand slam.
During the fourth inning Thursday night, WEEI’s Joe Castiglione and WFAN’s John Sterling swapped places for what the stations called a “Rivalry in the Booth’’ event.
Castiglione joined Suzyn Waldman on the Yankees broadcast, while Sterling teamed up with Tim Neverett in the WEEI booth.
The inning was more satisfying for the Yankees no matter which station you were listening to. Hearing Sterling, known for his distinctively hokey home run calls, joyously announce Stanton’s slam to a New England audience was one weird juxtaposition.
Stanton sends it. pic.twitter.com/R8ClL5byHf
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 21, 2018
For the record, here’s how he called it:
“Giancarlo, Non si può stoparlo!’’ he hollered, using an Italian phrase that has become familiar to Yankee fans given that it was Stanton’s 35th homer. “He hits a home run a line drive in the right-field seats. A grand slam!’’
Stanton’s slam gave the Yankees a 6-4 lead. But it was temporary — the Red Sox rallied for an 11-6 victory to clinch the American League East title. Too bad Boston didn’t get to hear Sterling call the ninth inning, too.
