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The Voice of God

Bob Sheppard, rest in peace.

From the last days of DiMaggio through the primes of Mantle, Berra, Jackson and Jeter, Sheppard’s precise, resonant, even Olympian elocution — he was sometimes called the Voice of God — greeted Yankees fans with the words, “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Yankee Stadium.”

“The Yankees and Bob Sheppard were a marriage made in heaven,” said Paul Sheppard, a 71-year-old financial adviser. “I know St. Peter will now recruit him. If you’re lucky enough to go to heaven, you’ll be greeted by a voice, saying: ‘Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to heaven!’ ”

In an era of blaring stadium music, of public-address announcers styling themselves as entertainers and cheerleaders, Sheppard, a man with a passion for poetry and Shakespeare, shunned hyperbole.

“A public-address announcer should be clear, concise, correct,” he said. “He should not be colorful, cute or comic.”

Come back soon, Bob

Bob Sheppard won't be making the announcements on Opening Day, but the Yankees just gave the...ninety-ogerian...a two year contract. Good for the Yanks. They may not have him on Monday, but hopefully he'll be meticulously articulating each batter's name when the Yankees open in the new stadium, in 2009.

Today's pinstriped news

Less than two weeks until pitchers and catchers report.

Good news.

David Cone, who has lived a private life since his short comeback with the Mets in 2003, returned Wednesday to a more public role as a booth and studio analyst for a combined 50 to 75 games on the YES Network. He signed a two-year contract.

Bad news.

SHEPPARD STRUGGLING Bob Sheppard, the Yankees’ distinctive public-address announcer since 1951, who missed the division series last October because of a bronchial infection, “is struggling to recover his health,” a spokesman for the Yankees, Howard Rubenstein, said Wednesday.

The team “hopes he can return to the booth,” Rubenstein added.

Welcome back, David.

Get well, Bob. Games at Yankee Stadium just aren't the same without your voice.