Billy Coffey
Billy Coffey

Bob Sheppard

July 16, 2010  

image courtesy of photobucket.com

image courtesy of photobucket.com

I work in a college mailroom. My days are spent walking from one side of the campus to the other and back again. And then again. I do the same thing at the same time in the same way every single day, five days a week, all year long.

It gets old sometimes. And when it does, I think of Bob Sheppard.

You don’t have to be a baseball fan to appreciate what Bob Sheppard did, you just need to have a job. Doesn’t matter what sort of job, either. CEO or housewife, mailman or doctor. Whatever. The truly great people in this world are the ones who are an example for everyone, regardless of who they are and what they do.

That was Bob Sheppard.

In April of 1951, he took a part-time job to supplement the income he received from what he called his real job—teaching speech at St. John’s. Not a rare thing, taking on extra work. Not then, not now. Where that job was and what it entailed, however, was rare indeed.

He became the announcer at Yankee Stadium.

For the next fifty-six years, until a bronchial infection forced him to retire in September of 2007, he sat high above the crowd in a cramped room and uttered the names of batters and pitchers and stadium messages. He announced sixty-two World Series games, two All-Star games, and introduced nearly eighty Hall of Fame players. If was one of those players, Reggie Jackson, who gave Sheppard the nickname he would carry for the rest of his life—The Voice of God.

This man, whose face was seldom seen by fans and whose uniform was a finely-pressed suit, became just as much a part of the New York Yankees as Joe Dimaggio and Micky Mantle. In 2000, the team honored him with a plaque in Monument Park. Visiting players would take an extra few seconds before stepping into the batter’s box just so they could hear Bob Sheppard say their name. He would often sit in the Yankees’ dugout during batting practice, and players, titans of their sport and heroes to millions, would quietly approach and ask to meet him. When Alex Rodriguez signed with the Yankees, one of his first acts was to ask the PR people if they could help him get Sheppard’s autograph.

Amazing, isn’t it?

Because with all due respect, Bob Sheppard didn’t do much. He announced names. Nothing more. One could argue that the vendor who sold hot dogs and beer in the right field bleachers did more work than Bob Sheppard over the course of a ballgame. He would even carry a book with him to the games so he could read between batters, pausing only to offer his usual order of announcing a player—position, number, name, number for the first time through the batting order, after which came just the position and the name.

Doesn’t sound like the stuff of legend, you might say.

But you’d be wrong. Because here is where Bob Sheppard teaches us all. Here is where one of life’s most important lessons is displayed in both detail and glory.

In an age where sports announcers are more circus ringleaders and cheerleaders, he was not. Bob Sheppard did not scream, did not raise his voice, did not offer any sort of emotion or spectacle. He had three rules that he followed through the course of thousands of games—be clear, be concise, and be exact. He followed this pattern unwaveringly. Exactly. Delivering them with a constancy that brought his duties as close to perfection as is humanly possible.

He was, according to Yankee legend Don Mattingly, “…the constant.”

Yes. That’s what Bob Sheppard teaches us.

That in the end it doesn’t matter what we do to make a living, it’s how we do it. It’s turning our work into art, whether that work be washing a load of laundry or leading a country. It is striving toward an unattainable perfection and perfecting ourselves along the way. Not wishing for more, but knowing we’ve been given all we need.

Bob Sheppard died last Sunday. He was ninety-nine years old. There were more than a few who mourned his passing as one of the last remnants of a time when it was grace and restraint and not crude vulgarity that crowds wanted. I was one of them.

He isn’t gone, though. Listen as Derek Jeter steps to the plate in Yankee Stadium, and you’ll still hear The Voice of God—“Now batting, the shortstop, number two, Derek Jeter, number two.” Jeter asked that a recording of Bob Sheppard announcing him be played until the end of his career. He couldn’t bear the thought of anyone else doing it.

I can’t blame him.

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Comments

  • http://www.breakinpencils.blogspot.com Meagan

    This is just what I needed to hear tonight. I didn’t know of Bob Sheppard, but now I am sure I will never forget him.

  • http://tabithabird.blogspot.com Tabitha Bird

    Awesome. Constant. Yep. Something to be said for that.

  • http://topsy.com/www.billycoffey.com/2010/07/bob-sheppard/?utm_source=pingback&utm_campaign=L2 Tweets that mention Bob Sheppard : Billy Coffey — Topsy.com

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Billy Coffey, Glynn Young, Caroline Pointer, frank friedl, Jay Cookingham and others. Jay Cookingham said: Bob Sheppard http://bit.ly/c72fM5 /cc @feedly [...]

