Craig Carton will continue as Yankees radio announcer

Imagine you were Suzyn Waldman asking Dave Simms to replace John Sterling as the radio voice of the New York Yankees, and then Craig Carton walked through the door.

On Monday afternoon, Carton returned to the afternoon shows he once dominated on WFAN, where he announced the surprising news that he will join Waldman in the Yankees’ radio booth to provide game reports for an upcoming series against the Texas Rangers on August 9-11.

Since Sterling retired earlier this season, a rotating cast of commentators has filled the void, including Justin Shackil, Ryan Ruocco, Brendan Burke, Rickie Ricardo and Emmanuel Berbari. And according to Carton, the Yankees called to pitch him the idea of ​​joining the cast of commentators by commentating on a series this season.

If you’re a Yankees fan who saw this news and thought it was some kind of radio segment or joke, you’re not alone.

“This is not a joke, this is not a slapstick. The Yankees asked for it,” Carton insisted to WFAN’s Evan Roberts and Tiki Barber, before admitting, “When the Yankees called me and asked, I thought they were kidding me.”

“When the Yankees called me and asked, I thought they were kidding me.” – Craig Carton on the opportunity to commentate on Yankees games pic.twitter.com/n4hkQjNqHe

— Awful Announcement (@awfulannouncing) July 16, 2024

But he wasn’t fooled, Carton will be sitting next to Waldman in the booth for three games next month. And while he certainly doesn’t believe there’s a realistic chance of getting the job permanently, Carton didn’t want to shut the door entirely when his former WFAN co-host asked him about it.

“There have to be a lot of zeros on that check,” Carton noted with a laugh. “I have family members who know about it and say, ‘What if everything goes great? And Hal Steinbrenner calls you and says, ‘You’re the one.'”

“Look, that’s a long shot at the moment. I don’t think that’s going to happen. There are obviously very talented broadcasters who just want to do that and are very, very good at it. But let’s see what happens. If it’s great and the phone rings again and says, ‘You’re the one,’ I don’t know.”

The Yankees’ newest voice, at least for three games in August, moderates The Cardboard Show on FS1 every morning from 7:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET. So even if WFAN and the Yankees fall in love with Carton’s live coverage next month, it seems highly unlikely that they would reach a contractual agreement.

But what if things go so well that Fox Sports falls in love with Carton’s game commentary? Carton could be Waldman’s partner during baseball season and Tom Brady’s partner during NFL season. Kevin Burkhardt doesn’t need to throw his resume away.

Carton then went over the basics of what it takes to be a baseball commentator, pointing out that there are two aspects to commentating on a game. The commentating aspect and the talk show aspect where you fill the airtime with your broadcast partner. In this case, that broadcast partner is a person named Suzyn Waldman, who Carton mocked for more than a decade during his time at WFAN.

While it’s safe to assume Waldman approved the idea of ​​teaming with Carton for three games, it’s still a surprising pairing. After his interview with Roberts and Barber, WFAN morning show producer Al Dukes chided the station’s afternoon anchors for not asking Carton about the prospect of teaming with Waldman, or even about their willingness to work with him.

During the interview, Roberts laughed at the idea of ​​Carton having to work with Waldman, but he never said the funny part out loud. Barber, meanwhile, seemed unaware of Carton’s long feud with Waldman, claiming they got along well because she was “amazing” and “so easy to get along with.”

Waldman deserves credit for overlooking Carton’s radio antics to give him a chance in the Yankees booth. But as Dukes noted, this is a topic that Roberts and Barber would have to explore in more depth. And if you like Carton’s radio antics and Waldman impersonations, don’t expect too much of that during his Yankees call.

“Yankee games obviously mean something to a lot of people,” Carton said. “And you have to treat them that way, and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to prepare and be ready to deliver a very competent, hopefully very entertaining and solid broadcast.”

(WFAN)