There’s probably no way of knowing exactly how many players Bob Sheppard introduced in nearly 60 years as the public-address announcer at Yankee Stadium. We can safely assume it’s in the hundreds, if not in the thousands.
But The Stadium Ceremony For Him Was So Well-Done
So, just take a guess -- how many of them do you figure attended Sheppard’s funeral Thursday? If you’re thinking a positive integer ... go lower.
Zero. No current Yankee player, no past Yankee player -- no Yankee player at all. (GM Brian Cashman and some other Yankees officials were.) And that has upset a few people, among them Bill Madden of the New York Daily News.
Even if one player - certainly one among the former players employed by the team for this very purpose - would have shown up, it would have provided the touch of class George Steinbrenner always made sure to exhibit in these circumstances.
Yes, players were busy, it was the All-Star break, it’s been a long week (after all, Steinbrenner also died this week), etc. But what about Derek Jeter, who movingly asked for a recording of Sheppard to introduce him at the All-Star Game on Tuesday?
Jeter said he was not even aware that Sheppard’s funeral was Thursday, and that he didn’t think many, if any, of his teammates did, either. ...
“I don’t necessarily think that you have to go to a funeral to honor someone,” Jeter said.
No, you don’t have to. But there also aren’t many good reasons not to.
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