  • http://www.tracyfarr.net Tracy Farr

    Great story! Makes me want to go to work and put an extra 100% into everything I do. Again, great story!

  • http://www.jennifervdavis.com Jennifer Davis

    That was great. It’s stories like these that show why baseball is America’s favorite pastime . It’s not just the game but the great life lessons that go along with it.

  • http://joyce-fromthissideofthepond.blogspot.com Joyce

    Its been a hard week for the Yankees. I love this story too.

  • http://pollywogcreek.blogspot.com Patricia (Pollywog Creek)

    Wonderful post, Billy. I’d say that even if we weren’t Yankee fans. We learned about Bob Sheppard and his recorded Jeter announcement when we flew to NY in June 08. We have been to several games here in Florida, but this was our only trip to NY for a game – our last opportunity to see a game in the “house that Ruth built.” We went on a tour of the stadium and watched the Yankees beat the Jays with a walk-off HR in the bottom of the 9th. My favorite part of the tour was sitting in the press box. What a dream job that would be…but I’m called to turn cooking and laundry “into art.” Have a great day – and be blessed to be a blessing!

  • http://www.joannesher.com Joanne Sher

    Consistency has always been a struggle for me. What an example this man is to me. Excellent – both him, and your writing.

  • http://www.asgoodadayasany.wordpress.com Marilyn Yocum

    Nice! I heard a lot of him, growing in northern NJ. Wouldn’t have recognized him on the street, but the voice was the sound of family, in ways. Sort of the same with writers, huh?

  • http://hikingtowardhome.blogspot.com Sharon

    “That in the end it doesn’t matter what we do to make a living, it’s how we do it. It’s turning our work into art, whether that work be washing a load of laundry or leading a country. It is striving toward an unattainable perfection and perfecting ourselves along the way. Not wishing for more, but knowing we’ve been given all we need.”

    I really needed to read this today. Thank you. Doing housework all day so often becomes so mundane and I needed the reminder to “turn our work into art”. It IS an honorable task given to me by God and therefore I should give it all have; heart, mind, soul and strength. For He has given me all I need.

    “one of the last remnants of a time when it was grace and restraint and not crude vulgarity that crowds wanted. I was one of them.”
    …and I am too.

  • http://rmabry.com Richard Mabry

    Billy, Thanks for expressing what I’ve been feeling, something you do with great regularity and wonderful style.

    And congratulations on getting an “attaboy” from your publisher about your second book.

    “Now writing, number one, Billy Coffey. Coffey.”

  • http://aspiretoleadaquietlife.blogspot.com A Simple Country Girl

    He was of the generation that breathed integrity and honored his fellow man. Plain, simple, hardworking folks that today’s crowd often overlooks…

    Thanks for the history and insight you’ve shared today.

    Blessings.

  • http://southernproletariat.blogspot.com/ rhonda

    You are not alone in missing those times of “grace and restraint”. Wonderful writing as always.

  • http://www.steeletheday.com Candy

    All work is honorable. Thank you, Billy, for your tender words.

  • http://writingwithoutpaper.blogspot.com Maureen

    Wonderful tribute.

  • http://thewritepursuit.blogspot.com/ Sandra Heska King

    Beautiful tribute!

  • http://www.whateverhesays.blogspot.com Belinda Burston

    I didn’t know Bob Sheppard so I listened to his voice on You Tube before reading the post. I am so glad you introduced me to a man who teaches us all about dignity, class and so much more.

  • http://building-his-body.blogspot.com/ Anne Lang Bundy

    You’ve done Mr. Sheppard proud, Billy.

    I suspect he’ll have the opportunity to thank you in person.

  • http://www.familytreewriter.com Sherry Stocking Kline

    Thank you. Just like so many above, I needed to read this today. It’s been a wash dishes, feed the hungry, fold the clothes will I have time this week to do anything that matters kind of day.

    And you just reminded me that caring for a family, matters.

    Great writing.

    Man, I wish I could hear that recording.

  • http://www.endeanmom1.blogspot.com Beth E.

    A great reminder that we must keep to it…doing our best at whatever we do, living our lives to the fullest, making a difference each day.

    Thanks, Billy…your posts are always a blessing!

  • http://www.freakinangels.blogspot.com Kim S

    Billy, I was at the All Star game this July and when Jeter stepped to the plate they played the recording of Bob Sheppard announcing him. Very moving.

    If you’re a baseball fan, I highly recommend Hugh Poland’s books Steal Away: Devotionals for Baseball Fans and Intentional Walk: More Devotions for Baseball Fans. They’re full of stories of famous players, unsung heroes, coaches, umps, and more. Check them out: http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=7526 and http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=13100.